Using Evaluative Data to Assess Virtual Learning Experiences for Students During COVID-19
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Biomedical Engineering Education ( 2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s43683-020-00027-8
Teaching Tips - Special Issue (COVID)
Using Evaluative Data to Assess Virtual Learning Experiences for Students During COVID-19 KARINA VIELMA1,2 and ERIC M. BREY
1
1
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA; and 2Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA (Received 30 June 2020; accepted 24 August 2020)
CHALLENGE STATEMENT Our diverse, Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) consists of approximately 64% underrepresented minorities, 45% first generation college students, 14% military affiliated students, and 39% transfer students. During a typical semester, nontraditional students may face demanding challenges outside of their academic responsibilities including full time employment, long commutes, and family obligations. During an emergency or disruptive situation, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of these challenges may be magnified. Faculty members transferring curriculum online in a short period of time need to understand the best mechanisms for supporting student learning and well-being. During the 2020 Spring Break week, the university made the decision to migrate courses online and encourage students to move off campus, if possible. Students, as well as university faculty, were informed that an extra week without instruction would be allotted for faculty to prepare their courses for online instruction. While faculty were provided support and training for online course delivery, individual faculty members were allowed significant flexibility in determining their online course structure. For example, asynchronous course delivery was encouraged but not required. For the transition, faculty also had access to a variety of conferencing software for course instruction, but one uniform platform was not required. Selecting Pass/Fail grading was available for a course
Address correspondence to Eric M. Brey, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA. Electronic mail: [email protected]
only if both the faculty member and the student selected this option. These flexible options resulted in a broad range of course structures over approximately two months of online content delivery. While our Department organized multiple sessions for online learning strategies and best practices, faculty were able to choose their preferred structures. As a result of these varied options, the Department sought to evaluate student perceptions of online course delivery, identify challenges faced during the transition to online learning, and determine student preferences of best practices for remote learning at an HSI with a large, majority-minority, first-generation student population.
NOVEL INITIATIVE A survey was developed to collect information from students in the Department, which houses two engineering programs—B
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