Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 81 de 957
the beginning and end of the quarter, students were asked to rate themselves as compared
to their peers on the following competencies: self confidence (social), leadership ability,
public speaking ability, math ability, science ability, communication skills, ability to apply
math and science to real world problems, business ability and ability to perform on teams.
A 5-point Likert scale was used for self-reporting: Highest 10%, Above average, Average,
Below average, and Lowest 10%. Students‟ responses were rank-ordered for purposes of
analysis. Two constructs were calculated, organizing students‟ answers into one of two
categories: technical or professional skills. A summary self-rating for technical skills was
calculated as the mean of ranks for math ability, science ability and ability to apply math
and science to real world problems. A summary self-rating for professional skills was
calculated as the mean of ranks for self-confidence (social), leadership ability, public
speaking ability, communication skills, business ability, and ability to perform on teams.
The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare pre- and post- computed technical
skills ratings and professional skills ratings.
Findings
Shaping the Past
We began our analysis with the qualitative data gathered from open-ended survey and
interview questions. A first coding pass confirmed previous research findings. Of the 12
students in the study, 10 described that the experience of portfolio studio and developing
a professional portfolio resulted for them in a new way of looking at and conceptualizing
their past experiences. In particular, students reported that they found value in
experiences they had not previously thought valuable, and that they had gained a greater
appreciation for their past accomplishments. For example, Brian had been on a mission
trip to Juarez, and said of his mission trip to Juarez to build houses, “I had always thought
of this experience as a cool thing that I got to do…but through the portfolio, I linked the
house-building to engineering.” Jin-Ho had been “fiddling with modeling clay for most of
my life.” He added, “[A]fter reflecting on it, I realized that I have been thinking like an
engineer about even something as seemingly non-engineering related as that.” In addition
to these specific experiences, students like Christopher described their newfound
accomplishments more generally, “It was very rewarding in the end to see how much
work I actually had done in my past.” For Christopher, it was “eye opening.” He added, “It
is amazing to look back at the past with the portfolio in mind and see how many
experiences are applicable.” Jin-Ho said of these discoveries, “It's like digging up your
closet and finding a 50 dollar bill in your old jacket that you haven't used in a few years.”
Shaping the Future
In addition to reframing their past experiences, to a lesser extent students reframed their
future goals. Nine of the 12 students described adjusting their short-term goals in light of
needs they identified after reflecting on their experiences. For some of these students, this
meant identifying specific actions they intended to take, like getting an internship or
research experience. Jake said, “[A]fter looking at the work I have done, I feel that there
need to be more research/projects within my field, of which I have not done so much.”
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011