First-Year Design Projects and Student Perceptions of the Role of an Engineer

Contribution: This article provides an examination of changes in first-year engineering students’ perceptions of the role of an engineer after completing the Engineers Without Borders Challenge. Background: Essential pre- and post-comparisons missing in existing studies on the Challenge are provided, as well as comparison to other first-year project types across two universities. Research Question: Do students who participate in service-learning versus traditional project-based learning gain different understandings of the role of an engineer? Methodology: This work implements the questionnaire variant of convergent mixed methods design. A survey containing a mix of Likert-scale, open-ended short answer, and closed card sorting questions was administered to students enrolled in first-year engineering (FYE) courses across two institutions. Limitations of this work include potential bias due to the pre/post survey design and participant course self-selection. Findings: Students’ perceptions of the roles of engineers did not significantly differ by project type. However, changes in their perceptions of technical skills as important to the role of engineers did indicate the beginning of a transition from discipline level thinking to process level thinking. Additionally, course learning objectives influenced students’ perceptions of the role of engineers—with an increase in awareness of the importance of problem solving, communication, design process, and teamwork and a decreasing sense of importance of items missing from course objectives, such as creativity and helping people. Engineers’ professional responsibility to diversity, equity, and inclusion were absent from both the course syllabi and student perceptions of the role of an engineer.