Students' perceptions of the engineering profession and implications for interest in the field

Understanding personal learning goals and perceptions of engineering is critical in encouraging students' interest in the field. This work defines engineering in terms of the students' course-related learning outcomes (e.g., skills and knowledge) described in the latest version of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000). We argue that aligning students' perceptions of course task value with the EC2000 should enhance students' perceptions of the engineering profession and increase their interest in the field overall. Using student interviews from a larger study of instructor and student experiences in three undergraduate engineering programs, this study is guided by the following questions: 1) What are students' perceptions of the skills required by the engineering profession? 2) How do these perceptions compare to the skill set defined by ABET EC2000? 3) How do these perceptions affect students' assessment of course value and interest in the relevant coursework? Two required introductory engineering courses, Physics Laboratory and Engineering Design, are investigated. The ensuing theoretical framework is placed in the broader context of Eccles and Wigfield's expectancy-value model, specifically focusing on utility value. Our findings indicate that students' perceptions of the skills and knowledge required in professional engineering diverge from those defined by ABET. This disparity is negatively correlated to the students' assessment of the required coursework utility value. The absence of perceived utility then contributes to the students' lack of interest in their courses.