ABSTRACT
The emergence and rapid spread of COVID-19 changed the face of education. At Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech), planning for the Fall 2020 semester started well before the end of the 2019-20 academic year. For the Fall 2020 semester, faculty at our university had the option to teach in various modalities according to what fit their personal and course needs. The options included online (asynchronous materials completed with time and place flexibility), remote (synchronous, scheduled meetings that students can attend virtually), or hybrid (classes that have face-to-face meeting times, but offer students opportunities to complete most activities virtually and/or remotely). Restrictions placed on class size with physical distancing measures limited the number of students who could attend a given class session face-to-face. In the first-year program at Michigan Tech, we value an active, collaborative learning environment;an environment that would be difficult to implement asynchronously. Despite the shift to a remote or hybrid modality, we wanted our first-year students to still experience an active, collaborative learning environment. In this paper, we focus on discussing the steps we took to maintain and/or improve the connection between students and the engagement with the course materials. A comparison of responses from surveys administered in the first-semester engineering course at Michigan Technological University indicates that students were at least as satisfied or more satisfied with the remote and hybrid versions in Fall 2020 than the traditional face-to-face version in Fall 2019. Specifically, a greater percentage of students enjoyed the course, felt engaged and valued, were more prepared for lessons and saw value in the course and the skills they learned in the course. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021
ABSTRACT
This complete research paper explores first year engineering (FYE) students' advice for attaining success in online learning. In the spring semester of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic thrust higher education students from their traditional classroom settings into online learning platforms. Students typically seek online learning opportunities due to the flexibility and convenience of the format, allowing balance between work and family life with school responsibilities. This emergency shift to online courses presented a unique opportunity to gain insight in the attitudes of unwilling online learners and identifies these students as ample sources of advice for future online learners. At the conclusion of the spring 2020 semester, 233 first-year engineering students from a public technical university were asked to provide advice for incoming engineering students completing courses in the online environment. Advice from 67 student teams was collected through an in-class assignment. Student responses were anonymized and coded using analytic induction and convergent coding methods within a grounded theory framework. An initial codebook was developed using codes from research previously conducted by the authors, with additional codes being added as a consensus in response coding was reached amongst researchers. Results indicated that time management was the top concern for online students, followed by readiness to learn online, which included managing distractions to online learning and learning in dedicated spaces. Self-care also emerged as a more significant concern for online first year engineering students than in person first year engineering students, including sleep hygiene, study/screen breaks, staying hydrated, getting dressed and exercising, all relevant issues for those working and learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to these results, we recommend that instructors of introductory online courses integrate materials about time management, distraction management, and self-care into their classes. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021