Evidence-Based Practice to the Forefront: A Case Study of Engineering Team Project-Based Learning in an Online Learning Environment

Approaches such as problem and project-based learning (PBL) are the cornerstone of modern engineering curricula. With a growing need to move these student-centred active learning curricula to online and blended learning environments due to issues including increasing cohort sizes and limited budgets, it is essential that instructional designers in engineering education understand the impacts that these differing mediums may have on student collaboration. This study is the beginning of a body of work with the aim to develop effective teaching and learning strategies for team project-based learning in online and blended learning environments. This case study was carried out in an Irish university in 2021 in a first-year engineering module during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study followed an explanatory mixed methods design in which a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were utilised to collect data. The research data was gathered in two phases. Phase 1 included a questionnaire with both closed- and open-ended questions (N=94). Phase 2 was based on semi-structured interviews (N=7). This paper will focus on the qualitative datasets, including the open-ended questions and interviews. After completing a thematic analysis, we identified six themes and eighteen sub-themes that affect students' perceptions of team project-based learning (PBL) in an online environment. Each of these themes are discussed within this paper. The paper concludes with an outline of future research plans for the ongoing project. © 2022 SEFI 2022 - 50th Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education, Proceedings. All rights reserved.

Reflection on Experiences of First-Year Engineering Students with Blended Flipped Classroom Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of the Mathematics Course in the Extended Curriculum Program

The shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique challenge for higher education in developing countries such as South Africa, where resources are distributed unevenly. The Department of Chemical Engineering at a South African university of technology used a flipped classroom blended online learning approach in an engineering mathematics course. This study describes the transition of first-year engineering students from face-to-face learning to flipped classroom blended online learning. The Laurillard conversational framework for teaching learning was used to develop the five components of blended learning pedagogy, this allows students to discover, learn, practice, collaborate, and assess (DLPCA). The chosen assessment strategies made use of adaptive learning technology via the WebAssign platform to provide formative and summative assessments as well as timely feedback to each student. The authors examined the remote teaching and learning approach using three indicators: (i) learning—students' learning experiences;(ii) assessment—students' academic performance and integrity;and (iii) students' challenges. The findings had a positive impact on students' learning and performance in the mathematics course. The limitation to the study was that the data were collected only from one university of technology and were not compared with other universities in the country. The overall findings of this study indicate that students require time to adjust to online pedagogy to ensure a smooth transition. © 2023 by the authors.

Positioning an integrated engineering education unit within a School of Engineering in the South African context

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has reemphasised the potential importance of having a unit or a formal structure that supports engineering students and faculty. Maintaining the integrity of teaching and learning during the pandemic necessitated collaboration, new skills, and new ways of thinking, for which many universities and faculties were unprepared. It is proposed that an Engineering Education Unit (EEU) would be able to facilitate new learning and thinking, an integrated view of collaboration and exploring new technologies. Therefore, this position paper provides a case for the establishment of an EEU and was aimed at answering the following research question: How can we position the integration of an Engineering Education Unit in South African universities which do not currently have such a formal structure? As a result, this paper aims to position how Engineering Education Research (EER) and engineering education practice can be integrated rather than separated. Furthermore, the scholarship of Engineering Education (EE) presents itself as an exciting space for collaborative thinking between engineering education scholars, engineering practitioners and engineering students. The researchers center their argument around three theoretically informed concepts in this position paper, namely (I) Community participation for skills development, (2) Crafting methodological relevance, (3) and Emerging economies such as the 4th Industrial Revolution (4thIR) / Industry 4. 0. Although several studies have examined clear distinctions between engineering education as practice-based and engineering education as research-focused, a strong focus on how an alignment of both fields could inform the agenda of an EEU has been lacking. As such, this position paper provides additional insights into the ways in which theory can inform the teaching and practice of engineering curriculum by establishing a Unit that is dedicated to the practical application of engineering education research. The Unit would be a place for engineering faculty to seek meaningful exploration in building community towards equitable, social participatory, engineering education learning experiences. The growing number of local and global institutions that have been engaging extensively with work in both the engineering education space and the education research space, support the justification for the establishment of such a Unit. It is envisaged that other universities can use the results of this position paper as motivation to establish their own EEU. Similarly, it can facilitate an understanding of the possible benefits of such a Unit. The anticipated benefits of such a Unit are: (i) furthering the engineering education research agenda, (ii) breaking down silos, (iii) interdisciplinary collaboration, and (iv) increasing student success. © 2022 IEEE.

Knowledge Construction in Engineering Education Research - Assessing the Role of Journals, Books, Conferences, and Other Products of Research

This panel will discuss the role of different knowledge artifacts in creating, maintaining, and circulating knowledge within the engineering education community. The past decade has seen a significant increase in the venues available for sharing engineering education research and as the field grows and builds more knowledge, it is equally important to also take stock of prior work and of strategies to create novelty. Within this context, what is the role of different knowledge encapsulating artifacts and why do those who engage with creating these artifacts do so? In this panel we touch upon these issues while taking stock of the knowledge base in the field. We will also discuss what the future of knowledge creation in the field might look like given the move towards open access online publications as the primary form of knowledge circulation. Finally, in the post-COVID context, what will and should be the role of in-person events in this process. In terms of equity of participation, what potential avenues are available?. © 2022 IEEE.

