• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.98-107
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• 2012

As the dropout rate of university students is gradually increasing, the studies on exploring the status, characteristics, reasons, and countermeasures of dropout of university students are currently grabbing high attention. This paper analyzes the relationship between the admission types and dropout of university students, mainly focused on engineering students. The analysis shows that the dropout rate of engineering students admitted through the scheduled-time admission procedures is quite higher than that of students admitted through non-scheduled-time admission procedures, the dropout rate of engineering students admitted from the vocational high schools is higher than that of students from the academic high schools, and the dropout rate of engineering students admitted from the liberal art high school tracks is higher than that of students from the natural science high school tracks. From the results, we could find out that student-support programs need to be carefully provided for the engineering university students according to their admission types and underlying backgrounds.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.64-73
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore characteristics of engineering students' Interpersonal Problems, Emotional Clarity, and Empathic Ability compared with humanities and social sciences students. A total of 739 college students participated in the study (459 enginerring students and 280 humanities and social sciences students). We tested research question by employing the t-test. The result showed that engineering students have higher level of clarity of feelings, perspective taking, empathic concern and lower level of attention to feelings, personal distress than humanities and social sciences students. Moreover, engineering students showed lower level of cold, socially avoidant, exploitable problems than humanities and social sciences students. We dicussed that programs aiming at developing engineering students' emotional awareness and improving their interpersonal relationships should be provided.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.436-445
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• 2019

This study presents how two types of integrated science and engineering lessons affect students' engineering problem solving skills and their perceptions of engineering. In total, 146 middle school students participated in this study. Eighty-six students participated in the Type I lesson (complete engineering design lesson with a science knowledge application) and 60 students participated in the Type II lesson (engineering design without a science knowledge application). Two main datasets, (1) students' Creative Engineering Problem Solving Propensity (CEPSP) measurement scores and (2) open-ended survey questions about students' perceptions of engineering, were collected before and after the lessons. The results of this study show that after participating in the Type I lesson, students' CEPSP scores significantly increased, whereas the CEPSP scores of the students who participated in the Type II lesson did not increase significantly. In addition, students who participated in the Type I lesson perceived engineering and the engineering integrated science lesson differently compared to the students who participated in the Type II lesson. The results of this study show that engineering integrated science, technology, engineering & mathematics (STEM) lessons should include a complete engineering design and a science knowledge application to improve students' engineering problem solving skills.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.14-22
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• 2017

This research aims to explore characteristics of engineering students' thinking styles compared with those of undergraduate students in Korea. For this, we investigated whether there were differences of thinking styles in undergraduates according to majors and gender. 'Thinking styles', one individual-difference variable, has received particular attention in recent years. Styles are not abilities but rather refer to individuals' preferred way of applying their abilities in cognitive tasks(Sternberg, 1988). There has been much research(domestic and foreign) about thinking styles and their related factors. However, to date, little attention has been paid to engineering students' thinking styles, and few studies have dealt with them together with undergraduate students' of various majors. This study was conducted with a total of 865 students from 3 universities, and thinking styles have been measured online. Our findings show that firstly, there were significant differences in undergraduate students' thinking styles by majors. Engineering students scored significantly higher in external style, students majoring in humanities scored higher in executive, hierarchical and conservative styles, and students majoring in arts scored higher in legislative, internal and liberal styles. Second, there was a significant difference in students' thinking styles by gender. Male students scored significantly higher than females in judicial, global and external styles. Whereas female students scored higher than males in hierarchical and internal styles. Third, there was a significant difference in engineering students' thinking styles by gender. Male engineering students scored significantly higher than females in judicial and monarchic styles. Whereas female engineering students scored significantly higher in hierarchical styles. Based on these findings, it is expected to apply thinking styles to develop related courses as well as programs for engineering students.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.18-31
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• 2019

In addition to technical skills and competencies, communication competence has been identified to be important to engineering students who will be drivers of innovation in a rapidly changing society. Drawing on the previous studies, this research examines the results of an empirical exploration of engineering students' perception of speaking ability and their communicative competence. To date, there has been most of the research conducted on 'writing' (e.g., its educational process, class designs, ability, etc.) for engineering students. However, relatively little attention has been paid to engineering students' speaking ability perception and their competence diagnosis. This study relies on quantitative data obtained from one survey questionnaire and one test conducted respectively. The sample consists of 386 engineering students as well as 481 non-engineering students for the 1st survey. And to measure communicative competence, 150 engineering students as well as 136 non-engineering students participated in the test. Our findings show that firstly, there were significant differences in perception of speaking ability by majors and gender. Whereas there was no difference in the same survey by grade. Secondly, there was a close and significant relationship between sub-factors of speaking ability. Thirdly, there were significant differences in communicative competence by majors. Whereas there was no difference by gender and grade. Fourthly, there was a close and significant relationship between sub-factors of communicative competence. These findings are expected to provide an explanation for the improvement on engineering students' speaking ability and to encourage the participation in extra-curricular activities and programs in engineering school.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.3-16
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• 2023

