A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Examination of the Development of Innovation Capability in Undergraduate Engineering Students

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trina C. Kershaw ◽  
Rebecca L. Peterson ◽  
Molly A. McCarthy ◽  
Adam P. Young ◽  
Carolyn Conner Seepersad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Senior Year ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
The Difference

Multiple research studies have examined the role of the undergraduate engineering curriculum on students’ innovation capabilities. The majority of these studies have used cross-sectional samples to compare students at the beginning and end of their college careers, and most results have shown that seniors outperform freshmen. In the following paper, we use a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons to uncover when innovation capabilities grow. Over a two-year period, undergraduate engineering majors at different points in their college careers completed concept generation tasks. Their resulting concepts were scored for originality. While no difference was found from freshman to senior year using a cross-sectional comparison, a significant increase in originality was found between separate senior groups at the beginning and end of a capstone course. The difference between the senior groups occurred despite no difference between these students in academic performance or engineering design self-efficacy. In addition, a significant increase in originality was found from junior to senior year using a longitudinal analysis. This increase in originality occurred without corresponding changes in academic performance or engineering design self-efficacy. These results are discussed in relation to prior research regarding the interplay between curricular and individual difference factors in the development of students’ innovation capabilities.

How Engineering Design Students’ Creative Preferences and Cognitive Styles Impact Their Concept Generation and Screening

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Heininger ◽  
Hong-En Chen ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
The Impact

The flow of creative ideas throughout the engineering design process is essential for innovation. However, few studies have examined how individual traits affect problem-solving behaviors in an engineering design setting. Understanding these behaviors will enable us to guide individuals during the idea generation and concept screening phases of the engineering design process and help support the flow of creative ideas through this process. As a first step towards understanding these behaviors, we conducted an exploratory study with 19 undergraduate engineering students to examine the impact of individual traits, using the Preferences for Creativity Scale (PCS) and Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation inventory (KAI), on the creativity of the ideas generated and selected for an engineering design task. The ideas were rated for their creativity, quality, and originality using Amabile’s consensual assessment technique. Our results show that the PCS was able to predict students’ propensity for creative concept screening, accounting for 74% of the variation in the model. Specifically, team centrality and influence and risk tolerance significantly contributed to the model. However, PCS was unable to predict idea generation abilities. On the other hand, cognitive style, as measured by KAI, predicted the generation of creative and original ideas, as well as one’s propensity for quality concept screening, although the effect sizes were small. Our results provide insights into individual factors impacting undergraduate engineering students’ idea generation and selection.

The Effects of the Undergraduate Curriculum and Individual Differences on Student Innovation Capabilities

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trina C. Kershaw ◽  
Carolyn Conner Seepersad ◽  
Katja Hölttä-Otto ◽  
Paul T. Williams ◽  
Adam P. Young ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Individual Difference ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Undergraduate Curriculum ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Freshmen Students ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Graduating Students

Innovation is considered a key to competitiveness of the nation. In order to ensure that graduating students are equipped with innovation skills to meet this challenge, we must ensure that engineering curricula are enhancing students’ innovation capabilities. In this paper we investigate if the undergraduate engineering curriculum can have a significant positive effect on students’ innovation capabilities. In addition, we investigate if individual difference factors, such as engineering design self-efficacy and self-reported GPA, can be correlated with innovation capabilities. To test this, we assessed students’ solutions to specific open ended problems for their level of innovation, or more specifically, originality and technical feasibility. The experiments were replicated at two universities and with a variety of cohorts, including freshman students before and after an introductory engineering course and senior mechanical engineering students before and after a capstone course. We found that that students’ innovation capabilities were enhanced by the senior-level capstone course at both universities. Similar positive results can be found for the overall four year curriculum at both schools. While individual differences in academic performance and engineering design self-efficacy did not predict seniors’ performance, these individual difference factors did interact to influence originality in the freshmen students. At high levels of GPA, increased self-efficacy led to increased originality, but at low levels of GPA, increased self-efficacy led to lower originality scores. Results are discussed in relation to prior research and suggestions are made to track freshmen students to better train future engineers.

scholarly journals Engineering Design Concept Generation: The Effect of Concept Combination and Classification

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurabh Deo ◽  
Katja Hölttä-Otto ◽  
Yogesh Bhalerao ◽  
Abhijeet Malge
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Engineering Problem ◽  
Design Concept ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
World Economic ◽  
Concept Combination ◽  
Primary Focus

Abstract World economic forum reported that creativity is one of the most sought after skills by employers globally. Preliminary research lead to multiple initiatives on enhancing creativity and innovation. To contribute in this field, we investigated the effect of two interventions on the creativity of undergraduate engineering students, particularly on engineering design concept generation. The primary focus of this investigation was on assessing the effect of two interventions, combining and classifying concepts, on the originality and quantity of the concepts produced. In this research, we used the Decision Tree for Originality Assessment in Design (DTOAD) as a measure of concept originality. Statistical analysis showed that both the combine and the classify interventions lead to concept generation with higher originality. We also found that students produced higher number of the radically different concept, i.e. concepts with originality score 7.5 and above, however this effect was observed in all the test groups. These interventions made improvements and thus can be encouraged as a part of an ideation or an engineering problem solving task in the undergraduate engineering education to help the students develop creative skills.

