Meaning to Succeed: Learning Strategies of First-Year Engineering Transfer Students

student information asymmetries, threshold concepts in electrical and computer engineering, agent-based modeling of educational systems, and advancing quantitative integrated Abstract The Evidence-Based Practice paper describes the learning approaches and strategies used by engineering transfer students in a design-based foundations course. Studying the learning strategies of engineering transfer students is important because the population of engineering transfer students is increasing, and is often more diverse and underserved than the general population of entering engineering students. This type of student presents a largely untapped source of engineers to address the current national shortage [1], even though attrition rates of transfer students from engineering programs is high Although a large number of studies about learning approaches and strategies exist in the literature, relatively little is known about the specific learning approaches and strategies used by engineering transfer students, much less students who continue their pre-engineering degree program coursework at a different institution than where they began their postsecondary education. Both first-year engineering students and engineering transfer students often develop the habit of working on homework assignments and studying for tests at the last minute, just-in-time to meet a deadline. The habit of attempting to learn both technical and non-technical material on short notice, which is indicative of poor time management and an underestimation of how long the work will take, often results in substandard academic performance These students may struggle later on, when they encounter a greater demand for conceptual knowledge, coupled with a heavier course workload in their upper level courses. As a result, they may choose to disengage from their course work rather than apply an approach to learning that would enable them to be more successful in their learning, as well as achieve higher grades. A better understanding of the existing learning approaches and strategies used by these students is a necessary starting point for the mitigation of their potential academic disengagement. The participants in this study included 61 students who transferred from either a four-year or two-year higher education institution. Results revealed that there was a difference in learning approaches and strategies between what students expressed as goals for learning and what they do to achieve them. Learning strategies related to goals were linked to externally-driven influences, such as homework and test deadlines, yet many participants used specific learning strategies which exhibited an internal desire for deeper understanding of course material, with the intent to retain it for future use. the urgency to meet deadlines is a way of life, educators can do more to encourage learning strategies for the retention of knowledge to better prepare for higher level coursework and counteract the threat of academic disengagement. The study results will inform educators about what types of guided practice may be useful to encourage these students to adopt and/or reinforce learning strategies that will help them to be more su ccessful in their current and future courses.