Self Efficacy Beliefs Of First Year Engineering Students: In Their Own Words

This paper describes the design and evaluation of a novel assessment for first-year engineering design courses that is rooted in an authentic design challenge. This approach modifies the traditional written-exam approach typically found in engineering courses, which is inherently inauthentic and cannot easily capture the exploratory nature of engineering design. Our assessment improves alignment with common learning objectives found in first-year engineering design courses and additionally prepares students for the type of case study interviews that are increasingly common for entry-level engineering jobs. To evaluate our assessment, 50 first-year students completed the engineering design self-efficacy instrument once before beginning the assessment and a second time approximately 48 hours later upon completion of a reflection assignment. In addition, students retrospectively reported their perceived change in self-efficacy during the assessment. Analysis shows that students perceived a large retrospective increase in skill level, despite only a small increase in directly measured self-efficacy. These results are analyzed in light of the Dunning-Kruger effect and we posit that the assessment helps to align students’ self-efficacy with their actual skill level. Increased alignment of self-efficacy with skill level may minimize student frustration when encountering challenging tasks in the future, potentially increasing retention of engineering students as well as facilitating the development of lifelong learning attitudes.

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Learning Strategies Model to Enhance Thai Undergraduate Students’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs in EIL Textual Reading Performance

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ◽

10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.6p.19 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (6) ◽

pp. 19

Author(s):

Jiraporn Kakaew ◽

Anamai Damnet

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Learning Strategies ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

English Education ◽

Reading Performance ◽

Efficacy Beliefs ◽

First Year ◽

Language Learning Strategies ◽

Thai Students

This classroom based research of a learning strategies model was designed to investigate its application in a mixed-ability classroom. The study built on Oxford’s language learning strategies model (1990, 2001) and fulfilled it with rhetorical strategies to accommodate challenges encountered in the paradigm of English as an international language (EIL). The main purpose aimed to explore Thai students’ self-efficacy beliefs (SE) in reading different texts regarding both Western and Asian styles after receiving a strategies-based training. In this research, thirty-three first-year undergraduate students majoring in English Education were purposively selected as participants for the training. The data from pre and post questionnaires focusing on students’ self-efficacy beliefs was analyzed using descriptive statistic and thematic analysis. The results revealed that students believed to have higher efficacy in EIL textual reading after learning strategies-based training. The presentation will also include discussion and suggestion in implementing rhetorical-language learning strategies in the classroom.

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The Effects of Gamified Flipped Learning Method on Student’s Innovation Skills, Self-Efficacy towards Virtual Physics Lab Course and Perceptions

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su131810163 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (18) ◽

pp. 10163

Author(s):

Hana Dler Ahmed ◽

Gulsum Asiksoy

Keyword(s):

Physics Education ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Control Group ◽

First Year ◽

Flipped Learning ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Digital Platforms ◽

Laboratory Courses

Laboratory courses are extremely important in Physics education in terms of providing a better understanding of the theoretical course subjects by the students. However, since the COVID-19 epidemic caused education to be carried out remotely and digitally all over the world, practical as well as theoretical courses were moved to digital platforms. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of the Gamified Flipped Learning (GFL) method on students’ physics self-efficacy and innovation skills in a virtual physics laboratory course. The study was carried out with true experimental design and the participants were a total of 70 first-year engineering students, which were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group was trained with the GFL method, the control group was trained with Classical Flipped Learning (CFL) method. Data were collected from a physics self-efficacy questionnaire, innovative skills questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews form. The research results showed that GFL method has a positive impact on the innovation skills of students although insignificant improvement was introduced by gamified-flipped learning on students’ self-efficacy. In addition, the interviews with the students revealed a positive perception of gamification, by mentioning some important aspects of the process that were extremely beneficial.

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Freshman Engineering Students At-Risk Of Non-Matriculation: Self-Efficacy For Academic Learning

American Journal of Engineering Education (AJEE) ◽

10.19030/ajee.v7i1.9681 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 9-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jeremy Ernst ◽

Bradley D. Bowen ◽

Thomas O. Williams

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Risk Indicators ◽

Academic Learning ◽

First Year ◽

Grade Point ◽

Cumulative Grade Point Average ◽

Item Level ◽

Not At Risk

Students identified as at-risk of non-academic continuation have a propensity toward lower academic self-efficacy than their peers (Lent, 2005). Within engineering, self-efficacy and confidence are major markers of university continuation and success (Lourens, 2014 Raelin, et al., 2014). This study explored academic learning self-efficacy specific to first-year engineering students with at-risk indicators. The at-risk determination was made through trajectory to matriculate, classified by cumulative grade point average of academic studies. An adapted version of the Self-efficacy for Learning (SEL) scale, modified by Klobas, Renzi and Nigrelli (2007), was administered to freshman engineering students identified at-risk and not at-risk of matriculation. Internal consistency of the SEL was analyzed and once deemed satisfactory (Cronbach alpha = .94), item-level outcome comparisons between student subgroups were made for each of the 22 instrument items.

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COVID-19 Beliefs, Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance in First-year University Students: Cohort Comparison and Mediation Analysis

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.643408 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Kate Talsma ◽

Kayleigh Robertson ◽

Cleo Thomas ◽

Kimberley Norris

Keyword(s):

Academic Performance ◽

Mediation Analysis ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Psychology Students ◽

Efficacy Beliefs ◽

Performance Outcomes ◽

First Year ◽

Cohort Differences ◽

The Impact ◽

Academic Self Efficacy

Students’ learning contexts can influence their learning beliefs and academic performance outcomes; as such, students studying during the COVID-19 outbreak may be at risk of negative impacts on their academic self-efficacy and subject grades compared to other cohorts. They may also have specific beliefs about the impact of COVID-19-related changes on their capacity to perform, with potential consequences for self-efficacy and academic performance. Two weeks after the COVID-19-related transition to online-only learning, 89 first-year psychology students completed a measure of academic self-efficacy and indicated how they thought COVID-19-related changes would impact their capacity to perform in a psychology subject. At the end of the semester, subject grades were obtained from institutional records. Contrary to expectations, neither the self-efficacy beliefs nor the subject grades of the 2020 cohort were significantly different from those of a sample of 2019 first-year psychology students (n = 85). On average, 2020 students believed that COVID-19-related changes to their learning environment had a negative impact on their capacity to perform well. A mediation analysis indicated that students’ beliefs about the impact of COVID-19 on their capacity did not directly, or indirectly (via self-efficacy), predict grades. The only significant association in the model was between self-efficacy and grades. Although students reported believing that COVID-19-related changes would negatively impact their capacity to perform, there is little evidence that these beliefs influenced their academic self-efficacy or academic performance or that studying during the COVID-19 outbreak disadvantaged students in comparison with the previous years. A follow-up analysis indicated that self-efficacy was a stronger predictor of grades in the 2020 cohort than in the 2019 cohort. While there may be several unmeasured reasons for cohort differences, one potential interpretation is that, in the context of uncertainty associated with COVID-19, self-efficacy beliefs assumed relatively greater importance in terms of mobilising the resources required to perform well.

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