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This research evaluates the impact of switching college engineering courses from in-person instruction to emergency remote learning among engineering students at a university in the Midwest. The study aimed to answer the question: What were the concerns and perceived challenges students faced when traditional in-person engineering courses suddenly transitioned to remote learning? The goal of this study is to uncover the challenges students were facing in engineering online courses and to understand students’ concerns. Our findings can help improve teaching instruction to provide students with previously unavailable educational assistance for online engineering courses. We collected online survey responses during weeks 8 and 9 of the academic semester, shortly after the COVID-19 shutdown and emergency transition to remote learning in Spring 2020. The survey included two open-ended questions which inquired about students’ feedback about moving the class online, and one two-item scale which assessed students’ confidence in online engineering learning. Data analysis for the open-ended questions was guided by the theoretical framework - Social Cognitive Career Theory [1] that explores how context, person factors and social cognitions contribute to career goals, interests and actions. A phenomenological approach [2] was conducted to understand the experience of these students. Open coding and axial coding [2] methods were used to create initial categories then themes related to students' concerns and challenges. Data from the two-item scale was evaluated using descriptive statistics: means, standard deviations, and ranges. Four main themes with separate sub-categories emerged from the student responses: 1) Instructor’s ability to teach course online (Instructional limitations, Seeking help, Increased Workload), 2) Student’s ability to learn online (Time Management, Lower engagement and motivation, Harder to absorb material, Hard to focus, Worry about performance), 3) Difficulties outside of class (Technology issues), and 4) No concerns. Students seemed more concerned about their ability to learn the material (48% of responses) than the instructor’s ability to teach the material (36% of responses). The instructional limitations or lack of instructional support (22% of responses) and time management (12% of responses) were among the major concerns in the sub-categories. The results from two-item scale indicated participants' s confidence in their ability to master their classroom knowledge was at an intermediate level via online instruction (6/10), and participants' confidence in the instructor's ability to teach knowledge in online classes is moderate to high (7/10). The results align with the open-ended question response in which students were somewhat more concerned about their ability to learn than the instructor’s ability to teach. The themes and analysis will be a valuable tool to help institutions and instructors improve student learning experiences.
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Does use of a hypothetical learning progression promote learning of the cardinal-count concept and give-n performance?
The general aim of the research was to conduct a rare test of the efficacy of hypothetical learning progressions (HLPs) and a basic assumption of basing instruction on HLPs, namely teaching each successive level is more efficacious than skipping lower levels and teaching the target level directly. The specific aim was evaluating whether counting-based cardinality concepts unfold in a stepwise manner. The research involved a pretest—delayed-posttest design with random assignment of 14 preschoolers to two conditions. The experimental intervention was based on an HLP for cardinality development (first promoting levels that presumably support and are necessary for the target level and then the target knowledge). The active-control treatment entailed a Teach-to-Target approach (first promoting irrelevant cardinality knowledge about recognizing written numbers and then directly teaching the same target-level goals with the same explicit instruction and similar games). A mix of quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated HLP participants performed significantly and substantially better than Teach-to-Target participants on target-level concept and skill measures. Moreover, the former tended to make sensible errors, whereas the latter generally responded cluelessly.
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- PAR ID:
- 10535904
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elseivier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Journal of Mathematical Behavior
- Volume:
- 76
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 0732-3123
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 101178
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Cardinality Counting development Early childhood Give-n task Hypothetical learning progressions
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101178
