Increasing the Retention of Incoming Chemical Engineering Undergraduates through Increased Student Connectedness and Autonomy Bryan W. Boudouris School of Chemical Engineering Purdue University Keywords: Introductory Chemical Engineering Course; Student Connectedness; Student Autonomy; Online Access to Material; Retention of Traditionally Underrepresented Groups in Chemical Engineering

Why? The School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University has one of the largest incoming chemical engineering classes each year (~200 students). Therefore, individual attention has not been a key focus in previous offerings. While we educate a large number of students, the data demonstrate that students from traditionally- underrepresented groups are most likely to struggle in the introductory course. The objective of this program is to increase the performance of students from these groups by increasing their connections to the material, their peers, and their instructors while also providing more choices in their route to achieving the learning outcomes for the course.

When? The introductory “Mass and Energy Balances” course (ChE 205) has been offered at Purdue University for many years. Boudouris has served as the instructor since The shift in course focus began in the Fall 2015 semester, which will serve as 1 of 2 baseline semesters. The Fall semester is the larger (or “on”) semester when enrollment is ~180 students. The smaller (~70 students) Spring 2016 semester will serve as the other baseline as these two courses have a very different student composition. Implementation of the program will begin in Fall 2016 and will continue through end of the academic year. The success of students in the program will be tracked for 4 years. This will be coupled with data from previous courses (e.g., Introductory Chemistry) and subsequent courses in the chemical engineering major.

Where? This will be the first attempt to utilize this strategy in the School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. This course is the gateway course for all chemical engineering students in the program. The course meets as 1 section for 3 hours of lecture per week and with 4 different sections for 1 hour of TA-led recitation per week. The teaching paradigm change is designed specifically for a single chemical engineering course. However, multiple introductory level STEM courses are undergoing similar design changes at Purdue. In this way, the entire program is tracking the success of students before and after implementation of the program.

What? We have developed and are in the process of recording short video vignettes regarding common chemical engineering equipment and mass and energy balances problems related to these instruments. Also, we have developed short, formative assessments in order to provide early feedback regarding student performance. The two key challenges observed to date regarding struggling students in the ChE 205 course is that they: (1) do not grasp the terminology/equipment used in practice because it is rather specialized, and (2) they have a misalignment between their perceived and actual abilities to perform on examinations. The two programs above are designed to connect the students to these issues at an early stage in the semester in order to have them more connected with the instructors, material, peers, and future career pathways. With this student buy-in, we anticipate being able to reach more students that traditionally struggle in the course.

Prognosis? Direct impact in the course is measured in 2 manners. – Pre- and post-semester student surveys regarding their connectedness to the material, the instructors, and their peers. – Pre- and post-semester knowledge exams based upon the learning objectives of the course. Furthermore, student performance in Purdue courses will be tracked before and after students complete ChE 205. Scale-up will be facilitated by units at the university level. The largest challenge is successfully delivering technical messages in short, easy-to-watch online clips. The balance between content and time is a very delicate one. Advice regarding how to connect with traditionally- underrepresented groups is always at the top of our list.