Engineering Problem Typology-based Reflection and Communication of Undergraduate Engineering Experiences: Professional Engineers' Evaluation of Students' Mock Interview Responses

Student consideration of technical and professional competencies often occur in disconnected contexts, leaving students underprepared for discussing their experiences. Development of technical competencies occurs in the context of the classroom while consideration of professional competencies is only attended to in preparation for career fairs and interviews. In this study, we explored the role of reflection on students' abilities to communicate their engineering experiences in professional terms. Students participated in formative reflection about specific professional competencies scaffolded around engineering problem typology (EPT). We conducted mock interviews (MI) pre-/post-PT based professional competency reflection with undergraduate engineering students. Analysis showed statistically significant improvement in MI evaluation scores. Through qualitative analysis of interview transcripts for the teamwork interview question we identify specific features of student responses that changed from pre to post mock interviews. The findings from this study demonstrate that there is significant value in getting students to consider both technical and professional competencies concurrently as they work through project-based experiences in academic settings. Importantly, this study shows that a little reflection can go a long way in improving student outcomes and supports an argument that professional competency reflection as a regular feature in the engineering curriculum.