What is a Self-efficacy survey and what is its purpose?
Self-efficacy is the measure of the belief in one’s own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. In the case of a student self-efficacy survey, the term can be extrapolated to indicate the level of achievement from the perspective of a student. The purpose of such a survey is to garner student feedback on their perceived ability across a range of attributes. The main benefit of this approach is that it allows students the opportunity to critically reflect on their own abilities in a culminating survey without fear of academic penalty. The data gathered from a student self-efficacy survey can be used as feedback for instructors and curriculum designers that can be compared with direct student assessment (ie. Grades).
How was the Civil Engineering Program graduating student self-efficacy survey developed?
The Civil Engineering survey was developed in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. Two individuals (Matt Wright (civil) and Chris Campbell (ECE)) first developed a list of indicators from nationwide best practices. These indicators represented factors of each graduate attribute. The list of indicators was then refined using student focus groups. These focus groups informed the choice of language for each item and overall survey length. The survey was piloted in March 2013.
Are the survey results reliable?
The student self-efficacy survey is currently being validated through an Exploratory Factor Analysis. For information regarding this procedure, please see (Russell, 2002) or download Wright et al. (2013).
Does CEAB require the collection of this survey data?
No. The CEAB does not set the Graduate Attribute Reporting methodology nor the data to be collected.
Why should the survey be part of the assessment of the civil engineering program at UBC?
The engineering education literature suggests that the level of student self-efficacy influences the level of student academic achievement. Also, the curriculum assessment literature suggests that understanding student attitudes is useful in assessing the quality of a curriculum. The aim of the survey is to learn how the students experience the curriculum that is planned and delivered by faculty members.