Engineering Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This project consisted of research initiatives undertaken from spring 2020 to summer 2022, under two approved research ethics protocols. Through these initiatives, we administered two Faculty-wide instructor surveys (one in April 2020 and the other in July 2022), and four Faculty-wide undergraduate student surveys (in May 2020, December 2020, May 2021 and June 2022 respectively) to capture instructors and undergraduate engineering students’ perceptions of teaching and learning experiences, amidst the academic disruptions during the pandemic. We also conducted student focus groups and individual instructor interviews to follow up on some of the matters which emerged from the survey findings. In 2022, our research focus shifted to examining learning and teaching effectiveness under different instruction modes to inform future learning and teaching in engineering education. The project received funding from the University’s Learning & Education Advancement Fund (LEAF) program in spring 2022 and became part of the University’s “Insights on the Future of Digital Learning” initiative.  

The following reports were completed from this project and have been posted under ISTEP’s “Paper and Reports” webpage: 

Publications: 

  • Liu, Qin; Evans, Greg; Moghaddas, Milad; & Kecman, Tamara. (2023). Instructional development at a time of involuntary changes: Implications for the post-pandemic era. Proceedings of the Annual Conference & Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education, Baltimore, MD. https://peer.asee.org/43732
  • Liu, Qin; Evans, Greg; Wei, Yunze; Moghaddas, Milad; Mistry, Kashish; & Kecman, Tamara. (2023). Engineering students’ perceptions of learning effectiveness: Implications from the lived experiences amidst a mixture of in-person and online instruction. Proceedings of the Annual Conference & Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education, Baltimore, MD. https://peer.asee.org/43349
  • Liu, Qin; Sweeney, Juliette; and Evans, Greg. (2021, July). Exploring self-directed learning among engineering undergraduates in the extensive online instruction environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paper presented at the American Society for Engineering Education Virtual Annual Conference.  https://peer.asee.org/37145 
  •  Sweeney, Juliette; Liu, Qin; and Evans, Greg. (2021, June). Investigating the impact of online learning on engineering students’ socialization experiences during the pandemic. Paper presented at the Canadian Engineering Education Association Virtual Annual Conference. https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.vi0.14864 

Team Leads:

Professor Greg Evans and Dr. Qin Liu 

Research Assistants: 

May 2020 – February 2021 

  • Juliette Sweeney: doctoral student in Collaborative Specialization in Engineering Education  

May – August 2021 

  • Jenifer Yashfin Hossian:  undergraduate student in Computer Engineering 
  • Jiyoun Kim: undergraduate student in Chemical Engineering 
  • Khaza Abdur Rouf: Master of Engineering student 
  • Hiroyoshi Hiratsuka: doctoral student in Higher Education 

October to December 2021: 

  • Leigh McNeil-Taboika: Master student in Collaborative Specialization in Engineering Education 

May to August 2022 

  • Lulu Yunze Wei, undergraduate student in Engineering Science 
  • Tamara Kecman, doctoral student in Collaborative Specialization in Engineering Education  
  • Milad Moghaddas, graduate student in Industrial Relations and Human Resources 
  • Kashish Mistry, undergraduate student in Electrical and Computer Engineering