Presentation
Board # 46 : Perceived Self-Efficacy of Master's in Engineering Students Regarding Software Proficiency and Engineering Acumen
2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
(2017)
Abstract
Engineering graduate programs and the students who attend them have become the focus of research in recent years, with researchers looking at many different aspects of the graduate student experience and at the students themselves. One area of research focuses on returning students and how they compare to direct-pathway graduate students. We identify students who matriculate directly into a graduate program after their undergraduate education as direct pathway students, and those who spend five years or more in industry before returning to school as returners. This distinction is of interest in order to understand how work experience informs learning, specifically in a graduate program. Students who return to the formal education arena after a number of years in industry bring real-world practitioner experiences to their degree programs; this can be expected to affect how they learn. The pursuit of a master’s degree is seen to promote engineers’ understanding of the practice and has been promoted as a key component of professional practice, and is the focus of this particular study; specifically, how returners construct knowledge in contrast to direct pathway students. Our research is guided by the following questions: • How do returners’ work experiences influence their learning skills? • What background material do returners forget, and how do they handle that forgotten material? • When learning new material, how do returners and direct pathway students construct and organize knowledge, particularly in relation to previous knowledge? In investigating these questions, our research study is grounded in Constructivism. It also draws on the literature investigating the differences between experts and novices.
Disciplines
Publication Date
June 24, 2017
Comments
ASEE PEER
© 2017 American Society for Engineering Education
Citation Information
Elizabeth Gross, Diane L. Peters, Shanna R. Daly and Stacy L. Mann. "Board # 46 : Perceived Self-Efficacy of Master's in Engineering Students Regarding Software Proficiency and Engineering Acumen" 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition (2017) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/diane-peters/30/