ABSTRACT
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, engineering education has faced a shift to a partial if not fully virtual environment that has disrupted students' educational experiences. This qualitative study was designed to explore how mechanical engineering students at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo have navigated the shift to virtual learning, what pedagogical practices have been effective online, and how the change has affected students' motivation, learning, and sense of belonging and community. During an hour-long focus group, participants were asked to maintain anonymity by turning off their cameras and by using pseudonyms. They responded to open-ended questions related to teaching strategies, workload, motivation, lab courses, technology issues, building community, academic integrity, and general improvements they wanted to see in future online classes. Summaries were created and analyzed by the two student researchers and discussed among the research team. Further recommendations to professors were made categorized by which theme they applied to best. For example, faculty were advised that students appreciated the effort they put into moving to a virtual environment with such short notice but commented that the quality of online learning could be improved. Our primary findings indicate that the key shortcomings included difficulty building community as well as decreased motivation levels and increased stress levels. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021