scholarly journals Reflections throughout the COVID-19 Lockdown: What Do I Need for Successful Learning of Engineering?

Author(s):  
Víctor Revilla-Cuesta ◽  
Marta Skaf ◽  
Milagros Navarro-González ◽  
Vanesa Ortega-López

The intention of this study was to identify the elements that engineering students consider fundamental for successful learning on engineering courses. The aim was to provide generic guidelines suitable for any engineering course with which the teaching may be adapted in the light of comments from students, while student learning improves. The abrupt transition from face-to-face to asynchronous online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted reflection among students on both teaching methods. Students were invited to evaluate each method through a survey of open-ended questions, identifying useful elements for their learning. The survey was repeated over nine weeks, to obtain the views of students after they had accepted the change and had critically analyzed how to improve online teaching. A cross-coded qualitative and mixed (word counting) analysis showed that the explanation of engineering concepts should be organized, hierarchical, repetitive, and exemplified. Furthermore, the teacher should link all the activities and projects to the concepts explained and quickly solve any doubts that they raised. As a consequence of the online teaching resulting from COVID-19, the need of independent student learning and peer support was also very evident. Teaching functions are essential on engineering courses, as teachers have to explain the overall concepts carefully, identify the key concepts, and demonstrate their industrial and professional applications. Furthermore, teaching methodologies that balance these aspects with autonomy and peer support for learning on engineering courses should be promoted.

2022 ◽  
Vol 2022 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Aman Gupta ◽  
Ana Janic ◽  
Joshua Thomson

Objectives. The March 2020 lockdown mandated institution closures and forced educators to provide remote instruction. We intended to gain an in-depth and holistic understanding of dental faculty’s experience and perceptions during this mandatory shift. Insights were gathered in 6 key areas: prior remote instruction experience; magnitude of transition and frequency of instruction methods used; training received; preferred teaching methods based on how they promote student learning, interaction, engagement, and performance; social impact; and future of teaching. Methods. An anonymous QualtricsXM survey was distributed to all dental faculties at University of Detroit Mercy in May 2020. Data was collected over a three-week period and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics 26 (IBM; Armonk, New York, USA). Pearson chi-squared test and Fisher’s exact test were used to evaluate categorical data. Results. Out of the 30 participants who transitioned to online remote instruction, 16 (53.3%) reported an age between 30 and 49 years and 14 (46.7%) reported ≥50 years of age. Our analysis revealed that faculty in 30–49-year age range had no prior online synchronous teaching experience. The transition was described as interesting, useful, time-consuming, and challenging. In-person live teaching received highest number of first place rankings (50%), and online asynchronous method received highest number of last place rankings (42.86%). Faculties in >50 year age range expressed maximum satisfaction with online small-group discussions, and those in 30–49 years age group were more satisfied with one-on-one online discussion. Conclusion. Our study finds that the faculty tends to gravitate to online methods that are similar to or mimic their past in-person teaching environment. Forced remote instruction gave new content delivery experiences to faculties of all ranges of age and experience in teaching. This exposure is likely to result in a more widespread adoption of a variety of instructional methods in future. Our study strongly suggests that traditional in-person instruction is the preferred method for delivery of content and is likely better for student learning. Majority of the faculties believed that the future of dental education would be a mix of both in-class and online instruction. In summer and fall 2021, our institution adopted hybrid, flexible models for didactic instruction to allow students the opportunity to digest content in their preferred method. Careful planning and systematic, continued training will be required to enhance technological skills and to incorporate newer models into didactic and clinical instruction. For the success of blended learning, courses will need redesigning of assessment methods, commitment, and support from administrators.


Author(s):  
Albert L. Ingram ◽  
Lesley G. Hathorn

Collaboration and cooperation have become firmly established as teaching methods in face-to-face classes (e.g., Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998). They are also rapidly becoming widespread in online teaching and learning in both hybrid (mixed traditional and online) course and distance courses. The methods are likely to be most effective if they are firmly grounded in how people actually work together. Some groups collaborate more successfully than others. Frequently, instructors may place students into groups in the expectation that they will collaborate without a clear idea of what collaboration is or how to recognize and encourage it. We must define what we mean by the terms, both so that we can use the techniques successfully and so that we can research them accurately.


Author(s):  
Albert L. Ingram ◽  
Lesley G. Hathorn

Collaboration and cooperation have become firmly established as teaching methods in face-to-face classes (e.g., Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998). They are also rapidly becoming widespread in online teaching and learning in both hybrid (mixed traditional and online) course and distance courses. The methods are likely to be most effective if they are firmly grounded in how people actually work together. Some groups collaborate more successfully than others. Frequently, instructors may place students into groups in the expectation that they will collaborate without a clear idea of what collaboration is or how to recognize and encourage it. We must define what we mean by the terms, both so that we can use the techniques successfully and so that we can research them accurately. In addition, we must distinguish between groups in which people act independently from those who act collaboratively. As Surowiecki (2004) has pointed out, when all the results are aggregated, a large number of people acting independently may give a more accurate solution to a problem than an expert. Interdependent groups may often produce results inferior to the results obtained by their best-performing members or may be affected by a “groupthink” mentality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 466
Author(s):  
Rasoul Khandan ◽  
Lucas Shannon

Lean thinking is a methodology employed initially by manufacturing organizations such as Toyota and New Balance that aims to increase customer value whilst also maintaining a low level of waste. The Lean thinking tools and techniques employed in the manufacturing sector can also be transferred to other sectors and significantly improve the service or product, such as public sector organizations or Higher Education Institutions (HEI). In the current education climate, due to the pandemic (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19), the majority of HEIs have moved to an online or hybrid teaching and learning environment. This has developed the principle that Lean thinking can be deployed in educational methods and techniques to greatly increase the level of student engagement and the efficiency of learning. The following study outlines the key waste sources found in three types of teaching–learning environments (face to face, online and hybrid) and provides practical implications to counter the non-value-added issues. The data for this study were gathered through a questionnaire from final year undergraduate engineering students. The results indicate that online teaching had the greatest effect on student engagement, based on the identification and weighted values of non-value-added issues. The study highlights the key Lean wastes within online, hybrid and face to face teaching, and provides key examples within the stated Lean waste to provide solutions to improve student engagement.


