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1. Perceptions, satisfactions, and performance of undergraduate students during Covid‐19 emergency remote teaching

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.2161  

   Wilhelm, Jessica; Mattingly, Spencer; Gonzalez, Victor_H (January 2022, Anatomical Sciences Education)

   Abstract Due to the Covid‐19 pandemic, the education system worldwide faced sudden and unforeseen challenges. Many academic institutions closed their doors, forcing both educators and students to transition to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) for the remainder of the semester. This transition eliminated hands‐on experiences, increased workload, and altered curricula. However, these aspects, as well as students' perceptions, study habits, and performance in response to ERT remain poorly documented. This contribution describes changes in the curriculum of an undergraduate cadaver‐based laboratory, and explores students' performance, self‐perceived learning, and overall satisfaction during this educational crisis. Online content delivery for this course included both asynchronous instruction and synchronous discussion sessions. While formative assessments remained the same, online spotter examinations included short answer, multiple choice, multiple answer, ordering, and true and false questions. Despite examination grades improving 20% during ERT, students reported lower levels of learning, confidence, and engagement with the course materials when compared to the face‐to‐face portion of the class. The most prevalent challenges identified by students were those related to the loss of access to cadaver‐based learning, including difficulty identifying and visualizing structures in three dimensions, and the loss of context and sensorial cues. Flexibility in taking examinations and learning the material at their own pace were recognized as positive outcomes of the ERT transition. While the resulting student perceptions and performances are unsurprising, they offer insight into the challenges of fostering a productive learning environment in a future threatened by epidemic outbreak and economic uncertainty. 

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2. The Effectiveness of Synchronous vs Asynchronous Modes of Instruction in an Online Flipped Design Thinking Course

   Mohandas, L. (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Motivation: This is a complete paper. There was a sudden shift from traditional learning to online learning in Spring 2020 with the outbreak of COVID-19. Although online learning is not a new topic of discussion, universities, faculty, and students were not prepared for this sudden change in learning. According to a recent article in ‘The Chronicle of Higher Education, “even under the best of circumstances, virtual learning requires a different, carefully crafted approach to engagement”. The Design Thinking course under study is a required freshmen level course offered in a Mid-western University. The Design Thinking course is offered in a flipped format where all the content to be learned is given to students beforehand and the in-class session is used for active discussions and hands-on learning related to the content provided at the small group level. The final learning objective of the course is a group project where student groups are expected to come up with functional prototypes to solve a real-world problem following the Design Thinking process. There were eighteen sections of the Design Thinking course offered in Spring 2020, and with the outbreak of COVID-19, a few instructors decided to offer synchronous online classes (where instructors were present online during class time and provided orientation and guidance just like a normal class) and a few others decided to offer asynchronous online classes (where orientation from the instructor was delivered asynchronous and the instructor was online during officially scheduled class time but interactions were more like office hours). Students were required to be present synchronously at the team level during the class time in a synchronous online class. In an asynchronous online class, students could be synchronous at the team level to complete their assignment any time prior to the deadline such that they could work during class time but they were not required to work at that time. Through this complete paper, we are trying to understand student learning, social presence and learner satisfaction with respect to different modes of instruction in a freshmen level Design Thinking course. Background: According to literature, synchronous online learning has advantages such as interaction, a classroom environment, and better course quality whereas asynchronous online learning has advantages such as self-controlled and self-directed learning. The disadvantages of synchronous online learning include the learning process, technology issues, and distraction. Social isolation, lack of interaction, and technology issue are a few disadvantages related to asynchronous online learning. Problem Being Addressed: There is a limited literature base investigating different modes of online instruction in a Design Thinking course. Through this paper, we are trying to understand and share the effectiveness of synchronous and asynchronous modes of instruction in an online Flipped Design Thinking Course. The results of the paper could also help in this time of pandemic by shedding light on the more effective way to teach highly active group-based classrooms for better student learning, social presence, and learner satisfaction. Method/Assessment: An end of semester survey was monitored in Spring 2020 to understand student experiences in synchronous and asynchronous Design Thinking course sections. The survey was sent to 720 students enrolled in the course in Spring 2020 and 324 students responded to the survey. Learning was measured using the survey instrument developed by Walker (2003) and the social presence and learner satisfaction was measured by the survey modified by Richardson and Swan (2003). Likert scale was used to measure survey responses. Anticipated Results: Data would be analyzed and the paper would be completed by draft paper submission. As the course under study is a flipped and active course with a significant component of group work, the anticipated results after analysis could be that one mode of instruction has higher student learning, social presence, and learner satisfaction compared to the other. 

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3. Design and implementation of an asynchronous online course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in computational genomics

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012384  

   Plaisier, Seema B; Alarid, Danielle O; Denning, Joelle A; Brownell, Sara E; Buetow, Kenneth H; Cooper, Katelyn M; Wilson, Melissa A (September 2024, PLOS Computational Biology)

   Palagi, Patricia M (Ed.)

