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Background: In industrialized and developing economic countries like India, the technology transfer has significantly enhanced the quality of higher education, where the tentacles of digitalization have deeply entered education system, which opened the gateway of blended pedagogy, enabling a greater access to course content, learning preparation in peers and interactions. Across the globe, blended learning is applied in pharmaceutical education but it gained momentum in Indian pharmacy education during the global threat, COVID-19 pandemic. Aim and Objectives: The current experimental study of six months duration was performed to investigate the perception of pharmacy students towards blended pedagogy in pharmacy education at undergraduate level. Methodology: In the current experiment survey, a validated standard self-administered questionnaire with 28 inventories under 7 categories was administered to students pursuing undergraduate pharmacy programs in a pharmacy institute located at rural Andhra Pradesh for a period of six months, through online mode;data collection was performed in students showing willingness and further collected data was assessed through excel spreadsheet. Result(s): The study observed a two-third satisfaction on an average in terms of all the indicators which influence the blended pedagogy (teacher 71.8%, course content 74.8%, technology transfer 58.7%, interactions 78.8%, and constructive knowledge 73.7%). Conclusion(s): In conclusion, our study envisaged effective student engagement, with more facilitator-student interactions and adaptability;through blended learning which enabled, enhanced and transformed students to active learners.Copyright © 2023, Indian Pharmaceutical Association. All rights reserved.
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Industry 4.0 has occurred and impacted many industries. Along with that are the heavy effects of the Covid-19 pandemic taking place globally. The dual impact on education is so great that the shift to compulsory online instruction has already taken place. And on that basis, universities and colleges promote their own educational digital transformation programs. The context of this study is a vocational college in which digital transformation has been applied for several years. This research aims to survey teachers' opinions about the implementation of digital transformation as well as their intention to continue teaching online in the future. The research method used in this study is a simple statistical method of data through an online survey via Google Form. The survey results show that the initial digital transformation process has received a lot of positivity and satisfaction from the teachers and students at the institution and the intention to continue implementing digital transformation in the future. © 2022 ACM.
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This trio of studies is designed to investigate a possible means of increasing donor registration rates, as doing so can save lives by increasing the number of registered organ donors. Many Motor Vehicle Departments (MVDs) ask a series of probing health and legal questions prior to asking visitors about registering as an organ donor. This practice may diminish registration because of straightlining, a type of satisficing, which is a common problem in survey research where respondents do not give the most accurate response, often in an attempt to diminish effort. When straightlining, some individuals may not register as an organ donor simply because they did not notice they were being asked to register, even if they support organ donation. The first study was an MTurk experiment that found that moving the registration question from last to first position within a series of probing questions significantly affected how often individuals expressed willingness to register as a donor. Study 1 found an order effect online for both donors (OR = 2.57) and non-donors (OR = 2.01). Study 2 took advantage of a decision by New Mexico MVDs to move their donor question from after a series of health and legal questions to before it. Thus, Study 2 served as a conceptual replication of the first study, by using secondary data to examine this change's effect on registration behavior in the Department of Motor Vehicles in New Mexico. This change in question location occurred on April 2, 2020. Unfortunately, this was within two weeks of a statewide stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As this, this represents a critical history effect, it serves as a rival explanation for all the results from Study 2. Not all analyses indicated meaningful results, but when controlling for an overall decline in registrations, this downward trend was attenuated by the change in question position. Additionally, both prior donor and non-donor visitors to the MVD were more likely to re-affirm their previously selected donor statuses. However, these effects could have been the result of the pandemic. Study 3 replicated the order effects observed in Study 1 for the donors, but did not find this effect among the non-donors. Study 3 also added an examination of instructional manipulations to see if it was possible to assuage the tendency to straightline using different instructional manipulations on MTurk. One instruction focused on real-world implications-that when asked to register as a donor, this represents placement on the donor registry. This approach may be applicable for use in MVDs, and was expected to be effective for individuals who already possess extremely favorable attitudes about registration. The other approach was based on equity theory and was expected to be especially helpful in online research contexts. However, this experiment did not find support for the use of these instructional manipulations. Taken together, these studies shed important insight into how question order influences organ donation registration willingness. Across Studies 1 and 3, there was evidence that the order in which the donor registration question is asked influences donor registration rates for donors, as well as for those who are paying the least attention. This dissertation did not conclusively observe the same effect for those who are not registered donors. Thus, when it is possible to do so, listing the donor question prior to any other health and legal questions may increase willingness to register. