Evaluation of Learners? Academic Performance in Teaching and Learning Civil Engineering During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on teaching and learning (T&L) pedagogies, which shifted from 100% face-to-face instruction to online and hybrid formats. The diversity of online and offline teaching and learning tools and platforms during the pandemic led to adjustment issues for students early in the pandemic. The preference for teaching and learning in choosing appropriate methods during a panic affects academic outcomes. However, students' academic performance on the T&L preference approach during the pandemic is questionable. This paper evaluates the academic performance of learners in the geotechnical course at the Centre for Civil Engineering Studies, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impacts of teaching and learning the course content through a preferential approach and the use of digital communication technologies on learners' academic performance during this period were investigated. A representative group recording was chosen as the case study method to assess learners' academic performance. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and thematic analysis was used to evaluate qualitative data. The novelty of this work is to use student performance data and descriptive analysis of online surveys to reveal trends that can help identify preferred pedagogies in teaching and learning during the pandemic and in the future, and avoid failure among students. The results of the analysis revealed that during open and distance learning, learners' preferred asynchronous method with the social media platform WhatsApp and unrecorded video were chosen as the means of communication between educators and learners. The results show that learners can perform well on course assessments despite the pandemic. T&L pedagogies are identified for best practices in face-to-face and non-face-to-face classes in the future.

Faculty Perspectives on how to Reimagine International Research for Students in a Virtual World

International research programs for students offer an important opportunity to support students in developing skills in both research and intercultural competence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these programs made the shift to operating virtually, with likely impacts on program outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify the approaches that program leaders used in adapting international research programs to the virtual environment and explore how these innovations could inform the design of these programs going forward. We conducted eight focus groups with over 40 U.S.-based faculty who had experience running these programs to understand the benefits, challenges, and future potential of incorporating virtual elements into international research programs for students. This paper reports the results of these focus groups and provides suggestions for future program design based on best practices and innovations identified through the development of virtual programs. © 2022 IEEE.

Second-Year Review of the NSF-DoD REU Site: HYPER

The challenges associated with achieving hypersonic flight, developing advanced propulsion systems, and designing reusable launch platforms are strongly interdisciplinary. Exposing undergraduate students to interdisciplinary research is recognized as a means to equip society's future engineers and scientists with the broad skillset necessary to contribute to these areas. The jointly funded NSF-DoD REU site Advanced Technologies for Hypersonic Propulsive, Energetic and Reusable Platforms (HYPER) unites multidisciplinary interests to study advanced structures and systems with application to hypersonics, space, propulsion, and energy. Over the course of two 10-week summer sessions (2019 and 2021), participants have gained hands-on training in contemporary challenges such as: (1) utilizing advanced manufacturing techniques for high-value components, (2) integrating in situ monitoring of stress-strain evolution, (3) developing novel methods for improved internal cooling and heat transfer effectiveness, (4) mitigating flutter through advanced rotor dynamic control, etc. Eleven research projects have been crafted to engage students in PhD-level topics. Many of these challenges rely on approaches that cut across disciplines and research techniques (e.g., experiments and computer simulation). The present reporting serves as a synopsis of challenges, advances, and lessons learned conducting the research thus far. The site HYPER has six core objectives that relate to: (1) preparing students for graduate school and/or research-oriented careers, (2) fostering technical skills in student participants, (3) improving participants' communication skills, (4) marketing to and recruiting a diverse group of participants, and more. Assessment of the program outcomes according to these objectives are reported here with data gathered after two years. Program outcomes were conducted with an external evaluator affiliated within the University of Central Florida's Program Evaluation and Educational Research Group (PEER). Results demonstrate a very effective site with strongly positive outcomes for all participants. Insights are provided so this research effort may be confirmed by other independent sites. It should be noted that the 2020 session was postponed out of an abundance of caution based on the uncertain and evolving conditions facilitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

Satisfying Program-Level Outcomes by Integrating Primary Literature into the Online Classroom.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a paradigm shift from traditional classroom instruction to remote online modalities. To provide the most current and relevant information on nuclear medicine technology to students without access to traditional resources on a college campus, it has become imperative that primary literature within the field be made readily accessible. Nuclear medicine technology students at Bronx Community College are being taught to use the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology as the basis for their required presentations, which span the curriculum. Guided by instructors who are armed with a rubric ultimately used as a formative assessment tool, the students are required to explore current articles from the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology and ultimately present their findings to their cohort. By design, this article-share project has successfully been implemented as a principal metric in satisfying the program accreditation requirements of the Joint Review Committee on Nuclear Medicine Technology while also being conducive to increasing oral presentation skills and cohort socialization.