Distance/Online Engineering Education During and After COVID-19: Graduate Teaching Assistant’s Perspective

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities across the globe to switch to distance/online mode of teaching since Spring 2020. The engineering college teaching community including graduate teaching assistants were severely affected by this change. Even though numerous articles cite a variety of strategies for online teaching for full time instructors, it has been identified that there are limited resources tailor made for graduate students who are teaching engineering classes. This article tries to bridge this gap by exploring some strategies for graduate teaching assistants to help them prepare for online classes and overcome the challenges posed by online/distance education from a graduate student’s experience and perspective.

OLJ September 2023 27(3)

“…The only item in this section with a mean rating below 4.29 was "Complete a formal mentoring contract or mentoring agreement" (M = 3.12), which was also rated as not applicable by 46% of the respondents. Although a suggested strategy in the literature (Andrew, 2012;Jacobs et al, 2015;Kumar et al, 2020) that is helpful to ensure common expectations and progress, the results indicate that institutions in the U.S. where most of the participants worked do not suggest or require the use of a formal mentoring agreement during the dissertation process.…”

“…The use of online research databases and bibliographic software, as well as qualitative and quantitative research analysis tools are essential during research processes in dissertations. E-mentors' familiarity with these technologies and their ability to apply and, on occasion, teach them to doctoral students can greatly facilitate research skill development and research implementation (Kumar & Dawson, 2018;Kumar et al, 2020). Researchers have highlighted the value of software for collaborative resource sharing, storage, editing, and the development of research ideas and writing between e-mentors, doctoral students, and research groups in the online environment (Guerin & Aitchison, 2021;.…”

“…Templates, structured writing aids, and exemplars of dissertations or other forms of scholarship can be very helpful to online doctoral students(Kumar & Johnson, 2019;. E-mentors should also be able to not only share relevant online resources, but also connect their mentees with experts who can help them with their research or provide research interactions in their geographical area(Kumar et al, 2020).At the same time, students might need different types of structure or support at different points in their writing or research process, therefore resources as well as guidance regarding the dissertation process, research designs, ethical reviews, data analysis (e.g., use of research software), and writing can contribute to their success(Jameson & Torres, 2019;.Guerin and Aitchison (2021, p. 626) also emphasize "the need for explicit instruction to develop research writing skills" in the online environment. In addition to timely and constructive feedback, several researchers have also highlighted the usefulness of peer reviews and peer critiques of writing among candidates in the online environment(Byrnes et al, 2019;Guerin & Aitchison, 2021;Kumar & Coe, 2017;Nasiri & Mafakheri, 2015).…”

Technologies, Strategies, and Supports Helpful to Faculty in the e-Mentoring of Dissertations

“…Given the absence of prior e-mentoring experiences and possibility for misunderstanding in the online environment, e-mentors should also make their expectations explicit verbally or in written form when embarking on the e-mentoring of dissertations (Andrew, 2012;Jacobs et al, 2015;Roumell & Bolliger, 2017). These expectations and initial discussions can relate to the ementoring process; the roles and responsibilities of the e-mentor and mentee; synchronous and asynchronous communications; modes, netiquette, and a strategy for communication; the availability of the mentor, deadlines and timelines; the types of technologies to be used during the e-mentoring process; and might need to recur and be renegotiated during various parts of the research process (Crawford et al, 2014;Kumar & Johnson, 2019;Kumar et al, 2020;. The discussion of goals and expectations of the e-mentor and mentee is crucial for all e-mentoring relationships, but especially when social and cultural differences are experienced (Berg, 2016;Deshpande, 2017;Nasiri & Mafakheri, 2015).…”

“…In the absence of research apprenticeships or the modeling and emulation of research processes and behaviors in an on-campus environment, structured guidance for research skill development and research implementation is crucial during e-mentoring processes (Kumar & Johnson, 2019;. Templates, structured writing aids, and exemplars of dissertations or other forms of scholarship can be very helpful to online doctoral students (Kumar & Johnson, 2019;Kumar et al, 2020). E-mentors should also be able to not only share relevant online resources, but also connect their mentees with experts who can help them with their research or provide research interactions in their geographical area (Kumar et al, 2020).…”