Living-Learning Communities in the First-year Engineering Experience

This exploratory study investigates the design and impacts of a curated Living-Learning Community (LLC) piloted at a large student residence for a large (1000+ student) first-year engineering design course.  Alongside the live-in Faculty-in-Residence (FiR), the research includes surveying first-year engineering students participating in this program and understanding the impacts on the lived student experience, and student motivation. The first-year engineering design, teamwork, and communication course is central to engineering education at this large institution.  The course offers opportunities for students to work in multidisciplinary teams, applying term knowledge to authentic engineering applications, in a problem-based learning environment.  The goal of the LLC is to create opportunities for interaction and scaffolded connection between like-minded students taking similar courses and inspire learning within the students living environment; an entire floor of the Residence is assigned to be an LLC for the 2022 academic year, with support from the Don, ResLife Office, and the Faculty-in-Residence (an engineering faculty member). The purpose of this study is to observe and report on the student experience throughout the duration of the course.  We aim to learn how participating in the Living-Learning community can affect the perception of confidence in students’ learning of course concepts, and inter-team relations.  In order to do so, students will be surveyed at multiple check points throughout the semester.  Furthermore, additional relevant information will be gathered from the Living-Learning Community Don, teaching assistants, and the course instructors. The outcome of this analysis has the potential to educate us on the positive and negative connotations that come along with close-quarters learning. The applications of the results found with this study can be vast, from influencing future residence programs and the first-year engineering education experience.  This study focuses on the student’s perception of their experience.  Understanding how the perception of manageability of workload [1] can affect student mental health leads the curiosity of how close-quarters learning can affect the student experience, to what degree, and how this understanding can help influence future programming.  A positive experience that improves student confidence of understanding and course material has the potential to positively improve mental health and engagement in education; we hope that this research brings together the academic and lived-experiences of students through this work.