ABSTRACT
This paper explores the impact of sessions with sophomore biomedical engineering students at an R1 university focused on individualized talent discovery and development to create effective teams of contributing individuals and future professionals. The rationale was that the identification and exploration of individual strengths early in the curriculum could lead to enhanced self-awareness, self-confidence, and appreciation for diversity. Methodology applied over a mini-workshop series required students to complete the CliftonStrengths® assessment to a) enable identification, naming and understanding of their distinct talents, b) promote increased awareness of others’ unique talents, and c) discern the value each participant brings to a team to achieve academic performance. Program outcomes and changes in participants’ perceived confidence when identifying and applying their strengths in different contexts were evaluated through a mixed methods design that included a Likert-based survey and thematic analysis of qualitative open text responses. Results showed that 76% of students perceive that they felt overall confident in their college experience, a significant increase of 19% (p<0.01) compared to how they rated their perceived confidence before the program. Additionally, 98% of students indicated that they believed that they have natural talents that will make them good engineers, an increase of 11% (p<0.01). Importantly, students gained confidence in their ability to direct their talents toward accomplishing specific engineering goals, an increase of 43% (p<0.01). Overall, our results showed a positive perceived impact of the strengths-based approach as well as its usefulness in building one’s self-awareness, self-confidence, and appreciation of peers.
DOI: 10.18260/3-1-1153-36078
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