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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Background: By explaining the reasons for non-compliance with the protocols of the National Anti-coronavirus Headquarters, we can help respond better, make better decisions, and control the risks and outcomes of coronavirus in the future. This study aimed to explain the reasons for the public's non-compliance with the National Anti-coronavirus Headquarters measures from the perspective of academics. Materials and Methods: The present qualitative study uses a contractual content analysis approach. The study participants were 19 professors and experts of the University of Medical Sciences with the necessary and sufficient information and experience on the subject. A purposive sampling method with maximum diversity in characteristics such as age, gender, education, the field of study, and work experience was used to select the participants. The study data were obtained through semi-structured interviews until data saturation and analyzed simultaneously. Results: From the content analysis of the interviews, 5 main themes and 7 subthemes emerged: 1) normalization and simplification of coronavirus risk with 5 subthemes of learning weakness, inconsistency in received information, misperception of coronavirus, perceived harms due to the observance of protocols, and the impracticality of some policies and approvals of the National Anti-coronavirus Headquarters, 2) weak communication, trust and low acceptance of the people by the procedures of the Anti-coronavirus Headquarters, 3) lack of sufficient motivation in people to comply with, 4) family-cultural conditions with two subthemes of the emotionality of Iranian families and the received cultural sediments, and 5) weakness in supervision and compassion in the use of force. Conclusion: The study results showed that from the point of view of academics, there are reasons for people not observing the recommendations of the National Anti-coronavirus Headquarters, which leads to more ineffective control of coronavirus and consequently human, economic, and social damages to the country. Given the importance of coronavirus control in promoting community health and prevention of this disease and its dangers, further understanding of the reasons for non-compliance with the procedures and recommendations of the National Anti-coronavirus Headquarters to plan and carry out effective interventions seem necessary. © 2022, Negah Institute for Scientific Communication. All rights reserved.
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Aim/Purpose This study examines the impact of transitioning from in-person classrooms to remote online business education and provides analysis of key factors impacting course and instructor ratings as well as strategies for higher education institutions to provide engaging instruction. Background "Zoom”ing into teaching and moving out of traditional classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a path full of twists and has impacted student perceptions of courses as well as instructors. One challenge has been to make the quality of synchronous online instruction perceived by students as positive as classroom-delivered ones. Methodology We analyze primary data collected in the course evaluation process from Business & Accounting students over six semesters between Fall 2019 to Spring 2022, covering pre-pandemic instruction in the classroom and the conversion to virtual instruction via Zoom. A total of 1782 observations for 38 courses were examined using mean comparison, regression and correlation analyses, and pairwise comparisons. Contribution We provide insights from the evaluation of those instructors who were able to make their Zoom-delivered courses perceived by students as equivalent or better than room-delivered ones. Specifically, clear presentation, stimulating delivery, providing feedback and encouraging discussion were positively correlated with successful online classes. Findings We find that there is a clear downward shift in course and instructor ratings as the change to synchronous online delivery was made. However, in the Spring of 2022, even though instructors and students were still not completely back in the classroom, both instructor and course ratings moved back closer to the pre-pandemic levels. The parameters associated with instructor ratings, such as providing feedback, clear presentations, stimulating sessions, and encouraging discussion, showed similar downward fluctuations. Also, aspects related to course content were affected by the transition to online modality, including training on critical thinking quantitative analysis, research and writing abilities, and overall usefulness of the content. Moore's model of Transactional Distance helps explain these changes. Recommendations We recommend that practitioners allow sufficient time for students and faculty for Practitioners to learn through online instruction delivery and supply training for both populations in adapting to learning in this delivery mode. Recommendations The disruption in higher education caused by COVID-19 has provided a wealth for Researchers of information on the pluses and minuses of online delivery. Careful inspection of trends can help provide guidance to higher education leaders. Impact on Society One of the many changes the COVID-19 pandemic brought was the opportunity to try alternate ways of connecting and learning. This study shows how this experience can be used to guide the future of higher education. Future Research Further research is needed to explore the in-depth reactions of students and faculty to the switch from classroom to online delivery, to explore whether these findings can be more broadly applied to other subjects and other types of universities. © 2022 Informing Science Institute. All rights reserved.