   As genomics technologies advance, there is a growing demand for computational biologists trained for genomics analysis but instructors face significant hurdles in providing formal training in computer programming, statistics, and genomics to biology students. Fully online learners represent a significant and growing community that can contribute to meet this need, but they are frequently excluded from valuable research opportunities which mostly do not offer the flexibility they need. To address these opportunity gaps, we developed an asynchronous course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) for computational genomics specifically for fully online biology students. We generated custom learning materials and leveraged remotely accessible computational tools to address 2 novel research questions over 2 iterations of the genomics CURE, one testing bioinformatics approaches and one mining cancer genomics data. Here, we present how the instructional team distributed analysis needed to address these questions between students over a 7.5-week CURE and provided concurrent training in biology and statistics, computer programming, and professional development. Scores from identical learning assessments administered before and after completion of each CURE showed significant learning gains across biology and coding course objectives. Open-response progress reports were submitted weekly and identified self-reported adaptive coping strategies for challenges encountered throughout the course. Progress reports identified problems that could be resolved through collaboration with instructors and peers via messaging platforms and virtual meetings. We implemented asynchronous communication using the Slack messaging platform and an asynchronous journal club where students discussed relevant publications using the Perusall social annotation platform. The online genomics CURE resulted in unanticipated positive outcomes, including students voluntarily discussing plans to continue research after the course. These outcomes underscore the effectiveness of this genomics CURE for scientific training, recruitment and student-mentor relationships, and student successes. Asynchronous genomics CUREs can contribute to a more skilled, diverse, and inclusive workforce for the advancement of biomedical science. 

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4. Developing Resources to Support Comprehensive Transfer Engineering Curricula: Assessing the Effectiveness of a Hybrid Materials Science Course

   https://doi.org/10.18260/p.26769  

   Dunmire, Erik; Enriquez, Amelito; Langhoff, Nicholas; Rebold, Thomas; Schiorring, Eva (June 2016, 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   A substantial percentage of engineering graduates, especially those from traditionally underrepresented groups, complete their lower-division education at a community college before transferring to a university to earn their degree. However, engineering programs at many community colleges, because of their relatively small scale with often only one permanent faculty member, struggle to offer lower-division engineering courses with the breadth and frequency needed by students for effective and efficient transfer preparation. As a result, engineering education becomes impractical and at times inaccessible for many community college students. Through a grant from the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program (NSF IUSE), three community colleges from Northern California collaborated to increase the availability and accessibility of the engineering curriculum by developing resources and teaching strategies to enable small-to-medium sized community college engineering programs to support a comprehensive set of lower-division engineering courses. These resources were developed for use in a variety of delivery formats (e.g., fully online, online/hybrid, flipped face-to-face, etc.), providing flexibility for local community colleges to leverage according to their individual needs. This paper focuses on the development and testing of the resources for an introductory Materials Science course with 3-unit lecture and 1-unit laboratory components. Although most of the course resources were developed to allow online delivery if desired, the laboratory curriculum was designed to require some limited face-to-face interaction with traditional materials testing equipment. In addition to the resources themselves, the paper presents the results of the pilot implementation of the course during the Spring 2015 semester, taught using a flipped delivery format consisting of asynchronous remote viewing of lecture videos and face-to-face student-centered problem-solving and lab exercises. These same resources were then implemented in a flipped format by an instructor who had never previously taught the course, at a community college that did not have its own materials laboratory facilities. Site visits were arranged with a nearby community college to afford students an opportunity to complete certain lab activities using traditional materials testing equipment. In both implementations of the course, student surveys and interviews were used to determine students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the course resources, student use of these resources, and overall satisfaction with the course. Additionally, student performance on assessments was compared with that of traditional lecture delivery of the courses in prior years. 

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5. Potentials of Virtual Social Spaces for Construction Education

   https://doi.org/10.29007/sdsj  

   Sun, Yuan; Gheisari, Masoud (January 2021, EPiC Series in Built Environment)

   The reality of COVID-19 public health concerns and increasing demand for distance education have forced educators to move to online delivery of their courses. Particularly in construction education, the majority of physical location-based educational activities (e.g., labs, site visits, or field trips) have been canceled during the pandemic that results in reducing students’ engagement, learning motivation, and cognitive achievement. Virtual Social Spaces (VSS) with innovative interaction affordances and immersive experience are well poised to supplement current online construction education. This paper discusses the potentials of VSS for construction education while focusing on the common applications of VSS, the communication and collaboration affordances of VSS, and design principles of this technology based on 15 popular VSS platforms. Overall, VSS applications are mainly found in education, entertainment, and socializing. The main communication and collaboration affordances of VSS include avatars, multi-user support, asynchronous commenting, synchronous chat, and visual-sharing affordances. These technical features illustrate the potentials of VSS for improving online construction education quality, eliminating the challenges associated with geographical dispersion of students, and decreasing the students’ lack of engagement. 

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