An Effective Systematic Approach to Migrate a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering Degree Program to Online Modality

ABSTRACT

During the last two and half years, the Covid-19 Pandemic has made online learning environment (OLE) a necessary modality for all educational degree programs globally. However, migrating a conventional ground campus only Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering (BSCE) degree program into an online modality is a project more complicated than simply replicating what is common in an on-ground classroom into a virtual classroom. The major challenges include how to maintain instructional effectiveness in an online modality, how to enable students accessing lab equipment to conduct hands-on experiments in an OLE, how to support students expeditiously when they encounter difficulties in an asynchronous communication based OLE, and how to assess students work produced in an OLE, etc. In this paper, we share our experience on how we applied a systematic approach, guided by various learning pedagogies, migrating a ground campus only ABET accredited BSCE degree program into the online modality successfully. Our practice has demonstrated that this approach can assist us to quickly identify solutions, quite often unique to the OLE, based on the specific characteristics of online modality to effectively address various typical challenges encountered during the process of migration. © 2022 IEEE.