Project Overview

It has been my experience that students tend to undergo a ‘slump’ in their second or third year of college.  Anecdotally, I have noticed this slump in Engineering students in the third year.  The objective of this project is to determine if there is a loss in motivation or interest of students at Virginia Tech in the second or third year, and to begin to tell the story of what this slump looks like.

Objectives

  1. Review the literature on mid-year slump
  2. Develop a study to understand the slump at Virginia Tech
  3. Draft a conference paper discussing the slump

Major Tasks

The major tasks of the project are outlined below.  These are nominal and are likely to change somewhat throughout the course of the year.  These are meant to illustrate the general nature of the work that the position entails.

  1. Review the literature on slump and motivation 
  1. Design a study to better understand the slump 
  1. Complete an IRB request to authorize a study 
  1. Conduct the study (send out surveys, perform interviews, hold focus groups) 
  1. Draft a paper 
  1. Manage and report 

General Responsibilities of the Course

Students participating in the IDPro will be invited to register for an ENGE 2964 or ENGE 4964 field study course. First, students will need to fill out the application form and indicate the amount of credits (1-3) they would like to register for and their preferred grading structure (P/F or A-F). You will also need to identify which projects you would be interested in joining. 

Though not required, the expectation is that you will continue on with the team for two semesters, though we will examine the relationship at the end of the fall semester.
All students of IDPro are expected to 

  • Attend the weekly course meeting time on either Tuesday or Wednesday from 5:30-6:45pm
  • Devote ~2 hours/week outside of class for each credit hour that you register for
  • Participate in all course deliverables (e.g., weekly progress reports, design review, final showcase)

Major Deliverables

All student teams will have the following deliverables

  • Weekly Meeting Minutes
  • Progress Reports
  • Spec and Planning Report
  • Design Review
  • Final Report
  • Final Showcase

Preferred Academic Years

  • good communication, writing, and presentation skills 
  • literature research 
  • Social science  
  • Psychology
  • Education, higher education

Apply here!