Online Engineering Education Under COVID-19 Pandemic Environment

Abstract

This essay considers the significance of students’ emotional experiences during online engineering instruction by reviewing the evidence of factors that make for more efficient and effective online instructional practices during the pandemic period. The engineering courses, particularly those with labs and activities, were especially disrupted when they were re-designed for online context. The continuation of these instructional changes may cause substantially increased stress levels for students that ultimately may impact enrollment. Therefore, the success of engineering education for both the near and long-term future depends on providing students positive learning experiences which are associated with academic emotions during the establishment of this new normal of online technical engineering education.

Analysis of Computer Skills and Happiness Levels of Electrical Engineering Students during Pandemic

“…This study analyzes the paradigm shift for its usefulness in teaching, for example in power engineering education to support online teaching during the pandemic. In similar research conducted during the pandemic [16], several engineering courses were redesigned for a distance learning environment under some constraints, like core lab courses. Some of the courses developed (for the core part of the curriculum) have gone through a phase-wise approach with significant resource investment from the universities.…”

Did the Student-Instructor and Peer-to-Peer Divide Widen with Instructional Changes during COVID-19?

“…Beyond the learning outcomes, research on the student experience and the mental load of higher education in this moment has been published. Work presenting the emotional experience of students during a radical shift in their educational environment has been reported (Park et al, 2020). Vielma and Brey analyzed the experience of students in biomedical engineering courses during the Spring of 2020 (Vielma and Brey, 2020).…”

“…The rapid changes to online instructional methods during 2020 exposed the need for intentional and planned changes in course design when moving towards online or HyFlex teaching. Several authors have argued that shifts towards online instructional delivery could be expected to continue in the future, even after COVID (Dhawan, 2020;Kalantzis and Cope, 2020;Li and Lalani, 2020;DePietro, 2020;Park et al, 2020).…”

Engineering Instructors’ Self-reported Activities to Support Emergency Remote Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The sudden shift to ERT due to the COVID-19 pandemic has differentially impacted engineering education where a widespread paradigm shift to remote learning has yet to be seen [4]. The lack of remote teaching in engineering, prior to the pandemic, has been attributed to the inherent nature of the discipline, which requires hands-on training to work with instruments and materials in controlled laboratory settings [5].…”

“…In such circumstances, challenges experienced by novice online instructors under normal circumstances are greatly exacerbated because of the abrupt transition [2]. This impact can be even more significant for those instructors and or programs (e.g., engineering) that are not accustomed to remote teaching [3][4]. The lessons learned from ERT can be translated into future change efforts to improve engineering education.…”