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Access to technology is essential to educational success in today's digitized society, but disparities in access to technology can handicap students. This study examines to what extent this digital divide exists among underserved students in online instruction during COVID-19 and in their adoption of free Technology Loaner programs. Focusing on underserved students that are characterized by their generational status, minority background or low income, we predict that underserved college students will show lower levels of technology access and higher levels of free technology adoption than their counterparts. However, the quantitative analysis of survey data (n=258) collected from a U.S. minority-serving university provides mixed, surprising results. Follow-up analysis of qualitative data from 10 interviews offers us further insights and partial explanations for these unexpected results. Our study suggests that individual background should be considered in designing a policy to mitigate digital divide and enhance student learning in online education. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
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Digital education has progressed through several stages and transitions over the past thirty or forty years. It is an umbrella term that represents the continued integration of digital education. It provides complementary use of technology in the classroom, using one or more of online instruction tools. Libya for instance is currently between those developing countries that used to be a unified, interconnected world of free trade. However, the past and recent studies highlight several boundaries and shortcomings that significantly delay the inclusive performance and procedure of the education system in Libya such as complicated exchange of information due to poor infrastructure, previous conflict, and recently impact of Covid -19 pandemic. Covid-19 pandemic has made many countries adapt to new situations in different sectors including education. This study supports the need to prepare and implement e-learning strategies, and shift into resilience e-learning technologies in Libyan educational system. This is done by conducting a comprehensive and critical review in some of the past and recent related studies to understand better its status. Besides to determine which factors or barriers that the most significant challenges and limit stakeholder to implement e-learning technologies, to identify related solutions to prepare and implement learning strategies, and then to shifting into resilience e-learning technologies with its role in modern and sustainable Libyan society. These solutions can be implemented not only during the current pandemic and after, but it can be shifted into resilience e-learning technologies that are adopted into other crises such as those caused by weather and digital infrastructure. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most university classes were moved to online instruction. This greatly stimulated the need for online learning tools. WeBWorK is an open source online homework system, which has been used extensively in a variety of subjects. However, it has not been widely adopted by the Computer Science education community. In this paper, we discuss our experience using WeBWorK in teaching two large online sections of discrete mathematics. Emphasis is given to how we created randomized and auto-graded problems for many topics. In addition, we summarize student performance and feedback. We conclude with our reflections on using WeBWorK and propose future work for exploring its adaptive learning features. © 2023 ACM.
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The Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) teaching model has been widely applied in several four-year institutions in STEM areas, including Computer Science. Although only a few two-year colleges have adopted similar teaching models, the number of contact hours and interaction between peer leaders and students are limited, and the implementation of an authentic PLTL model is constrained by students' schedules and location accommodation. The propelled migration from face-to-face to online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic surfaced dissemination and implementation of such model alternative. The PLTL model was implemented for the fundamentals of Computer Science, i.e., CS 1, 2, and 3, where peer leaders learned pedagogical techniques, designed, implemented, and proctored programming activities for the three courses online. In this paper, we report the experience of the PLTL model applied to a computer science program in a community college. Experience includes the peer leaders' growth in disseminating material to their peers and how this model measures course performance, recruitment, retention, and completion. © 2023 ACM.
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The abrupt transition to online instruction in the COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for instructors in information science to engage with new teaching and learning modalities. After their online semester (i.e., Spring 2020), some decided to utilize the insights they gained and offer blended-learning courses in the post-pandemic semester. In this mixed-methods study, we surveyed a sample of 388 students in a large undergraduate information science course that transitioned from online to blended learning: 212 students in the online offering and 176 students in the blended offering of the course. We compared students' experiences in online and blended learning modalities and examined their perspectives on the blended learning component. Our quantitative and qualitative analyses yielded mixed results. Findings showed students preferred blended learning over online learning. They perceived it to be more engaging and active and reported that it allowed more peer interaction. Students had mostly positive perspectives of the blended learning components. However, some offered feedback on improving attendance requirements for the online component of the blended learning. Others reported online fatigue following online instruction during the pandemic. We discuss the findings and offer suggestions for effectively incorporating blended instruction in large information science courses. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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This paper summarises a cross-disciplinary project that explored ways of making instructions, funded as part of the UK COVID-19 rapid-response initiative. The project explored ways of making instructions for COVID-19 Lateral Flow Tests easy for lay people to use. Our method comprised rapid design decision making, where we used existing research, good practice in information design and consultation with diagnostic experts as part of the design process. Iterative review by a panel of users informed the development of prototype instructions: small studies investigated user preference for diagrams, and gathered feedback on the graphic articulation of the procedural steps involved in carrying out the test. © John Benjamins Publishing Company.
