Relation between Out-of-Classroom Engagement Activities and Student Performance

In this study, the relation between out of classroom engagement activities and student performances, measured through GPAs, for engineering undergraduate students in civil, environmental and naval engineering majors is assessed.Five different categories of events were identified-career development, community building, physical activity, academic support, and field trips.Attendance at each event was tracked and academic performance after the semester with activities was analyzed.In AY 2023-2024, the department hosted twenty-one undergraduate out-of-classroom activities.Among these, eleven were classified as career-related, three as department community development, one as physical activity, four as academic support events, and two as field trips.Out of the 249 students in the department, 199 attended at least one event.T-tests were used to identify statistically significant differences between attendance rates and performances among different cohorts of students.Correlation coefficients, simple linear regression, and graphical analyses were used to identify the association between student performances and attendance at events.Senior students were more likely to attend events compared to juniors, sophomores, and first year students.There were no statistically significant differences between attendance rates of juniors, sophomores, and first year students.At the end of the Spring 2024 semester, students who attended at least one event had an average GPA that was significantly higher than those who did not attend any event.Furthermore, the average GPAs had a strong positive association with the number of events attended.These trends also held consistent when students were grouped as seniors, juniors, sophomores, and first year.Trends among groups such as participants in the co-op program, international students and student athletes were also studied.Co-op and international students who attended at least one event appeared to have a higher GPA than those who did not attend any.However, these differences were not statistically significant, possibly due to small sample sizes.Student athletes, on the other hand, had almost the same average GPAs among those who attended events and those who did not.The data indicates participation in out of classroom engagement activities and student academic performances have a strong association.Tracking temporal trends over multiple years may provide valuable information that could aid in supporting increased student success.