CAREER: Choose Your PATH: Identifying and Supporting Undergraduate Academic Decision Points for Persistence, Attrition, Transition, or Hiatus (PATH)

Campbell University, Buies Creek NC

Investigators

Abstract

This project will improve support for undergraduate engineering students who are questioning their choice of major by understanding decision-making patterns and processes and providing resources for students, advisors, and other student support personnel. Changing your major, academic institution, or taking a pause from academic studies is a large decision that many undergraduate students face during their education. Universities provide academic advising and support, however many students make their decisions without accessing these resources or considering all possible options, such as a leave of absence. Once a student leaves engineering, they are unlikely to reconsider that decision, a decision that often has financial implications. In order to better support students who are reconsidering their choice of major, this study will follow undergraduate engineering students to understand how often they reconsider their choice of major and the resources and processes they use while they reconsider their academic path. Survey data will allow us to see patterns in how often students reconsider their choice of major. Interviews will provide student stories, explanations for why they reconsidered their major and what they did while trying to decide their best path forward. Interview and survey data will be used to develop resources to help academic advisors, faculty, and others to recognize when a student might be reconsidering their major and to provide targeted resources and support. Content will also be developed for first-year welcome to college and engineering courses, helping students to realize that reconsidering your major is not uncommon and providing resources to help them make educated decisions. Higher education takes time and money; this project and its outcomes are intended to help students save time and money as well as helping some to stay in engineering by providing support for educated decision-making. This project aligns with the CAREER funding program as the educational components are directly derived from the research. Together they provide the foundation for future research on supporting student decision-making which will lead to faculty development programs and educational materials that can be used by advisors and faculty. This project aligns with the goals of the Division Engineering Education and Centers through its focus on educational research that seeks to promote the creation of 21st century engineers through supporting students when they question their choice of major. This project will explore undergraduate engineering degree decision-making in order to develop a framework that includes factors and inciting events that lead to academic decision points (ADPs) as well as the resources accessed when students question their chosen engineering degree path. A mixed-methods study (cluster analysis, phenomenology, content analysis with triangulation, and thematic analysis) will use longitudinal text message surveys and open-ended interviews from undergraduate engineering students at a variety of institutions to explore the following questions: RQ1: How often and when do students reach an ADP? RQ2: What factors contribute to or are considered at these ADPs? RQ3: What resources do students use to make their decisions? RQ4: How do students experience ADPs? RQ5: How do students evaluate their options to make a decision? Findings from this project will be presented as quantitative results, composite narratives, and a decision-making framework with resources to recognize and support students facing an academic decision point. These results will be shared through conferences, journal articles, workshops, a book of narratives, and a website housing a variety of resources: the Choose your PATH project. Student-facing resources will include video and written vignettes and statistics normalizing questioning and alternate paths. Student support personnel resources will include a peer mentor training guide, implementation guides including assessments for faculty, recommendations for advising including Starfish flags, and narratives to provide insight for families. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.