Relative effectiveness of different first-year engineering seminars

The importance of first-year small group seminars in student retention has been well-documented by many researchers. The offerings of Purdue\´s Department of Freshman Engineering have varied over the years, with instructors continually striving to improve the format and content of the first-year seminar courses. A recent change to one of these seminars has prompted a preliminary evaluation of seminar effectiveness. Three seminars were investigated: ENGR 104, ENGR 103, and ENGR 100. ENGR 104, Introduction to Engineering and Purdue, is led by peer mentors and provides "survival skills" and insight into being an engineering student from the perspective of upper-division engineering students. ENGR 103, Introduction to Careers in Engineering, covers current engineering issues and/or research topics in addition to college "survival skills". ENGR 100, Freshman Engineering Lectures, is a large seminar introduction to the engineering disciplines that is required for all first-year engineering students. It can be taken alone or imbedded in ENGR 103 and ENGR 104. Engineering faculty leads both ENGR 103 and ENGR 100 from Purdue\´s schools of engineering. The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the ways the different seminar types (instructor-led versus student-led and small-group versus large lecture) may affect such outcomes as student satisfaction, confidence in major choice, academic performance, and retention in engineering. In this paper, differences in student retention, interest in and understanding of engineering disciplines and careers, and satisfaction with the seminar offering taken among students in the three different seminars is evaluated. Furthermore, the extent to which students are sure about their choice of major, to which the seminar contributed to this decision, and to which the seminar aided their academic and personal transition to college is discussed.