Contribution: This article contributes to the literature surrounding first-year engineering students’ academic well-being by proposing a conceptual framework guiding an understanding of supportive sources that foster students’ academic well-being. A survey was designed and tested accordingly, and four factors that contribute to students’ academic well-being were identified to inspire the improvement of a future course and curriculum design. Background: Prior research has pointed out that students’ academic well-being has a significant impact on their persistence in their current study, learning experience, academic achievement, and competence development. However, limited studies have explored first-year engineering students’ academic well-being and supportive factors in the field of engineering higher education. To support engineering students to become agentic professionals, it is meaningful to pay close attention to their academic well-being and help them to become purposeful learners at an early stage of their professional development. Research Question: 1) How can an instrument be developed and validated to characterize the sources of students’ academic well-being in a project-based learning approaches (PBL) context? 2) What sources could foster students’ academic well-being in a PBL context? Are there significant differences in age, gender, and discipline as a function of sources of academic well-being? Methodology: With the guidance of the conceptual framework with the domains of internal and external sources, a survey was designed based on a literature review and conducted in a PBL environment. The survey’s content validity, construct validity, and reliability were tested using expert review, a pilot study, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and Cronbach’s alpha. Findings: Supportive sources fostering students’ academic well-being were reported in the factors of personal values, agentic action, interactions within the learning environment, and external support. Comparisons between gender, age, and discipline verified the different impacts of the four factors on fostering academic well-being.

This study explores first-year university students’ perceptions of psychological safety, team creativity, and academic well-being in problem-based learning (PBL) teams at Aalborg University, where PBL is systematically implemented. These constructs are vital for fostering effective collaboration and positive academic outcomes, yet their interrelations in educational contexts remain underexplored. A survey was administered to 893 students across STEM and Health programs, using validated instruments for psychological safety, team creativity, and academic well-being. Results indicate moderate to strong correlations among the three constructs, underscoring the interplay and connection between psychological safety, team creativity and academic well-being in team settings. Gender and program-based differences were examined, revealing small but significant distinctions, such as higher team creativity scores among STEM students and greater psychological safety reported by male students. These findings highlight the importance of fostering trust and inclusivity within PBL teams, particularly for students transitioning to university-level education. This study contributes to understanding the interplay between psychological safety, creativity, and academic well-being in collaborative learning environments and highlights the need for further research to explore both the development and distribution of these critical concepts, especially during students’ transition to higher education.

Supervision in higher education (HE) often balances the tension between fostering student autonomy and providing sufficient guidance, especially within undergraduate programs. This paper explores an under-researched area: the dynamics of group supervision in undergraduate education, specifically how students challenge their supervisor's expertise. Using video recordings of a group of engineering students at Aalborg University working within a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) framework, the study investigates moments of disagreement between students and their supervisor during project supervision. Employing conversation analysis (CA), the study examines the negotiation of epistemic claims — where students draw on their experience to challenge the supervisor’s expertise — and the subsequent impact on the learning trajectories. The findings highlight that students use their epistemic authority from experience to challenge their supervisor’s proposed academic direction, while the supervisor defends their stance based on disciplinary knowledge. The study emphasizes the importance of aligning cognitive congruence and situated learning to facilitate productive supervision interactions. Ultimately, the paper sheds light on the critical yet often overlooked role of student agency in supervision and offers insights into improving the supervisory process in HE, particularly in group settings.

Aalborg University (AAU) uses Problem Based Learning (PBL) in which students develop professional competencies by engaging with authentic problems. All Engineering master students at AAU have had a PBL Competency profile as a compulsory exercise. The profiles are structured around the AAU PBL Competency Framework. This framework is comprised of 48 individual competencies, grouped into four categories; meta- reflective, problem-oriented, interpersonal, and structural. Students are free to choose which of these competencies they incorporate in their profile. A total of 1095 PBL Competency profiles were reviewed across more than 50 STEM study programs, and each was evaluated for the presence or absence of each of the 48 competencies in the PBL competency framework. This study explores the relative prevalence of each competency within the profiles submitted by students, and the balance across the different categories. Further, it investigates the extent to which students made these competencies explicit, and evidence the competence. The study reveals that the competencies are not equally represented in the competency profiles, with a subset of seven competencies comprising 40% of all reported competencies. The study further reveals that the students generally do not provide evidence to support their claims of competence.

This paper advocates for the adoption of Nexus Analysis as a robust analytical framework in Problem-Based Learning (PBL) research. Developed by Scollon and Scollon, Nexus Analysis offers a unique lens for examining the intricate dynamics of PBL by seamlessly integrating micro-level interactions with macro-level societal discourses. The approach enables researchers to capture the rich, nuanced interplay between individual behaviors and broader educational contexts. Despite its potential, Nexus Analysis remains underutilized in the study of PBL, where research often polarizes towards either micro or macro perspectives without bridging the two. This paper discusses the foundational concepts of Nexus Analysis, illustrating its relevance and applicability in capturing the complex reality of educational environments. By highlighting its methodological strengths, the paper aims to encourage scholars to adopt Nexus Analysis, to further strengthen the research around PBL.