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CONTEXT A primarily undergraduate military college shifted from face-to-face instruction to emergency online instruction in Spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are examining student experiences with the shift using Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), which asserts that learning is hindered when cognitive load overwhelms finite working memory capacity. At the onset of the pandemic, we hypothesized that the need to manage learning in new and changing modalities may increase students' cognitive load and development. PURPOSE OR GOAL We seek to triangulate a previous finding that middle-years students experienced more cognitive load demands than either freshmen or seniors during the Spring 2020 semester. In this study, we examine cognitive load experienced by students in sophomore-, junior-, and senior-level civil engineering courses when engaging in various types of summative assessments. Our goal was to understand how academic course level and assessment type (closed-ended vs. open-ended) may have impacted cognitive load among students. APPROACH OR METHODOLOGY/METHODS We are engaged in a longitudinal mixed-methods study to explore the impacts of changing modalities on cognitive load and student development during the pandemic. For this study, we measured cognitive load experienced during five assessments administered across civil engineering courses of different academic levels using the NASA Task Load Index (TLX). The TLX is a rigorously-developed instrument that quantifies workload (a surrogate for cognitive load) across six dimensions: mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration. We used non-parametric analysis to identify differences in cognitive workload by course level and assessment type. We supplemented interpretation of findings through analysis of open-ended questions and focus group transcripts. ACTUAL OR ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES Sophomores and juniors experienced summative assessments differently than seniors, a finding that is consistent with our previous publications suggesting that modality changes may have disproportionately impacted middle-years students. Analysis of TLX data showed that sophomores and juniors reported highest time-demand and frustration, respectively, during closed-ended assessments. Open-ended assessments elicited significant frustration among juniors, a trend that was not observed for seniors. Qualitatively, both sophomores and juniors discussed workload-associated aspects of the modality shift more than seniors. CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS/SUMMARY We seek to further understand the unique experiences of middle-years students as a means for developing recommendations for managing cognitive load during online engineering courses - whether planned or unplanned. Copyright © Mary K. Watson, Elise Barrella, Kevin Skenes, Benjamin Kicklighter and Aidan Puzzio, 2021.
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a major threat to public health in the present century. In this situation, adherence to preventive behaviors seriously impacts the prevention of viral diseases. The present study aims to investigate adherence to public health preventive instructions in patients infected with COVID-19 before contracting the disease. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from November 2020 to March 2021 in Fars province. 3242 patients infected with COVID-19 were selected via multistage sampling. Data were collected using a demographic information form and a researcher-made questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by Stata v. 14 using the chi-square test. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The average age of participants was 38.45±13.07 years. 48.80% had a high rate, 47.90% had a moderate rate, and only 3.30% had a low compliance rate with COVID-19 preventive instructions. The patients' main reason for not following preventive behaviors was having to be present in busy places (41.1%). There was a significant correlation between the participants' age, gender, place of residence, occupation, education, history of underlying diseases (P≤0.001), marital status (P=0.041), and use of masks with a rate of adherence to preventive behaviors(P≤0.001). In the random forest, the job represents 36.75% compliance with COVID-19 preventive guidelines. Conclusion: Therefore, by raising public awareness, healthcare policymakers and administrators can enhance the public's observance of the COVID-19 prevention instructions and consequently control the spread of the infection and improve public health during the current crisis caused by the pandemic. © 2022 by the Author(s).
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With the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts focusing on student engagement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses have shifted towards engagement in online instruction, resulting in a need for increased understanding of how instructors adapt active learning from in person instruction to online learning. Active learning occurs in many different formats across different classrooms. Despite these broadly different formats, a common thread across all active learning is that using it in classrooms results in greater student engagement as compared to passive listening to lectures. Educational researchers have found that active learning has a positive impact on student outcomes, especially for underrepresented students in STEM.The research outlined in this paper seeks to understand how instructors are adapting from in person courses and the strategies they use to engage students in online STEM courses. To do this, we interviewed 20 instructors who were using active learning in teaching an online STEM course about the strategies they were using to engage their students in online activities. We coded these interviews using a grounded theory approach. After several rounds of coding, we found six overarching themes about how instructors viewed active learning in their online classrooms: Instructor Emotion, Instructor Strategy, Instructor Goal, Active Learning Example, Instructor Barrier, and Student Behavior. This paper focuses on the instructor strategy theme and its 55 individual codes. © 2022 IEEE.
