Advancing Understanding of Student Learning in Virtual Undergraduate Engineering Laboratories

本项目旨在通过调查本科生在虚拟机械和航空航天工程实验室的学习和经验，服务于国家对本科STEM教育的兴趣。新冠肺炎疫情给学生生活带来了多重危机，包括生活环境突然变化、学习时间减少、学习成绩下降、失去实习/工作、收入预期降低等。与此同时，2019冠状病毒病大流行再次强调了远程学习安排的潜在好处，包括工程领域的在线虚拟实验室。然而，尽管这些虚拟工程实验室可能旨在增加学生的学习机会，但这些实验室也可能使不平等的气候和文化永久化。该项目将研究虚拟实验室框架的设计，旨在促进所有学生的公平和包容，特别是那些在工程领域代表性不足的学生。项目团队将研究学生如何参与、学习和适应新的虚拟实验室工具，以及这些工具如何影响学生的学习动机和他们对工程的自我认同。该项目侧重于三个目标：(i)设计一种有效的教育工具，用于评估虚拟实验室的学习；（ii）对在线学习技术和改善教与学的条件的调查；（三）教师专业发展。该项目的研究部分将研究出现在虚拟实验室中的人的语言、性别、种族和阶级如何影响学生在高级顶点实验室中虚拟实验室活动的舒适度和参与度。研究设计包括顺序探索性混合方法，并以适当的理论模型（技术接受模型和投入-环境-结果概念模型）为基础。预计这项工作的结果将告知虚拟实验室设计师关于跨性别和不同学生群体产生共鸣的环境输入。研究结果将通过出版物、演讲和学习模块传播给工程、工程教育和教育研究受众。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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 aims to serve the national interest in undergraduate STEM education by investigating the learning and experiences of undergraduate students in virtual mechanical and aerospace engineering laboratories. The COVID-19 pandemic has ignited multiple crises in student lives, including sudden changes in living situations, decrease in study hours, lower academic performance, lost internships/jobs, and lowered income expectation. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic places new emphasis on the potential benefits of remote learning arrangements including online virtual labs in engineering. However, although these virtual engineering labs may be intended to increase student access to learning, these labs may also perpetuate climates and cultures of inequality. The project will investigate the design of a virtual lab framework intended to promote equity and inclusion for all students, in particular those who are underrepresented in engineering. The project team will examine how students engage with, learn from, and adapt to new virtual lab tools and how these tools affect students’ motivation to learn and their self-identification with engineering. The project focuses on three aims: (i) the design of a validated educational instrument for assessment of learning in virtual labs; (ii) the investigation of online-learning technologies and the conditions that lead to improved teaching and learning; and (iii) faculty professional development. The research component of the project will examine how the language, gender, race, and class of people appearing in a virtual lab affect the level of student comfort and participation in virtual lab activities in senior capstone labs. The research design includes a sequential exploratory mixed method approach, undergirded by appropriate theoretical models (Technology Acceptance Model and Inputs-Environment-Outcome Conceptual Model). It is expected that results of this work will inform virtual lab designers about environmental inputs that resonate across genders and diverse student populations. Findings will be disseminated via publications, presentations, and learning modules to engineering, engineering education, and educational research audiences. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.