ABSTRACT
The COVID19 pandemic has resulted in many institutions having limited options of instructional modes and tools that can be used when the schools are closed. Many institutions in the United States and around the world moved some or all of their courses to fully online back in April of 2020. Faculties and students faced new challenges with new tools that each had to learn and use effectively to deliver and receive the lecture material as efficiently as possible. The impact of COVID19 on engineering courses is going to go beyond the Spring semester of 2020. The aim of the study is to highlight the real impact of COVID19 on engineering students for a Thermodynamics I course during the pandemic where half of the semester was delivered online and a Thermodynamics II course during the Summer semester of 2020 which was fully online. The study illustrates how the lockdown impacted the students' learning outcome for both courses. Moreover, the study illustrates the most impacted learning outcome of the course compared to the previous two semesters. The results of this analysis describe the real impact of COVID19 on Thermodynamics I and II course outcomes and how it can be corrected in case the same situation happens in the future. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic created an enormous challenge to academic institutions in the United States and around the world. Most higher education institutions in the United States shut down campuses and completed the second half of the spring 2020 semester virtually. During the fall 2020 semester, some institutions started with face-to-face classes but had to switch to virtual learning after noticing an increase in positive cases. Others adopted a blended approach to supplement face-to-face meetings. None of these approaches necessarily resolved the challenges faced by Engineering Technology programs which typically incorporate more laboratory and other hands-on modules in their curriculum. Due to the applied nature of Engineering Technology programs, it is important even in the era of COVID-19 to ensure that students stay engaged in creative ways to learn by doing. Consequently, this a posteriori study was initiated to learn about the level that Engineering Technology students engaged with online course materials during the spring and fall 2020 semesters. Thus, the lessons learned can be applied to future courses that incorporate blended learning. This paper reviews students' patterns of interactions with course videos to assess their relationship with the academic success of the students in some upper-level blended courses. It was observed that the students who performed better in the courses demonstrated at least a 44% level of engagement with course materials.
ABSTRACT
The Zoom application has become increasingly popular for online and hybrid teaching since the COVID-19 pandemic started in the spring of 2020. However, Zoom cannot simply replace all of the teaching techniques traditionally used during in-person lectures. In particular, student group problem solving and discussion is often replaced with a virtual version via the Zoom breakout room feature. This paper will investigate the effectiveness of these breakout rooms on student performance in engineering courses. A variety of breakout room strategies were conducted over the course of the fall 2020 semester in four engineering classes. Students were surveyed at the end of the semester to determine what strategies/factors most improved their individual comfort level, group productivity, and ability to learn the material. The results of this paper indicate that having small breakout room groups (i.e., 2-3 students), assigning specific tasks to the groups and individual students, and visiting the breakout rooms periodically have the most positive impact on the student's perception of the session. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021