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The prevalence of computer technologies has grown the perception of online peer feedback as an effective instrument for developing critical thinking abilities in higher education generally, and ESL classrooms specifically, as a tool for improving critical thinking abilities. The efficiency of this activity was most clearly proved during the Covid 19 pandemic when educational systems around the world were pushed to transition from traditional courses to online learning. The current study looked into how Vietnamese students perceived online peer feedback and its connection to critical thinking abilities. A mixed-methods strategy was adopted in this project, which integrated both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The perspectives of 91 students enrolled in an English General Preparation Course at a private university in Vietnam on online peer feedback were effectively communicated through quantitative surveys for objective data, followed by qualitative interviews with three English lecturers and six students for in-depth information about their experiences. This study demonstrated that offering online peer feedback to students enables them to enhance their critical thinking skills, notably in examining one another's work and, as a result, proposing a viable solution. However, to ensure that students are able to reap the benefits of online peer feedback and get more active in such a practical activity, instructors must provide explicit guidance. © 2022 IEEE.
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Background: In industrialised and developing economic countries like India, the technology transfer has significantly enhanced the quality of higher education, where the tentacles of digitsation have deeply entered education system, which opened the gateway of blended pedagogy, enabling a greater access to course content, learning preparation in peers and interactions. Across the globe blended learning is applied in pharmaceutical education, but it gained momentum in Indian pharmacy education during the global threat COVID 19 pandemic. Aim and Objectives: The current experimental study of six months duration was performed to investigate the perception of pharmacy students towards blended pedagogy in pharmacy education at undergraduate level. Methodology: In the current experiment survey, a validated standard self-administered questionnaire with 28 inventories under 7 categories was administered to students pursuing undergraduate pharmacy programs in a pharmacy institute located at rural Andhra Pradesh for a period of six months, through online mode;data collection was performed in students showing willingness and further collected data was assessed through excel spread sheet. Result(s): The study observed a two-third satisfaction on an average in terms of all the indicators which influence the blended pedagogy (teacher 71.8%, course content 74.8%, technology transfer 58.7%, interactions 78.8%, and constructive knowledge 73.7%). Conclusion(s): In conclusion, our study envisaged effective student engagement, with more facilitator-student interactions and adaptability;through blended learning which enabled, enhanced and transformed students to active learners. Copyright © 2022, Indian Pharmaceutical Association. All rights reserved.
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Self-determination theory argues that students' intrinsic motivation is cultivated when teachers teach in ways that meet students' basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (i.e., need-supportive teaching). However, the suspension of in-person teaching and learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic has urged teachers to search for strategies to practice need-supportive teaching online. This study tested the effect of need-supportive task instruction on students' situational intrinsic motivation in an online language learning task. We also examined whether the ensuing intrinsic motivation on the task would positively predict task performance directly or indirectly through self-assessment practice. Controlling for pre-test situational intrinsic motivation, secondary school students randomly assigned to the need-supportive task instruction (n = 56) showed significantly higher situational intrinsic motivation than those in the control group (n = 50). The need-supportive task instructions had a medium effect size on intrinsic motivation. Although such intrinsic motivation had no direct effect on task performance, it yielded significant indirect effects via self-assessment practice. Post-hoc moderated mediation analysis demonstrated that the indirect effect of intrinsic motivation on task performance was specific to students in the need-supportive task instruction group. Overall, need-supportive statements embedded in task instructions generated increased intrinsic motivation on an online task. As schools transition to the new normal of education, this study presents a unique opportunity for educators to implement theoretically informed, brief, and sustainable interventions to support students' motivation and learning online.
