Service learning in engineering education: Impact on faculty and student attitudes

In the fall of 2004, a study was completed the Colorado School of Mines that compared engineering faculty and student attitudes with respect to community service. The primary purpose of the investigation was to acquire baseline data prior to the implementation of the new undergraduate Humanitarian Engineering Program. The purpose of this program is to prepare engineering students for careers that will interface with and directly benefit the underserved global community. Given this, it was anticipated that one outcome of the revised curriculum would be improved attitudes on the part of participants with respect to community service. The current paper compares student attitude data collected in a sophomore required course in 2004, before students had participated in the revised Humanitarian Engineering curriculum, to that of data collected from seniors in 2007, after students completed, or at least became aware of the revised curriculum. The results of this investigation indicate a difference in the students' attitudes between the two administration periods but a direct link could not be established between the differences in attitudes and the new program.