Author(s):  
Pinyi Li ◽  
Meng Li

In the context of my country’s sustained economic development, big data has also been developed to a certain extent, and has now become an issue of great concern to all industries. In the field of education, English is a very important subject. It carries out the entire study life of students. In order to cultivate English professionals, broaden students’ horizons, and achieve integration of production and education, it is necessary to draw lessons from big data. As a basis, online teaching methods are implemented in the process of English teaching to improve student learning efficiency and better realize the integration of production and education. Based on this, this article analyzes the online teaching of English production and education integration based on big data, hoping to provide a certain degree of reference for the research of latecomers.


Author(s):  
Michael G. McVey

Student learning style differences have been widely researched in both traditional face-to-face and online learning environments (Irani, Scherler & Harrington, 2003;Steinbronn, 2007; Williamson & Watson, 2007; Ugur, Akkoyunlu & Kurbanoglu, 2001). After conducting a literature review of adult student learning styles and teaching method analysis, it became apparent that there was not a significant difference in academic performance for students with differing learning styles whether they attended face-to-face or online classroom environments. What was not clearly indicated though, from the review of the literature, was what were the perceived best practices for online teaching from the perspective of experienced distance educators and whether the instructors' perceived learning style was incorporated in training programs to assist faculty to teach online. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative pilot study is to determine the perceived best practices to train faculty to teach in an online environment and how individual instructors' perceived learning style can be incorporated within best practices to foster competence on an individual instructor level. This study also analyzes faculty resistance to distance education and how transformative learning theory may play a role in overcoming this resistance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Hernández-Hernández ◽  
Juana M. Sancho-Gil

This manuscript builds on research about how university students felt affected by the Covid19 pandemic and, especially, by the irruption of non-face-to-face classes and mixed teaching methods in this context. How have young people experienced this situation? How has it affected their wellbeing and the learning strategies should develop have had to incorporate into their virtual relationships? their virtual relationships? How have they related and relate to virtual tools for a task that they have always experienced face-to-face? To answer these questions, the TRAY-AP project that investigates how university students learn collected 89 scenes that show the effects of the Covid 19 on their lives and the university. We grouped these scenes into seven key concepts to detect how students were emotionally affected, especially by moving from face-to-face to virtual learning. From this analysis, although primarily negative, the emotional effects have also allowed them to generate positive strategies for readaptation and collaboration with other colleagues. All of which opens the way to rethink the predominant pedagogical and knowledge relations in the university.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 386-392
Author(s):  
Samar Alharbi

In the modern era of teaching and learning, the education system witnessed many changes. New methods of teaching and learning are utilised in order to adapt to the growth of technology. Teachers used some teaching methods, such as online teaching, face to face teaching or a combination of both online and face to face known as blended learning (BL) environment. BL has been proven its advantages empirically in many studies. One of the significant advantages is that BL is used as an extended learning environment to reinforce knowledge and make learning more accessible by utilising technology and online resources. However, there are some drawbacks of implementing blended learning, such as the demand of time and teachers' efforts to provide feedback and follow up students. This paper examined the use of BL in higher education. The first part of this paper reviewed some empirical studies in BL.  The second part presented the theoretical framework of using BL. Benefits and challenges of implementing BL in higher education regarding Saudi universities are explained. Lastly, the paper concluded with some critical remarks.


2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 86-96
Author(s):  
Louise Jenkins ◽  

The significant increase in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic has created a heightened need for educators to implement teaching methods which do not rely solely on “face-to-face” learning within the same physical space. Blended Learning (BL) is one such approach, allowing for flexibility in the delivery of a class and constant access to unit materials. This paper reports on an investigation, by two Australian Pre-service Teacher (PST) educators, of their students’ understanding of BL at the beginning and end of a BL music method unit. Data were collected for three consecutive years with three separate cohorts. Findings indicated that the majority of the participants began the unit with little to no understanding of BL. This improved considerably through direct BL experience, with some exceptions. The implications for the development of flexible and responsive PST education in the current and post pandemic education environment are considered.


Author(s):  
Aneesa Abdul Rashid ◽  
Mohd Radzniwan A Rashid ◽  
Mohamad Nurman Yaman ◽  
Irfan Mohamad

The COVID-19 pandemic affected institution of higher learning as some teaching and learning activities had to halt due to safety of the students and staff. Face to face teaching was stopped, and lecturers had to find other methods of teaching. Online teaching was the only allowed method. The methods were synchronous and asynchronous. Lecturers have had to find innovative ways to practice effective teaching methods. Assessments had to also be done online taking important factors into consideration, following steps given by authorities. This article discusses issues around medical teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.19(0) 2020 p. S 77-S 81


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