The role of engineering doctoral students' future goals on perceived task usefulness

Abstract

This research explored how five EDS experiences influenced their future oriented motivations, or future time perspectives, at a western land grant institution. The participants were interviewed regarding their future goals and graduate-level tasks. It was found that participants use salient past experiences to craft future goals, which answers the first sub-research question. The participants with more defined future goals were able to perceive usefulness in graduate-level tasks towards their future goals, which answers the second sub-research question of how EDS connect their future and present. Connecting these two answers, shows how EDS decide to prioritize the present or the future as an approach to pursue graduate-level tasks.