COVID-19 and the New Normal in Engineering and Computer Science Education: Students' Perspectives on Online and Hybrid Education

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a major disruption to colleges and universities, with many institutions cancelling in-person learning and moving to completely online instruction for a time. Since the pandemic began, institutions of higher education have utilized varying degrees of face-to-face, hybrid and online instruction. These changes have impacted both students and faculty in science and engineering fields. Traditional science and engineering students have had to adapt quickly to new, and largely unwelcome, means of learning. In addition, faculty have had to abruptly alter their teaching to adjust to changes in teaching formats imposed by the pandemic. Using a web-based survey of engineering and computer science programs in US and Canadian universities, this paper studies the challenges introduced to STEM education due to the COVID-19 pandemic from students' perspectives. The survey was administered in face-to-face, hybrid and completely online classes to study students' perceptions and attitudes as well as challenges related to changes in teaching formats during the pandemic. Furthermore, this study assesses students' perceptions about the future of teaching in a post COVID-19 environment. Results of this study provide insights into both current and future impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on engineering and computer science education. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.