This IUSE (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education) NSF (National Science Foundation) grantee poster describes our work deploying a national survey (the SUCCESS survey—Studying Underlying Characteristics of Computing and Engineering Student Success) to collect data on students’ non-cognitive and affective (NCA) factors. This survey, which is the first of its kind to be launched on a national scale, measures 28 NCA factors that may contribute to student success including personality, grit, identity, mindset, motivation, stress, gratitude, mindfulness, and belongingness. Many engineering and computing students have strong incoming academic records and standardized test scores that indicate potential for success in their programs; nonetheless, many struggle when they reach university. Cognitive measures like SAT/ACT are weak predictors of academic success, and NCA measures may form the constellation of characteristics that offer further predictive power. In this paper, we present construct validity evidence from a confirmatory factor analysis for the SUCCESS survey using a national sample of n = 2672 students, as well as findings from our think-aloud interviews to support face validity. Through confirmatory factor analysis, we removed several items from our survey that did not load onto factors as expected thus improving the measurements and reducing survey length. In addition, the think-aloud interviews allowed us to adjust the wording of questions and to add further demographic options to the survey. Our future work includes using cluster analysis to develop non-cognitive profiles of our participants. We will also use our national dataset to develop predictive models for student success, defined in both academic (e.g., GPA, etc.) and non-academic terms.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6779-1992
Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
[biography]
Matthew Scheidt is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Purdue University. He graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and The Ohio State University with a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a focus in Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing. Matt is currently part of Dr. Allison Godwin’s STRIDE (Shaping Transformative Research on Identity and Diversity in Engineering) research group at Purdue. His research interests include survey development, narrative methodologies, and supporting military veteran student success.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0741-3356
Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
[biography]
Allison Godwin, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education and Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. Her research focuses what factors influence diverse students to choose engineering and stay in engineering through their careers and how different experiences within the practice and culture of engineering foster or hinder belongingness and identity development. Dr. Godwin graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education. Her research earned her a National Science Foundation CAREER Award focused on characterizing latent diversity, which includes diverse attitudes, mindsets, and approaches to learning, to understand engineering students’ identity development. She has won several awards for her research including the 2016 American Society of Engineering Education Educational Research and Methods Division Best Paper Award and the 2018 Benjamin J. Dasher Best Paper Award for the IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. She has also been recognized for the synergy of research and teaching as an invited participant of the 2016 National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium and the Purdue University 2018 recipient of School of Engineering Education Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the 2018 College of Engineering Exceptional Early Career Teaching Award.
John Chen is a professor of mechanical engineering. His interests in engineering education include conceptual learning, conceptual change, student autonomy and motivation, lifelong learning skills and behaviors and, most recently, non-cognitive factors that contribute to student success.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0084-951X
Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
[biography]
Julianna Ge is a Ph.D. student in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. At Purdue, she created and currently teaches a novel course for undergraduate engineering students to explore the intersections of wellbeing, leadership, diversity and inclusion. As an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, her research interests intersect the fields of engineering education, positive psychology, and human development to understand diversity, inclusion, and success for undergraduate engineering students. Prior to Purdue, she received dual bachelor’s degrees in Industrial Engineering and Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her prior work experiences include product management, consulting, tutoring, marketing, and information technology.
Brian Self obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech, and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Utah. He worked in the Air Force Research Laboratories before teaching at the U.S. Air Force Academy for seven years. Brian has taught in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo since 2006. During the 2011-2012 academic year he participated in a professor exchange, teaching at the Munich University of Applied Sciences. His engineering education interests include collaborating on the Dynamics Concept Inventory, developing model-eliciting activities in mechanical engineering courses, inquiry-based learning in mechanics, and design projects to help promote adapted physical activities. Other professional interests include aviation physiology and biomechanics.
Jim Widmann is a professor and chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He received his Ph.D. in 1994 from Stanford University and has served as a Fulbright Scholar at Kathmandu University it Nepal. At Cal Poly, he teaches the College of Engineering's interdisciplinary, industry sponsored, senior project class as well as course in mechanics and design. He also conducts research in the areas of creative design, machine design, fluid power control, and engineering education.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3111-8509
Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
[biography]
Justin C. Major is a third-year Engineering Education Ph.D student and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Purdue University. Prior to graduate school, he completed Bachelor's degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Secondary Mathematics Education at the University of Nevada, Reno with a focus on K-12 Engineering Education. Justin's current research focuses on the storied experiences of socioeconomically disadvantaged students at intersections of race/ethnicity, class, and gender in engineering education.
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0337-7607
Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
[biography]
Edward Berger is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education and Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, joining Purdue in August 2014. He has been teaching mechanics for over 20 years, and has worked extensively on the integration and assessment of specific technology interventions in mechanics classes. He was one of the co-leaders in 2013-2014 of the ASEE Virtual Community of Practice (VCP) for mechanics educators across the country. His current research focuses on student problem-solving processes and use of worked examples, change models and evidence-based teaching practices in engineering curricula, and the role of non-cognitive and affective factors in student academic outcomes and overall success.
Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.