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The COVID-19 pandemic forced many educational institutions to transition to online learning activities. This significantly impacted various aspects of students' lives. Many of the studies aimed at assessing the impact of the online instruction on students' wellbeing and performance have mainly focused on issues such as mental health. However, the impact on student grades-a key measure of student success-has been given little attention. The handful existing studies are either focused on primary schools-where the dynamics are different from higher education-or based on statistical correlations, which are usually not causally rigorous, therefore, prone to biased estimates due to various confounding variables. There are many variables associated with students' grades, thus, to assess the causal impact of the online instruction on students' grades, there is a need for a causally-grounded approach that can control for confounding variables. To that end, we use a causal tree to investigate the impact of online instruction on the grades of the general population as well as different demographic subgroups. Our analysis is based on the demographic and engagement data for the 2019 (offline/control) and 2020 (online/treatment) cohorts of 3 mandatory courses in an Australian university. For all 3 courses, our results show that for any given student in the population, the average grade they would have gotten, had they studied offline, reduced by 3.6%, 4.7%, and 14% respectively. Further analyses show that among students with similar level of (low) engagement with the virtual learning environment, the average grade international students would have gotten, had they studied face-to-face, reduced by 19.9%, 36.6%, and 46.9% more than their domestic counterparts despite having similar engagement for the 3 courses respectively. These subgroup disparities have the potential to exacerbate existing inequalities. Given the current concerns about algorithmic bias in learning analytics (LA), we trained grade prediction models with the data and investigated for algorithmic bias. Interestingly, we find that by simply changing citizenship status, a student gets a new predicted grade, entirely different from what was initially predicted given their actual citizenship status. This implies that researchers must be careful when building LA models on COVID-19 era data. © 2022 ACM.
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This Work in Progress Paper presents techniques adapted to teach first-year engineering courses post-pandemic. Challenges faced by students and faculty will also be presented in this paper along with some guidance and best practices. In March 2020, COVID-19 was announced as a pandemic that began impacting higher education during the Spring semester. Many land-grant universities were not fully equipped with the tools to offer the best learning experience to students due to lock-down and the inability to access the laboratories and teaching equipment. This global pandemic had caused the universities to change their operations and impelled instructors to switch to online instruction halfway into the semester. Many universities began exploring options and investing their resources to devise teaching pedagogies that best fit the needs of their students. Although universities had been utilizing some learning management systems such as Blackboard, D2L, Canvas, etc., an unanticipated need for online instruction impelled a mandated use of these learning management systems for full content delivery. Although engineering courses could easily be revamped to distance learning platforms, there were some challenges due to the nature of the coursework and assessment of outcomes. Adhering to the social distancing guidelines and university mask mandates along with the availability of vaccination have made it possible to return to in-person teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is to: a) present some of the challenges faced by the first-year engineering students during the transition to and from distance learning approaches, b) share some of the results from the assessment of student attitudes during this transition, and c) share some of the best practices adopted by the instructors during these uncertain times. The first-year engineering curriculum usually involves fundamental concepts and provides an opportunity for students to explore several engineering disciplines. In a normal learning environment, engineering courses tend to be challenging due to higher expectations for problem-solving, mathematics, and scientific concepts, and adding external factors such as the pandemic adds more complications. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, students and instructors have been under constant pressure to satisfy the basic requirements of attaining student learning objectives. In this process of attaining the objectives, several challenges had been encountered and overcome in different ways. The focus of this research work is to study the first-year engineering course and present the challenges associated with the delivery of the course content, teaching engineering concepts and applications in a remote setting, and communication between instructors and students during the lock-down period. This paper also presents some of the teaching strategies that have been investigated by the instructors to assist students during difficult times while balancing student expectations. This work in progress study was initiated in Spring 2020 at a small regional campus of The Ohio State University. Challenges arising due to the transition to and from distance learning modalities were observed in the first-year engineering courses, Fundamentals of Engineering I and Fundamentals of Engineering II. These courses are two-credit hours each and introduce engineering problem-solving, data analysis, project-based learning, computer programming, 3-D Modeling and simulation, project management, and teamwork. Teaching strategies adopted by the instructors including restructuring the course, revisioning the assessment of course goals, and utilizing alternative approaches to assess student performance will be discussed in this paper. The findings of this paper will provide an opportunity for educators to learn from the unique experience and develop strategies to address the continuously changing teaching and learning environments that have evolved as a result of the pandemic. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.
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The COVID-19 pandemic forced educators and students to transition to online instruction. This change brought the importance of user interfaces into stark relief for engineering lab classes, compelling educators to consider how the design of online courses and virtual laboratory experiences either served or worked against student learning. In summer 2020, we began educational and user experience (UX) research with the online laboratory experiences in an electrical engineering lab classroom at the University of Georgia's College of Engineering. The NSF-funded project work draws on ready-to-use remote labs for electronics applied to several courses. It seeks to explore the faculty and student perspective on online experimentation in engineering curricula. However, the UX thrust of the project rounds out a holistic view of the online learning ecosystem and might specifically uncover barriers or factors of success related to the implementation of online labs. This project highlighted the importance of UX design in delivering science curriculum via virtual laboratory exercises with the specific conclusion that deficits in perspicuity in the UX create an obstacle to learning for engineering students. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.