An Assessment of an Online Flipped-style Classroom Instruction for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Students

ABSTRACT

During the Spring 2020 semester at Old Dominion University (ODU), a completely online mode of instruction was adopted to arrest the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. As a consequence, each unit within the university was practically required to make its own arrangement to ensure the students and faculty were well equipped to smoothly transition to the new mode of instruction and at the same time, ensure student success in the program. The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) at ODU responded with an effective strategy to equip its faculty with a cost-effective, timely solution to transition to the new mode of instruction. As part of MAE department's strategy to equip its faculty with low-cost, simple-to-use equipment, a minimalistic hardware setup was identified, which would consist of - (i) a camera/webcam, (ii) a microphone, and (iii) an adjustable webcam stand. The MAE department bought several Logitech webcams, which came with a built-in microphone, and flexible gooseneck camera stands with C-clamp desk mounts. A simple assembly of this setup connected to a computer was used to - (i) pre-record lectures and (ii) conduct live sessions. For seamless recording, it was recommended that the Zoom application - a video conferencing, web conferencing, webinar hosting, screen sharing computer software - be installed on the computer used for online instruction. An elaborate user manual was prepared for using the hardware setup along with the Zoom application for online instruction. This article discusses elements of the cost-effective, timely solution adopted by the MAE department at ODU. It describes the implementation of a completely online flipped-style classroom instruction using a low-cost, simple-to-use equipment. To assess the effectiveness of the online flipped-style classroom instruction, the article presents the results of a survey conducted among the students of a MAE course. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021