Study 3
Large Cross-Institutional Quantitative Study of Engineering Schools
In Study Three we further tested the hypotheses by inviting a representative sample of engineering schools to participate in an in-depth study to analyze engineering students’ global preparedness as the result of their academic and non-academic international experiences. Based on the results from Study 2, a shorter, revised instrument was developed. Because of the relatively high correlation between the GPI and EGPI combined with the much wider use of the GPI nationally, a decision to use only the GPI was made. Items that were no longer essential to the research or did not support the theoretical framework were also removed from the instrument. The result was an instrument that asked students to indicate all international experiences they had, and to provide detailed information on the most recent experiences. International experiences included personal tourism, study abroad, second language acquisition (ability to speak; ability to take a course in that language); international service learning; and internship or co-op abroad . For each international experience, programmatic factors such as duration of time spend abroad, change in comfort level, extent of reflection were asked.
Samples were collected from 13 engineering programs, selected based on their interest in international engineering education, geographic location, and affiliation in an effort to be representative of US programs that are supportive of such activities. The study culminated in a workshop around the effectiveness of various international experiences on engineering students global preparedness at Lehigh University in May 2017.
Study 3 Related Publications
Shuman, L., R. Clark, S. Streiner, M. Besterfield-Sacre (2016). “Achieving Global Competence – Are Our Freshman Already There?”, 2016 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, New Orleans, LA, June 2016
Shuman, L.,S. Streiner, M. Besterfield-Sacre, G. Ragusa, C. Matherly, and L. Benson (2017). “Assessing the Spectrum of International Undergraduate Engineering Educational Experiences: A Cross-Institutional Study”, accepted for the 2017 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Columbus, OH, June 2017