The Degree of Subjective Complaints of Students Practice in Mechanical Technology Laboratories

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
I Ketut Widana
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Standing Position ◽  
Statistical Test ◽  
Rank Test ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Signed Rank ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Signed Rank Test ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Paired T Test

The working practice of the engineering students is part of the learning process that is irreducible and indispensable. The composition of  lecturing between theoretical and practical one is 40% to 60%. With this condition, the students spend more time at the laboratory. Generally, the students perform in the laboratory work by standing position. The design of research is observational cross-sectional. The method applied is observation, interview and measuring. The subjects of research are practicing students amounting to 21 students. Referring to the analysis of statistical test or Wilcoxon signed ranks test, the difference of effect of work position is significant, namely p < 0.05 towards musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) before and after working. The quantity of the average complaint after working is score 44.62 ± 9.47. The result of Wilcoxon signed rank test shows that there is significant different effects of standing work position, namely p < 0.05 towards fatigue generally before and after working. The degree of the working pulse is on the average of 110.78  ± 17.80 bpm (beats per minutes) which can be categorized into the medium workload. Using paired t-test, the result is p < 0.05.

scholarly journals Engineering students’ attitudinal beliefs by gender and student division: a methodological comparison of changes over time

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madison E. Andrews ◽  
Anita D. Patrick ◽  
Maura Borrego
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Value Engineering ◽  
Longitudinal Analyses ◽  
Utility Value ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background Students’ attitudinal beliefs related to how they see themselves in STEM have been a focal point of recent research, given their well-documented links to retention and persistence. These beliefs are most often assessed cross-sectionally, and as such, we lack a thorough understanding of how they may fluctuate over time. Using matched survey responses from undergraduate engineering students (n = 278), we evaluate if, and to what extent, students’ engineering attitudinal beliefs (attainment value, utility value, self-efficacy, interest, and identity) change over a 1-year period. Further, we examine whether there are differences based on gender and student division, and then compare results between cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to illustrate weaknesses in our current understanding of these constructs. Results Our study revealed inconsistencies between cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of the same dataset. Cross-sectional analyses indicated a significant difference by student division for engineering utility value and engineering interest, but no significant differences by gender for any variable. However, longitudinal analyses revealed statistically significant decreases in engineering utility value, engineering self-efficacy, and engineering interest for lower division students and significant decreases in engineering attainment value for upper division students over a one-year period. Further, longitudinal analyses revealed a gender gap in engineering self-efficacy for upper division students, where men reported higher means than women. Conclusions Our analyses make several contributions. First, we explore attitudinal differences by student division not previously documented. Second, by comparing across methodologies, we illustrate that different conclusions can be drawn from the same data. Since the literature around these variables is largely cross-sectional, our understanding of students’ engineering attitudes is limited. Our longitudinal analyses show variation in engineering attitudinal beliefs that are obscured when data is only examined cross-sectionally. These analyses revealed an overall downward trend within students for all beliefs that changed significantly—losses which may foreshadow attrition out of engineering. These findings provide an opportunity to introduce targeted interventions to build engineering utility value, engineering self-efficacy, and engineering interest for student groups whose means were lower than average.

scholarly journals Technopreneurial Intentions: The Effect of Innate Innovativeness and Academic Self-Efficacy

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 238
Author(s):  
Sa’Ed M. Salhieh ◽  
Yousef Al-Abdallat
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Academic Self Efficacy ◽  
Self Administered Questionnaire ◽  
Positive Effect

Several factors can affect students’ intention to start a new technology-based venture (technopreneurial intentions). Understanding these factors is important when developing technical educational programs. This study investigates the effect of innate innovativeness and academic self-efficacy on technopreneurial self-efficacy and the forming of technopreneurial intentions. It does this by developing a conceptual model that relates technopreneurial intentions, technopreneurial self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy, and innate innovativeness. The data was collected from 378 undergraduate engineering students enrolled in a Jordanian university with a self-administered questionnaire survey. The results of the structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS showed that technopreneurial self-efficacy had a positive and significant impact on technopreneurial intentions. Academic self-efficacy had both a direct and indirect positive effect on technopreneurial intention. The indirect effect occurred through increased technopreneurial self-efficacy. Innate innovativeness had a direct effect on technopreneurial intentions, but it did not have a significant indirect effect through technopreneurship self-efficacy as was initially hypothesized. The findings suggest that those who show interest in starting a new technology-based venture have a strong belief in their abilities to perform the technological and entrepreneurial tasks needed, are confident about their ability to acquire the academic technical skills required, and have the inner motivation to seek what is technologically new and different.

Collaborative Information Behaviour of Engineering Students

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasser Saleh ◽  
Andrew Large
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Information Behaviour ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering

Collaborative information behaviour is an emerging area in information science that studies when two or more actors identify, seek, search, and use information to accomplish a task. This paper reports on a recent research investigating the collaborative information behaviour of undergraduate engineering students in the context of engineering design group projects.Le comportement informationnel collaboratif est un sujet émergent en sciences de l’information qui s’intéresse aux moments où deux acteurs ou plus cherchent, repèrent, sélectionnent et utilisent l’information pour accomplir une tâche. Cette communication présente une étude récente sur le comportement informationnel informatif des étudiants en génie dans le contexte de projets de groupe en conception technique.

Initiating Development of a Concept Inventory for Engineering Design

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Mountain
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Concept ◽  
Concept Inventory ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Education Community ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Fundamental Understanding

It has been stated that the topic of design is not conducive to assessment by concept inventory. While design problems are more ambiguous than problems in analytical subjects, such as physics, statics, or thermodynamics; the broader design education community of scholars might agree on a set of concepts that are essential to the fundamental understanding of design. Following a review of textbooks, industry interviews, and other literary sources, this paper will propose a set of commonly accepted overarching concepts that might form a nucleus of an engineering design concept inventory. This is intended primarily to initiate a dialog among the design engineering education community about the future development of a design concept inventory and it’s applicability in assessing the design content knowledge of undergraduate engineering students prior to entering the profession as graduate engineers.

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