Contrasting funding and author data for PERC proceedings and PRPER

This study informs the Physics Education Research (PER) community about patterns in reported funding and authorship data between 2010 and 2019. The study involves a text-based analysis of all contributed PERC and Physical Review PER papers during this time to identify funding sources, author collaborations, and changes over time. PERC and PRPER are both central to publication in the PER community, but are different in terms of project stage and publication prestige. Physical Review articles are in general mature projects, and this is the more prestigious publication venue. PERC proceedings represent the community across a broader set of authors and project stages. Results are also contrasted with the Frontiers in Education proceedings to provide context to these findings. The goal of this work is to provide insight into the community's history and to provide a benchmark for funding and collaboration in PER prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Virtual REU Program: Engineering Education Research

This paper describes a National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site program conducted through virtual working environment. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, REU 2021 activities were conducted online through Canvas and Zoom communication platforms. The major aim of this program is to provide undergraduate students with experiences in engineering education research (i.e., education research in the context of engineering). This paper provides an overview of the program, and briefly describes the virtual working environment, and students' research experiences during the 10-week program. A total of 11 undergraduate students, seven graduate mentors, and seven faculty mentors have actively participated in the program. The program is conducted in two phases: Phases 1 (i.e., Weeks 1-2) and 2 (i.e., Weeks 3-10). Phase 1 consists of preparatory and foundational work that is delivered to participants and will allow them to begin Phase 2 with some educational research foundation already established. The results of the project evaluation show that the program has made a positive impact on increasing education research skills and communication skills of the participating REU students. The participating REU students reported that the research projects they worked on increased their motivation and confidence for continuing to engage in engineering education research. Four participants (i.e., 36.4% of the total participants) suggested that, if available, they would prefer face-to-face over a virtual REU program. Another four participants (i.e., 36.4%) felt that both face-to-face and virtual would offer the same quality of research experiences, and 3 participants (i.e., 27.2% of the total participants) voiced their preference of virtual over face-to-face REU program. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

Asian Identity in the Online Classroom

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Asian American students in higher education were faced not only with the move to online learning but the nuances that came with anti-Asian rhetoric and violence in the news. We wanted to understand how the sociopolitical effects of the past two years have affected Asian American engineering students through their experiences in the online setting, as well as highlight the gaps of Asian American engineering students in engineering education research. Using qualitative methods through semi-structured interviews with Asian and Asian American engineering students, we explore Asian and Asian American identity, and sociopolitical matters in the engineering classroom. To understand the views of Asian and Asian American students, we lay out the ways that racial and ethnic identity have been examined in engineering, along with Asian and Asian American identity formation. In this paper, we explore the background of race and equality in engineering and engineering education. Then we look at the results of our interviews, focusing on two main areas. First we look at how students formed social networks and build their identities in these online spaces. Then we look at the role of politicization in the classroom and in engineering and how it relates to Asian identity formation. We close this paper by speculating how Asian and Asian American identity can be better addressed and attended to within engineering education. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

”Examining the Changing Perceptions of Graduate Students' Role as Teaching Assistant with Online and Hybrid Labs during COVID-19” (Instruction)

The transition from traditionally face-to-face “in-person” courses to hybrid/online laboratory courses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered how these labs are delivered in the mechanical engineering curriculum at Clemson University. This paper seeks to capture the graduates' and undergraduates' changing perceptions of the roles and responsibilities that graduate laboratory assistants (GLAs) have in the delivery of course material within the context of this transition. GLAs from the mechanical engineering laboratory courses were invited to participate in a survey to provide feedback on how they perceived their own roles and responsibilities as GLAs for in-person labs compared to their roles after the labs had transitioned to hybrid/fully-online formats after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Junior- and senior-level undergraduate mechanical engineering students currently enrolled in a hybrid/online lab were also invited to participate in a survey to provide similar feedback on how they perceived their GLAs pre- and post-transition to hybrid/online lab modality. The analysis of the survey responses then informed the selection of two experienced GLAs to participate in more in-depth individual interviews to share their experiences during this transition and discuss best practices for moving forward. An overarching theme of the results was that while undergraduate students consistently viewed their GLAs' roles as those of graders, knowledge resources, and facilitators, the GLAs began to identify strongly as facilitators only after the transition to hybrid/online labs. Interview participants expressed frustration with the lack of meaningful interaction with students in the hybrid/online course modality that warred with their desire to help students grow and think more deeply about course material. Both undergraduate students and GLAs alike agreed on a need for change in several key aspects of the hybrid/online lab delivery in order to improve its sustainability as a lab course modality. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

Undergraduate Engineering Laboratories during COVID-19 Pandemic

Laboratories have always been considered an integral part of undergraduate engineering education. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has globally affected higher education and educators are devising innovative ways to minimize the impact of the pandemic on student learning. The most popular approach of converting instruction to online is applicable for teaching theoretical knowledge. However, laboratory experiments require hands-on activities. Simulations can replace the hands-on experiments to a limited extend. Moreover, laboratory sessions involve social interaction as students work in groups, share laboratory equipment, and interact one-to-one with laboratory instructor. This paper explores the impact of COVID-19 on laboratory courses in Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology (ECET) department of Indiana State University (ISU) through statistical analysis of grade distribution of students and number of experiments covered. The authors present the comparison of Fall 2019 laboratory course when the challenges of pandemic did not exist with the Fall 2020 laboratory course when the precautions for COVID-19 pandemic were observed. The comparison is done for laboratory courses taught by the same instructor in Fall 2019 and Fall 2020. Faculty members from ECET department explain the adjustments they have made to their laboratory courses to minimize the impact of the pandemic on students learning. Overall, the authors managed to cover almost all the experiments in Fall 2020 as they used to cover in Fall 2019. The statistical comparison of final grade distribution also indicates no difference between these two semesters which were conducted under quite different circumstances. The null hypothesis is that there exists no difference between the course final grades for pre-pandemic (Fall 2019) and post-pandemic (Fall 2020) semesters. The hypothesis has been tested using Chi-square goodness of fit test at p=0.05. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021