The purpose of this study is to improve the persistence and academic outcomes of undergraduate students majoring in aerospace engineering (AE) by studying their pre-university academic abilities, demographic characteristics, and early experiences at a university. To explore significant factors that predict students' persistence and academic success, data were collected from first-year AE students from 2011 to 2016 at a large Midwestern university in the United States. Two data sets were analyzed: data from a Registrar's Office on students' demographic characteristics and data from an online survey, derived from Tinto's model of institutional departure, completed by students within 4 to 6 weeks of joining the university. Logistics regression analyses were run to highlight the factors that affected students' persistence and academic success in AE. High school preparation was positively related to predicting academic success and persistence for AE students. Coping with academic work, satisfaction with academic life, and being a part of a learning community were also important factors for AE students' academic success and persistence. Social experiences at the university did not impact students' persistence and students' academic outcomes. Early personalized interventions may help students persist in the AE program.

It is essential that elementary students are exposed to engineering at an early age to help build a base of knowledge on which to expand later in their schooling. With the world constantly advancing in terms of technology, elementary education (ELED) teachers are not well equipped to teach engineering to elementary students. With this in mind, for the past two decades Iowa State University has offered a course, Toying with Technology (TwT), for ELED majors, which addresses the issue at hand. The course not only teaches basic engineering through hands-on activities but also trains the students in building engineering lesson plans and teaching them to elementary students. This study gathered qualitative data by conducting focus group interviews with the students (N = 30) enrolled in the TwT course. Inferences made from the qualitative analysis will help in understanding the impact of the class on ELED students and their challenges. Modifications to the TwT course will be proposed so that future ELED students can be better taught these concepts and be comfortable teaching them to elementary students.

In this research, we examine the effects of online lectures on engineering students' course performances and students' attitudes towards online learning. Specifically, we compare performances of students enrolled in a traditionally taught, lecture format Mechanics of Materials course with students in an online Mechanics of Materials course in Summer 2016 and examine the students' attitudes towards learning Mechanics of Materials online. To see the effect of the two different teaching approaches across student types, students are categorized by gender, enrollment status, English proficiency, and grades students obtained for Statics, one of the prerequisite courses for Mechanics of Materials. The findings can highlight the types of students who benefit from an online Mechanics of Materials course. The larger goal of this study is to determine if the online pedagogy can improve students' academic performance for different types of students and to determine its applicability for the university on a larger scale.

Continuous developments in web technology and the use of online teaching mediums such as Blackboard has made it easier to conduct online courses. Online courses are being offered in universities around the U.S. and are getting increasingly popular due to the flexibility of schedule, availability of a wide variety of course materials and integrated clips which could offer an effective delivery method for teaching and the possibility of a reduced degree cost. It is necessary to take into account contemporary student attitudes towards online pedagogy to improve the content provided and which aspects of the course to focus on. With the increasing popularity of online courses, it has become essential to provide quality education through these mediums by a continuous effort to improve the course content and delivery. The course under scrutiny is Mechanics of Materials course which was conducted during the summer of 2016 at Iowa State University. The course consisted of weekly modules which was inclusive of topic video lectures, instructor solved sample problem videos, course materials and assignments which were to be submitted at the end of each week. Each module consisted of 3-4 topics introducing new concepts and solved sample problems. Each topic video were approximately 12 minutes long and the sample problem videos were 10 minutes. Apart from modules students could contact the professor via email regarding questions or use the online office hours where the professor and students could virtually meet. An anonymous survey was administered at the end of the course to all students who were enrolled for the course. The survey consisted of demographic questions about the student, open ended questions and Likert type questions about various aspects of the course. The survey will be analyzed for common themes among students from different demographic characteristics. Also each students’ progress throughout the semester had been tracked which include assignments and test scores. The students’ performance in theses online assignments which were topic specific will help us understand which modules were problematic to students. By using the data obtained from the survey and the scores obtained by the students we will revise the specific modules, lecture videos, assignments and tests for a better course content and delivery. This will also give insight into attitudes of student categories based on demographic characteristics.

This research paper elaborates on the process used by a team of researchers to create a codebook from interviews of Civil Engineers, including students, professors, and professionals, solving ill-structured problems. The participants solved two ill-structured problems while they verbalized their solution process. In addition to recording the participant verbalization, the solution to their problems were also collected with the use of a smart pen. Creating a codebook from interviews is a key element of qualitative engineering education research forming the basis for the analysis. While individuals can create codebooks for analysis, a team-based approach is advantageous especially when dealing with large amounts of data. A team-based approach involves an iterative process of inter-rater reliability essential to the trustworthiness of the data analysis. In addition to coding the transcripts as a team, which consisted of novice, intermediate, and experts in the engineering education field, the audio and written solution to the problems were also coded. The use of multiple data sources to obtain data, and not just the verbatim transcripts, is lesser studied in engineering education literature and provides opportunities for a more detailed qualitative analysis. Initial codes were created from existing literature, which were refined through an iterative process. This process consisted of coding data, team consensus on coded data, codebook refinement, and recoding data with the refined codes. Results show that coding verbatim transcripts might not provide and accurate representation of data which may lead to erroneous results. Benefits, challenges and recommendations regarding the use multiple sources to obtain valid data are discussed while considering the amount of time required to conduct such analysis.