Recruitment of technology students from freshman engineering: A collaborative pedagogy change

Recently, the School of Engineering and Technology at Central Michigan University (CMICH) implemented a novel collaborative pedagogy change in the hope of recruiting more engineering-attriting students into its engineering technology and technology management programs. While engineering freshman enrollment was growing, technology program enrollments were declining, and the students attriting from the engineering program were not being recruited (school-retained) into the technology programs. The freshman engineering course is now teamtaught by several faculty including a professor associated with CMICH's technology programs and has added emphasis on the range of engineering-related disciplines. Data were collected from six years of enrolled students, including transcript information (e.g., engineering, technology, and math courses) and survey responses. In the two years since the pedagogy change, the technology recruitment of students from the freshman engineering course has increased dramatically, without significantly impacting the enrollment in engineering programs. The mechanical engineering technology program has had the greatest improvement in enrollment. Furthermore, students retained into the technology programs are from a variety of mathematical backgrounds. The positive and professional relationship between the technology and engineering faculty has greatly helped the school and its programs.