Assessment of Short and Longer-term Impacts of a 1-credit Chemical Engineering First-Year Seminar.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18260/2-1-370.660-129531Abstract
We report the short- and longer-term impacts of offering a 1-credit introductory seminar to first-year chemical engineering students. Students who completed the seminar demonstrated a better awareness of the major, career opportunities, and academic success strategies than students who did not enroll in the seminar. A longer-term comparison showed that even though students who opted to enroll in the seminar were less confident to start, by graduation there were no significant differences in retention or academic performance between students who did or did not take the seminar course. Therefore, we encourage departments to consider offering a chemical engineering first-year seminar.