A Case for Disaggregating Engineering Majors in Engineering Education Research: The Relationship between Co-Op Participation and Student Academic Outcomes

摘要

Cooperative education (co-op) programs provide students with relevant professional experience while they pursue undergraduate degrees. While previous studies identified various benefits of voluntary co-op participation, many studies tend to aggregate engineering majors in their analyses. This study identifies departmental differences in student participation in co-ops and the associated likelihood of graduation using data from a research-intensive institution in the Midwest U.S. Logit regression models were used to estimate the likelihood of co-op participation and graduation in engineering, and ordinary least squares linear regression models were used to estimate the influence of co-op participation on time-to-graduation. At this institution, women are more likely than men to participate in co-ops in aerospace and industrial engineering. Co-op participation is positively associated with graduation except in industrial engineering. The number of enrolled semesters that co-op extends time-to-graduation varies by engineering major. Disaggregating engineering majors in examining co-op participation and outcomes shows important differences that reflect major-specific contexts. This study highlights the importance of disaggregating majors in examining the effects of academic and career preparation interventions on student outcomes in engineering education.