Visualization and analysis of student enrollment patterns in foundational engineering courses

• Autores: David Reeping, David Knight, Jacob R. Grohs, Scott W. Case
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 35, no. 1 (Parte A ), 2019, págs. 142-155
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The literature in engineering education and higher education has examined the implications of course-taking patterns onstudent development and success. However, little work has analyzed the trajectories of students who need to retake coursesin the curriculum, especially those deemed to be fundamental to a student’s program of study, or sequences of courses.Sequence analysis in R was used to leverage historical transcript data from institutional research at a large, public, Land-Grant university to visualize student trajectories within individual courses—with attention to those who re-enrolled incourses—and the pathways students took through a sequence of courses. This investigation considered students enrolled inintroductory mechanics courses that are foundational for several engineering majors: Statics, Dynamics, and Strength ofMaterials (also called Mechanics of Deformable Bodies). This paper presents alluvial diagrams of the course-takingsequences and transition matrices for the different possible grades received upon subsequent attempts for the Mechanicscore courses to demonstrate how visualizing students’ paths through sequences of classes by leveraging institutional datacan identify patterns that might warrant programs to reconsider their curricular policies.