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Abstract
A high level of student engagement with the academic content of degree programs and experiential learning is often linked to positive academic outcomes. Cocurricular activities that effectively enhance student involvement tend to promote academic self-efficacy. This paper presents results of a pilot program in which a cohort of engineering and technology students were intensively mentored and actively engaged in academic cocurricular activities with the goal of enhancing student self-efficacy. Results are drawn from quantified student performance against common benchmarks, and student perceptions of their academic experiences as given through surveys and personal interviews. These results indicate that students were more interactive with academic content than their peers outside the pilot program, and that overt measures to encourage student engagement appeared to be effective in enhancing academic immersion and long-term student success.
1. Introduction
Academic engagement may be broadly defined as the student's depth of interaction with the academic content of their degree program, and with the college experience. More specifically it is evidence of the quality of effort (Pace 1980) students apply to educationally purposeful activities (Hu and Kuh 2002) that affects their level of learning. Through concerted involvement, the student develops habits of mind that augment their foundation of skills, and thus, their disposition for fulfillment in their careers and lives (Kuh 2003). Engagement represents a connection, or relationship, with the academic environment that enables the student to overcome a perceived risk associated with learning (Case 2008). Students who are actively engaged in academic cocurricular activities, both in and out of the classroom, are more likely to persist in their degree paths, to have higher grades, to show improved psychological adjustment to college life (Ohland et al. 2008), and improved ethical/ professional development (Finelli et al. 2012).
While the effects of engagement may be observed across the spectrum of higher education, there exist differing formulations of it as pertains to the student's educational goals. Among students in the arts and humanities, the focus may be on conceptual development of ideas and interpersonal communication, whereas students in the sciences and engineering typically focus on improvement in technical and collaborative skills targeting future employment. Both these paths are, however, positive indicators of students who would seek advanced degrees (Brint, Cantwell, and Hanneman 2008). Although...