First-Year Engineering Students' Experiences and Motivation Amid Emergency Remote Instruction

ABSTRACT

Contribution The study provides empirical evidence and a deeper understanding of COVID-19’s impact on first-year engineering (FYE) students’learning experiences and motivation while accounting for gender and race/ethnicity-based variations. Background: In the Spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to close and shift unexpectedly to emergency remote instruction. These rapid transitions impacted all students, including FYE students. Research Questions Based on the importance of the first-year experience of engineering students, this study investigated two research questions 1) How does the rapid transition to emergency remote instruction affect FYE students’learning experiences? and 2) How do students’learning experiences during the pandemic relate to their motivation (self-efficacy and task value)? Methodology: A multimethod approach is used to investigate students’experiences on two dimensions 1) engagement, learning, effort, concentration, interest, and interactions and 2) time management, study settings, and resources, by using ANOVA, regression models, and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: Students who reported increased value of learning experiences reported higher self-efficacy and task value. Also, the results indicated that international students reported increased learning of new concepts, concentration in the class, interactions with instructors, and higher self-efficacy, while White and Asian students reported higher task value and availability of resources. IEEE