RAPID: Investigating Effects of the Disruptive Shift to Online Courses on Identity Formation and Self-Efficacy of Students and Faculty in a First-Year Engineering Course

该项目将收集调查因COVID-19而迅速转向在线教学的影响所需的时间敏感数据。 该项目的重点是学生在一个基于项目的第一年工程设计课程。 虽然它在减缓病毒感染方面是有效的，但突然改变为在线教学也将对本科生的体验和学习产生重大影响。 成功的在线课程通常是在数月或数年的时间内开发的，并得到教学设计师或机构其他专家的大力支持。 在这种情况下，在线课程的开发必须在几周内完成，机构没有能力将援助扩展到所有教师，因为他们将面对面的课程转换为在线课程。 包括实践经验的课程，如设计课程，是一个特别棘手的挑战，以有效地提供在线。 高质量的教学在第一年的课程中至关重要，学生开始形成自己作为工程师的身份，并对自己的工程能力建立信心。 了解快速转向在线课程对基于项目的工程课程的学生体验的影响，可以从根本上改变管理人员，教育工作者和行业准备和适应一年级学生独特需求的方式。 这项工作的结果将提供见解，可以指导有关工程教育的未来明智的决定。 三个研究问题将指导调查：1。在这一过渡时期，学生的自我效能信念和身份认同是如何演变的？ 2.在这一转型期，教师的自我效能信念和经验是如何演变的？3.前两个问题的结果是否取决于个体差异或中介技术的使用？ 为了回答这些问题，该项目将使用混合方法，包括定性访谈、调查、学习管理系统的数据挖掘和自然语言处理。 研究计划将分为两个阶段：1）现场数据收集和分析; 2）分析收集到的数据。 该分析将使研究团队能够探索这种突然转变对未来课程设置，教师行为和信念以及学生持久性的影响，特别是来自代表性不足群体的一年级工程专业学生的保留。 它还可以提供有关如何改进实验室，设计和其他需要学生动手工作的课程的在线版本的见解。 该奖项由本科教育部（教育和人力资源局）的改进本科STEM教育计划颁发，使用冠状病毒援助，救济和经济安全（CARES）法案的资金。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will gather time-sensitive data needed to investigate the impact of the rapid shift to online instruction due to COVID-19. The project focuses on students in a project-based first-year engineering design course. Although it is effective in slowing viral infections, the sudden change to online instruction will also have a significant impact on undergraduate student experiences and learning. Successful online courses typically are developed over months or years, with substantial support from instructional designers or other specialists at the institution. In this case, the development of online courses had to be accomplished within weeks, and institutions did not have the capacity to scale assistance to all faculty as they converted their in-person courses to online courses. Courses that include hands-on experiences, such as design courses, are a particularly thorny challenge to effectively deliver online. High-quality instruction is critical in first-year courses, where students begin to form their identities as engineers and develop confidence in their engineering abilities. Understanding the effects that the rapid shift to online courses has on student experiences in project-based engineering courses could fundamentally change the way administrators, educators, and industry prepare for and adapt to the unique needs of first-year students. The findings of this work will provide insights that can guide informed decisions about the future of engineering education. Three research questions will guide the investigations: 1. How do the self-efficacy beliefs and identity of students evolve during this transitional period? 2. How do the self-efficacy beliefs and the experiences of instructors evolve during this transitional period? 3. Are the results of the first two questions conditioned upon individual differences or the use of mediating technologies? To answer these questions, the project will use a mixed methods approach that features qualitative interviews, surveys, data mining from learning management systems, and natural language processing. The research plan will be broken into two phases: 1) in-situ data collection and analysis; and 2) analysis of the collected data. The analysis will enable the research team to explore the implications of this sudden shift on future course offerings, instructor behaviors and beliefs, and student persistence, particularly the retention of first-year engineering students from underrepresented groups. It can also provide insights about how to improve online versions of laboratory, design, and other courses that require students to do hands-on work. This RAPID award is made by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program in the Division of Undergraduate Education (Education and Human Resources Directorate), using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.