Undergraduate Engineering Laboratories during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Laboratories have always been considered an integral part of undergraduate engineering education. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has globally affected higher education and educators are devising innovative ways to minimize the impact of the pandemic on student learning. The most popular approach of converting instruction to online is applicable for teaching theoretical knowledge. However, laboratory experiments require hands-on activities. Simulations can replace the hands-on experiments to a limited extend. Moreover, laboratory sessions involve social interaction as students work in groups, share laboratory equipment, and interact one-to-one with laboratory instructor. This paper explores the impact of COVID-19 on laboratory courses in Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology (ECET) department of Indiana State University (ISU) through statistical analysis of grade distribution of students and number of experiments covered. The authors present the comparison of Fall 2019 laboratory course when the challenges of pandemic did not exist with the Fall 2020 laboratory course when the precautions for COVID-19 pandemic were observed. The comparison is done for laboratory courses taught by the same instructor in Fall 2019 and Fall 2020. Faculty members from ECET department explain the adjustments they have made to their laboratory courses to minimize the impact of the pandemic on students learning. Overall, the authors managed to cover almost all the experiments in Fall 2020 as they used to cover in Fall 2019. The statistical comparison of final grade distribution also indicates no difference between these two semesters which were conducted under quite different circumstances. The null hypothesis is that there exists no difference between the course final grades for pre-pandemic (Fall 2019) and post-pandemic (Fall 2020) semesters. The hypothesis has been tested using Chi-square goodness of fit test at p=0.05.