An Evaluation of a University-Level, High School Course Taught to Foster Interest in Civil Engineering (Evaluation)

ABSTRACT

High school students have limited exposure to engineering education, especially civil engineering. To fill this knowledge gap, the authors' offered a new college-level, civil engineering course to high school students. Initial course planning anticipated an on-campus environment with a focus on hands-on learning. Due to COVID-19 and the university system's response, the course shifted to an online platform. In this new setting, the course incorporated both synchronous and asynchronous modules with 18 students from geographical locations spanning 11 time zones. The students had diverse prior exposure to civil engineering, virtual learning environments, and active learning techniques. This paper evaluates the new program's effectiveness in increasing students' interest in civil engineering. Also, the paper shares detailed practical techniques that can be implemented to design (or redesign) courses intended to represent both a rigorous college class and foster interest in engineering. The effectiveness of this course is evaluated based on student engagement with online content, student evaluations, and comparison of pre- and post-class surveys. Student engagement was measured by class participation, on-time assignment submission, and time spent engaging with online materials. To get students' perspectives on course content, delivery method, and teaching techniques, class evaluations were administered to all students at the end of the course. Pre- and post-class surveys asked students uniform questions related to their definition of civil engineering, description of core class principles, and the university. The authors found that students appreciate group work, interactive activities, and opportunities to research and report on complex topics. Specific active learning techniques including split room debates, think-pair-share activities, and using novel software for real-time polling were mentioned by learners as especially meaningful. From the instructors' perspective, the success of these virtual interactive activities is predicated on learner buy-in. Initial ideas developed for in-person instruction were largely abandoned, and alternative approaches were used to leverage the assets and limit the drawbacks of an online environment. Some techniques used were issuing online polling solutions to encourage participation and putting learners in permanent groups to help combat feelings of isolation. Altogether, these techniques led learners to engage with civil engineering topics, fostering interest and growing their knowledge of the topic, while meeting the required rigor of the university classroom. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021