Teaching in a time of pandemic: The case of the EMET Program at Pennsylvania State University - Fayette

Abstract

The author shares his experiences of university teaching during the time of restrictions imposed on teaching and learning modes due to a pandemic. The relative scarcity of literature analyzing the response in the fields of science and engineering to the pandemic served as motivation. After providing general background information about the pandemic’s impact on educational systems worldwide, the article provides qualitative research with a narrative model for a case study of an engineering program at an American university. The analyzed case concerns the teaching and learning methodologies implemented in an electro-mechanical engineering technology bachelor’s degree program at Pennsylvania State University – the Fayette campus in the academic years 2020-22. Pennsylvania State University’s chosen teaching modes in the time of the pandemic to be used by instructors provide an example of adaptability of a higher education institution to the changing teaching and learning circumstances. The pedagogical approach to preparing, delivering, and assessment of learning effectiveness in engineering courses with a laboratory component is described. The article also shows how to use the learning management system, Canvas, with its analytical utility tool, to improve effectiveness and responsiveness of the teaching and learning process. The shortcomings and unexpected benefits of learning online pedagogy are shared and discussed. To assess the students’ perception and the study mode and their preferences in this regard, an anonymous, closed-ended, nominal-polytomous questionnaire was conducted, and its findings are analyzed. Further, to compare the students’ preferences as regards study modes depending on the academic discipline, engineering students were contrasted with students studying business as their major. The surveys also provide answers to trends in the longer term in students’ expectations for delivery of programs by higher education institutions.