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Soft Skills Development of Engineering Students through Mentoring in Cooperative Education

Hening, Dyah A.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8206-9698
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1456828078

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Industrial and Systems Engineering (Engineering and Technology).
Despite extensive research on soft skills development and mentoring in cooperative education, no identifiable study provides assessed the effectiveness of mentorship on developing soft skills, especially in engineering cooperative education. This study examines: (a) the difference between formally assigned mentors (supervisors) and informal, unassigned mentors (non-supervisors) in mentoring their students in developing soft skills and (b) which mentoring function—psychosocial or career— better helps students improve soft skills during their cooperative education program. Methodologically, this study used a longitudinal survey distributed both before and after the cooperative education program. From Summer 2014 through Fall 2014, eight universities with engineering cooperative education programs agreed to participate in the study with a total of 11 cooperative education cycles (three universities participated both in summer and fall cycles). Study participants were engineering students as they participated in their cooperative education programs. This research examined the participants’ experiences during the cooperative education program as well as participants' soft skills performance development. The study identified the significant factors that affect mentorship experiences associated with engineering cooperative education. The study included a survey developed based on Noe’s mentoring function scale (Noe, 1988) and Kantrowitz’s Soft Skills Performance Measurement (SSPM) (Kantrowitz, 2005). The results were used to build a predictive model for testing the two hypotheses in the engineering education program setting: (a) Students who have informal, unassigned mentors (non-supervisors) are more likely to improve soft skills compared to those who have formally assigned mentors (supervisors), and (b) Psychosocial mentoring functions improves soft skills performance more effectively than career mentoring functions. Results indicate that there is no significant difference between informal, unassigned mentors (non-supervisors) and formally assigned mentors (supervisors), and psychosocial mentoring is a better mentoring function to help engineering students in developing their soft skills during a cooperative education program.
David Koonce, PhD (Advisor)
Diana Schwerha, PhD (Committee Member)
Gary Weckman, PhD (Committee Member)
Gregory Foley, PhD (Committee Member)
Cynthia Anderson, PhD (Committee Member)
Valerie Conley, PhD (Other)
214 p.
Engineering
Soft Skills; Mentoring; Engineering Cooperative Education; Hierarchical Regression; Communication Skills; Leadership Skills; Interpersonal Skills;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hening, D. A. (2016). Soft Skills Development of Engineering Students through Mentoring in Cooperative Education [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1456828078

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hening, Dyah. Soft Skills Development of Engineering Students through Mentoring in Cooperative Education. 2016. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1456828078.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hening, Dyah. "Soft Skills Development of Engineering Students through Mentoring in Cooperative Education." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1456828078

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1456828078
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© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.