Psychological sense of community & belonging in engineering education

Abstract

Using previously validated measures, belonging and psychological sense of community are measured in a cross section of engineering communities including engineering classes at the sophomore and junior level at a major Research 1 University and various conference venues and research center retreats. Belonging and sense of community vary among the venues examined. As students become more invested in their community of practice (moving from undergraduate to graduate level), belongingness and psychological sense of community (PSC) increase. Differences in belonging and PSC also occur within different groups of graduate students but remain surprisingly consistent among undergraduates. Both of these affective/relational measures are important to academic outcomes and student experience as they mediate academic engagement and are mediated by extraversion, making it more difficult for the introvert-dominated engineering student population to attain strong connections to community.