RAPID: Impacts of Unprecedented Shift to Online Learning on Students' Cognitive Load and Readiness for Self-Directed Learning

工程专业的学生通过一系列具有挑战性的、精心编排的课程来学习成为工程师。打乱这个顺序可能会导致表现不佳，退出专业或大学，并延长毕业时间。这些负面的学生结果可能会限制进入劳动力市场的工程师数量，进而损害国家的经济竞争力。该项目将收集对时间敏感的数据，以调查因COVID-19而迅速转向在线教学的影响。与他们高度结构化的面对面课程相反。虚拟环境让学生承担了更大的责任来管理自己的学习。因此，本科生，包括那些在军事学术机构（如Citadel）学习的学生，在处理严格的工程课程的同时，也在锻炼自我指导的学习技能，他们正经历着越来越多的心理需求（即认知负荷）。该项目将收集和分析在线课程对Citadel工程专业学生认知负荷和自主学习准备的影响的数据。这些信息有可能广泛适用于本科工程教育，以及其他STEM学科和大学前后的教育水平。该项目的重点是一个独特的和代表性不足的工程学生群体，他们在正常情况下，除了满足学术要求外，还必须完成军事训练。学生的认知负荷和自主学习准备将使用既定的调查工具和学生焦点小组来测量，在转向在线学习之前和之后，以及在返回校园操作之后。以认知负荷理论为基础的三个研究问题将指导调查：(1)学生的认知负荷和/或自主学习准备在面对面和在线课程之间有何不同？(2)自主学习准备的变化在多大程度上与认知负荷的变化相关？(3)哪些人口因素（如果有的话）影响认知负荷和自主学习准备的变化？项目团队将采用混合方法分析从调查和焦点小组收集的定性和定量数据，以确定学生认知负荷和自主学习准备变化的幅度和持续时间。拟议工作的结果有可能促进与学生在线学习经验相关的知识，有助于改善作为常规教学一部分的课程设置，以及教学连续性受到威胁的情况。该项目的智力价值在于，它有可能为军事院校不同学生所经历的教育环境突然和剧烈变化问题提供基础知识。该项目更广泛的影响在于其收集时间敏感数据的潜力，这些数据将为我们理解本科军事学生学习者如何适应学习环境中的破坏性变化做出重大贡献。该RAPID奖由本科教育司（教育和人力资源理事会）改进本科STEM教育项目颁发，资金来自《冠状病毒援助、救济和经济安全（关怀）法案》。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。

Engineering students learn to become engineers through a curriculum of challenging, carefully sequenced courses. Disruption of this sequence may lead to poor performance, exit from the major or college, and extended time to graduation. These negative student outcomes could in turn damage national economic competitiveness by limiting the number of engineers available to enter the workforce. This project will gather time-sensitive data to investigate the impact of the rapid shift to online instruction due to COVID-19. In contrast to their highly structured in-person classes. virtual environments place much greater responsibility on students to manage their own learning, As a result, undergraduate students, including those at military academic institutions such as the Citadel, are experiencing increased mental demands (i.e. cognitive load) as they tackle the rigors of engineering coursework, while simultaneously exercising self-directed learning skills. This project will gather and analyse data about the impact of online courses on the cognitive load and self-directed learning readiness of Citadel engineering students. This information has the potential to be broadly applicable to undergraduate engineering education, as well as to other STEM disciplines and to education levels before and beyond college.The project focuses on a unique and under-represented population of engineering students who, under normal circumstances, must complete military training in addition to satisfying academic requirements. Students’ cognitive load and self-directed learning readiness will be measured using established survey instruments and student focus groups before and after the shift to online learning, as well as after the return to on-campus operations. Three research questions, undergirded by cognitive load theory, will guide the investigations: (1) How do students’ cognitive loads and/or self-directed learning readiness differ between in-person and online course? (2) To what extent are changes in self-directed learning readiness associated with changes in cognitive load? (3) Which demographic factors (if any) impact changes in cognitive load and self-directed learning readiness? The project team will use a mixed methods approach to analyze the qualitative and quantitative data collected from surveys and focus groups to determine the magnitude and duration of changes in students’ cognitive load and self-directed learning readiness. Findings from the proposed work have the potential to advance knowledge related to students’ online learning experiences that can aid in improving course offerings as part of regular instruction, as well as situations in which continuity of instruction is threatened. The intellectual merit of the project lies in its potential to contribute to foundational knowledge relating to issues of sudden and drastic shifts in educational environments as experienced by diverse students at a military institution. The broader impacts of the project lie in its potential to gather time-sensitive data that will permit significant contributions to our understanding of how undergraduate military student learners adapt to disruptive change in their learning environments. 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.