An Engineering Learning Community to Promote Retention and Graduation for Community College Students
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 145, Issue 4
Abstract
This study explores an intervention for community college engineering students that holds promise for strengthening the production of engineers. While learning communities at four-year universities have been widely studied and found to be successful at increasing student success, little is known about their efficacy at the community college level, especially in the field of engineering. We used a nonrandomized comparison group pretest posttest design to compare students who participated in the engineering learning community to similar students who did not. This study sought to determine the relationship between participation in the engineering learning community and: course success, fall-to-spring retention, and graduation/transfer. This two-year study demonstrated that an engineering learning community can be effective at the community college level. Students that participated in the engineering learning community experienced a significant improvement in grade point values for one of the three post-test courses studied (mechanics of materials). In addition, the study revealed the odds of both fall-to-spring retention and graduation/transfer were significantly higher for engineering learning community students.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request (pre-test and post-test grade point data, retention data, and graduation/transfer data).
Acknowledgments
This paper was developed from two separate innovation grants entitled, “Engineering TLC: Tutors and Learning Communities,” and “TEAMS: Transforming Engineering Access for Mercer Students,” each funded by Mercer County Community College. The authors would like to thank Mercer County Community College for its commitment to enhance engineering education.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 145 • Issue 4 • October 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 14, 2018
Accepted: Jun 17, 2019
Published online: Aug 12, 2019
Published in print: Oct 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Jan 12, 2020
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