ABSTRACT
This paper summarizes the overall approach and assessment of a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Site focused on sustainable civil and environmental infrastructure in rural areas. This site has hosted over 60 students over 5 years, including 1 year of virtual participation due to travel restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Detailed discussion and results are provided with respect to the recruitment approach, including particular attention to first-generation college students, and the potential negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on first-generation applicants. This site also incorporates targeted instruction on technical writing, which occurs over several weeks throughout the first half of the summer and culminates with a final conference paper deliverable. This approach has yielded over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, or national conference presentations, which have been co-authored by the undergraduate student participants. External evaluation of this site has included both formative and summative assessments, including pre-program, mid-program, and post-program surveys and focus groups, which has enabled a successful continuous improvement cycle, in which cohort-building activities, technical writing deliverables, and mentor training have been gradually incorporated or enhanced. Results of this assessment have also been used to quantify the site's success with respect to student exposure and interest in research and graduate education. In addition to most participants persisting in STEM fields, many have gone on to pursue graduate school in civil and environmental engineering and win national fellowships. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic shut schools worldwide and as a result, new learning modalities such as Home-Based Online Learning (HBOL) were implemented to continuously provide quality education and make learning seamless as possible even without physical interaction among students and teachers. Utilizing a quantitative research design, this study aims to determine the perception of students and faculty regarding the first implementation of a full home-based online learning program of a private school in the Philippines. It also aims to provide an overview on how the students perform in a full online education based on assessment results and report card grades. A total of 169 faculty, 39 administrators and 1600 students from Grade 1 to Grade 12, or N=1808, participated in the study through an online survey. Results show that the overall design and objectives of the HBOL program are clear. The online class schedule is manageable and the combination of synchronous and asynchronous as learning modalities is beneficial. Also, the provided technical support is sufficient. However, the sudden shift from actual traditional face-to-face to full virtual classes caused stress and adjustment difficulties specifically with concerns that involve connectivity, amount of workload, class preparations, delivery and understanding the lessons, classroom management, student engagement and social interactions. Regarding academic achievement, the formative and summative assessment results of select Math, English, and Science classes are all above the passing grade and the final grade average of the students in the first trimester of SY 2020-2021, pilot implementation of HBOL, is highly satisfactory. Results obtained may be used as a basis to further improve the program as these are generally good and favorable to the school considering that the transition to a full online class was the institution's immediate response to the face-to-face restrictions brought about by the global health crisis. © 2022 ACM.