Relationship Between Engineering Undergraduates’ Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy and Their Satisfaction with the Online Practicum Teaching

Abstract

The online practicum teaching is necessary to provide practical experience for college students and to cultivate their employability. Students’ career decision-making self-efficacy makes students more likely to engage in the online practicum to acquire more practical skills in consideration of career selection, and predicts students’ satisfaction with the online practicum teaching. This study aims to find out influencing mechanism of college students’ career decision-making self-efficacy on their satisfaction with the online practicum teaching. The sample of 291 engineering undergraduates filled in the self-reporting questionnaires of career decision-making self-efficacy and the perception and satisfaction of the online practicum teaching quality. Correlation analysis revealed that there were significant positive correlations among students’ career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE), students’ perception of the online practicum teaching quality (SPOPTQ), and students’ satisfaction with the online practicum teaching (SSOPT). Mediation model analysis showed that CDMSE directly had a significant positive prediction effect on SPOPTQ and SSOPT respectively, and SPOPTQ presents partly mediating effect between CDMSE and SSOPT. College students have a higher degree of confidence in completing job-related tasks in the future career decision-making process. Such confidence can be positively transferred to the online practicum learning, stimulate the emotion and grit of students, and positively affect their perception quality and their satisfaction in the practical experience of the online practicum activities.