This study was to investigate the operation status and the students' perception for both theory-focused and practice-focused online class in engineering college that were implemented in responses to COVID-19. For this purpose of the study, the survey including the open-ended questions were conducted to the 147 students in college of engineering in 2021 at one of the universities located in the metropolitan area. The survey were analyzed by SPSS 26.0 and then findings were as follows. First, while the most students were satisfied with the operation of online classes that were implemented in response to COVID-19, many students were unsatisfied with the practice-focused online class. Also, there were some differences in the level of students' satisfaction for some factors of online class operation in terms of the students' background. Second, there were significant differences in some parts of students' satisfaction in terms of the background of students. specifically, males students were more satisfied with the supports of teaching assistant in online classes than female students and the junior and senior levels of students are more satisfied with the teaching strategies of online classes than freshman and sophomore year students. Third, the level of students' satisfaction was different in terms of the types of online platforms as well as the methods of communication between students and professors. Finally, even though the students in the college of engineering understand the benefits in the online classes, they indicated the limitations and difficulties for participating in practice-focused online class and demanded the improvement of the operation for the online lab classes. The further research needs to be conducted to investigate the status of operation for online lab and practice classes in college of engineering.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.46-55
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to develop the character index instrument for engineering college students. For this, literature review and survey were used. The survey was conducted with 275 engineering college students in D university. Finally, draft of character index instrument for engineering college students was developed with 10 factors and 47 questions. Based on the results, the investigation of engineering college students' needs is necessary to conduct for developing character education programs. And it is necessary to research validity of the draft of character index instrument for engineering college students. It is necessary to develop various convergence subjects by experiencing the character substantially for engineering college students.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.51-58
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• 2015

This research was conducted to assess the effects of an engineering education accreditation program devised by the University of Seoul on higher education outcomes by comparing and analyzing the evaluation results of engineering accredited students (31) and those who are not accredited (47) with the OECD AHELO (Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes) in 2013. The AHELO assessment tool consisted of 25 multiple-choice questions which evaluated generic skill-learning outcomes, also using contextual surveys to establish the students' backgrounds. The results were evaluated statistically. In the results from the multiple-choice exam for generic skill learning outcomes, accredited students scored 1.35 points higher than non-accredited students. Secondly, according to the contextual survey related to students' university education experience, such as lectures, seminars, group projects, and online tutoring, it was found that accredited students were provided more activities in seminars and group projects. Moreover, for class activities, more of these were provided to accredited students, especially in the areas of assortment-structuralization and teamwork-based activities. Thirdly, according to the contextual survey results related to participation in class, specifically regarding asking questions and participating in discussions, interacting with the professor, and opportunities for study time, there were no recognizable differences between accredited and non-accredited students, However, while accredited students at least had opportunities to gain experience in most areas, there were some areas for which education resources were not provided to non-accredited students. Therefore, for the University of Seoul, our results imply that accredited students may show better performance in the areas of academic accomplishment and in their educational environment as compared to non-accredited students. These results demonstrate that the engineering education accreditation program positively contributes to employment competitiveness while also improving the necessary global standards of higher education outcomes.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.291-300
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• 2020

Newly graduated students are shown to constitute an important source of innovation within the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. In relation to digital technologies like BIM (Building Information Modelling) that is claimed to have a potential to transform the industry, newly graduated students may play a vital role in innovating with BIM. The paper aims to explore determinants for students perceived potential of BIM use (PPBU) and the role of the educational background. The aim will be achieved by analysing the results from a survey conducted among third- and fourth-year students in construction and civil engineering in Hong Kong, Sweden, and Thailand (n = 194). When the different groups are compared Swedish and Thai students perceive a significant higher PPBU than Hong Kong students. In a step-wise multiple regression analysis five predictors for PPBU were identified for Thai respectively Swedish students, and one predictor was identified for Hong Kong students. It is concluded that in the contemporary BIM-discourse it is claimed that BIM can/should transform the industry, and BIM is even seen as a disruptive technology, and newly graduated students will contribute to (digitally driven) innovation. However, from the predictors of PPBU, the question can raised if the awareness of the need for structural changes is lacking in the education, if students later in their working life should contribute to a BIM-induced transformation of the industry?

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.47-57
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• 2022

This research aims to examine the relationships between empathy and attitudes toward curricula integration of engineering students. To achieve this goal, first, differences in empathy and attitudes toward curricula integration among engineering students were examined. Second, the effects of attitudes toward curricula integration, as perceived by engineering undergraduate students, on empathy were explored. A total of three hundred and two engineering undergraduate students from three universities in Korea responded to survey based on a two-variables scale. The findings were that, firstly, a positive correlation among sub-factors of empathy and attitudes toward curricula integration was identified. Secondly, attitudes toward curricula integration could explain about 12% of empathy. The practical implications of these findings are discussed herein, with particular attention on education for promotion of empathy for engineering students.