Creating community and engagement in large cohort online STEM courses effectively

ABSTRACT

CONTEXT Nothing has changed the delivery of education as fast as the impact of COVID-19. Online learning is the 'new normal' with many STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses having to rapidly make this transition from traditional on-campus teaching. The literature shows that rich environments of formal face to face lectures and verbally engaging workshops provide a sense of community, social contracts and development of collegiate relationships between students. It is essential that education providers continue to offer opportunities for students to experience this element of higher education, rather than overlook this component of learning, as it can easily be lost in computer screen to computer screen engagement. PURPOSE OR GOAL This paper described how the literature surrounding online engagement was applied to enhance student engagement in a large cohort undergraduate course. In particular the transition from face to face to online and mixed modalities was investigated. Key engagement metrics as outlined in the literature and student survey results were utilised to gauge student satisfaction when development of a social environment is taken into consideration during course development. APPROACH OR METHODOLOGY/METHODS This work examines a transitioned large cohort course to quantify the effects of creating online community that replicates much of the face-to-face environment. It uses teaching survey instruments to identify pre and post intervention effectiveness from past cohorts and those exposed to the intervention. Semi structured surveys in the form of open questions were used to elicit free form responses and word frequency analysis is used to measure engagement. ACTUAL OR ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES In content heavy subjects such as STEM disciplines, the development of the online environment and teacher presence as well as social presence in subject delivery has a demonstratable effect on student engagement as measured by student satisfaction and learning outcomes. CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS/SUMMARY Key elements in the learning environment were found to have contributed substantially to the outcomes. These include supporting students in time management, supporting developing brains in undergraduate cohorts, peer interaction and developing online community. Although there was concern that the inclusion of online activities and games would be perceived as additional work, these contributed to enhanced student engagement in the online space. Copyright © Willis, Lee, James and Whale, 2021.