Abstract
Factors that Influence Student Participation in Co-OpsA cooperative education program (co-op) in engineering is a partnership between an academicinstitution and an employer designed to engage students in practical engineering experiencethrough rotations of full-time employment and course study. Co-op employment providesstudents with discipline-relevant professional experience, financial support, and early entry intothe engineering labor force while serving as a recruitment tool for co-op companies. Using asequential mixed-methods approach, this research aims to identify factors that influence studentaccess to and participation in cooperative education programs.The quantitative analysis of co-op participation uses comprehensive, longitudinal academicstudent records from six partner institutions that comprise the Multiple-Institution Database forInvestigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD). MIDFIELD includes 23years of student demographic and transcript data from 1987 through 2009. The qualitativeexamination focuses on individual student interviews from a research-intensive MIDFIELDinstitution. Across MIDFIELD institutions and years, an average of 23% of engineering studentsin the population participated in a co-op experience; however, the fraction of studentsparticipating in co-ops differed by engineering discipline and matriculation year.The logistic regression analysis shows that there is no difference in co-op participation bygender, except in Aerospace engineering where women are 20% more likely than men toparticipate. Meanwhile, Asian, black, and international students are less likely to engage in co-ops than their counterparts. Preliminary findings from the individual student interviews exploringwhy students decided not to pursue co-ops despite an initial interest fall into four broad themes:1) interest in other extracurricular activities and internship options, 2) concerns regarding thelengthy time commitment, 3) uncertainty or not well-developed plans regarding major andemployment goals, and 4) minimum eligibility requirements not met. Research findings have thepotential to be applied toward the development of strategies to further enhance co-op recruitmentand engagement of engineering students from a broader range of backgrounds, interests, andexperiences as a pathway to potentially increase the overall diversity of the professionalengineering labor force.
Keywords
Engineering Education, Co-op education, Student participation
Date of this Version
6-14-2015
Published in:
Main, J. B., & Ohland, M. W., & Ramirez, N., & Fletcher, T. L., & Davis, J. (2015, June), Factors Associated with Student Participation in Cooperative Education Programs (Co-Ops) Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24094
Comments
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2017 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/24094