Self-efficacy and task orientation in first-year engineering design courses

Many engineering programs are implementing hands-on engineering experiences early in the curriculum, typically in the form of a project-based course in which students design and build a prototype as a team. However, research on these courses suggests that task orientation is correlated with gender, as are the increases in self-efficacy observed. As engineering self-efficacy is a critical determinant of persistence in engineering, particularly for underrepresented groups, this suggests that these courses may be reinforcing existing differences in self-efficacy by failing to provide mastery experiences to those with low engineering self-efficacy at the start. This work-in-progress presents some preliminary research on investigating the relationship between self-efficacy, tasks undertaken in courses of this nature, and other factors including demographics and teaming experiences. The goal of this work is to enable educators to design team-based engineering courses that allow all students to have equal access to both technical and professional tasks, both to develop their skills and to increase engineering self-efficacy.