Using Collective Wisdom to Enhance Experimental Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

The rapid escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic hit all educational institutions unprepared in Spring 2020 semester. Many schools had to pivot to online instruction with little preparation and minimal response time. The summer of 2020, while most universities offered few courses, was the time for faculty to regather resources and prepare for the fall semester. Many anticipated the likelihood of teaching online again and saw challenges associated with this instructional modality, especially for laboratory courses. A group of enthusiastic and experienced faculty members in the College of Engineering and Technology (CET) at East Carolina University congregated and started a weekly Faculty Connection Hour (FCH) to network and share pedagogical ideas for remote teaching. Many of these sessions focused on innovative ways to provide remote laboratory learning experiences comparable to their conventional face-to-face alternatives. A large number of faculty members contributed to and benefited from these discussions. The FCH started with identifying some challenges of laboratory learning with remote instruction. The group was able to discover fifteen strategies that can potentially facilitate the adaptation of laboratory learning to online instruction. The group also recognized that, although there may not be a single strategy that can resolve all issues existing in a course, laboratory learning objectives can often be achieved by using a combination of different strategies. Collective wisdom gathered from FCH discussions seemed to have equipped faculty with pedagogical ideas for the pivoting. Equally importantly, the connection built through these virtual meetings helped isolated faculty to recognize that they were not fighting the hardships alone;instead all members shared the same adversities. In a sense, it reduced stress and allowed faculty time to reset and unwind. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021