Learning Expectations and Outcomes for an Engineering Leadership Principles Class

• Published in: Association for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers p. 23.851.1
• Main Authors: Hochstedt, Kirsten S, Erdman, Andrew Michael, Schuhmann, Richard John
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta American Society for Engineering Education-ASEE 23.06.2013
• Subjects: Colleges & universities; Complex systems; Complexity; Content analysis; Curricula; Engineering; Engineering education; Leadership; Learning; Principles; Product design; Students

Learning Expectations and Outcomes for an Engineering Leadership Principles ClassAbstractMany institutions have advisory groups who offer advice on curricular issues, such as academicobjectives and industry needs. However, students’ educational expectations are often absent fromthis definition process. Course objectives in place today depend in large part upon the worldviewof those teaching. Therefore, course-specific facets related to engineering leadership (e.g.,innovation in product design and managing complex systems) require course-specific assessmentto determine efficacy. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into student leadershiplearning expectations and measured performance. This study addresses these issues by recordingstudent expectations for an engineering leadership principles class. The study then places theseexpectations within the perspective of the defined curriculum outcomes. This investigation isparticularly important given the complexity of developing an understanding of leadershipprinciples applied in an engineering context.Data were collected in a large public university’s introductory engineering leadership class.Across three academic semesters, a total of 90 students took both the pre-course and post-courseleadership principles survey. The goal of this survey was to understand how students acquirecharacteristics related to leadership. Additionally, a student expectations assessment, wherebystudents were asked what three different leadership attributes they would like to develop, wascollected from the same student class cohorts. The three attributes they listed were analyzedusing content analysis principles, which yielded 13 categories (e.g., vision/forward-thinking).The results from the leadership principles survey and student expectations assessment werelinked by matching the five most frequently listed student-reported expectation attributes to thecontent of the leadership principles survey items. These two assessments were linked in order toevaluate the efficacy of the student leadership principles course as well as compare measuredoutcomes with respect to student-reported expectations. The five most frequently listed student-reported expectation attributes were: 1) confidence, 2) communication ability, 3) trust in teammembers, 4) ability to inspire-motivate, and 5) ability to exercise sound judgment. The averagestudent responses on the learning principles survey from pre-course to post-course for all fivestudent-identified learning expectations shifted in the anticipated direction of response, whichindicates the class positively changed students’ reported leadership principles efficacy. There is astrong relationship between student-identified learning expectations and improved understandingof the related leadership principles.