Online lab design for aviation engineering students in higher education: a pilot study

ABSTRACT

There is a strong need for educators to change the way they conduct aviation education to bring up future professionals in the industry. To cope with the COVID-19 challenge, creative online distance learning approaches become necessary. This article shows how an online lab approach offers social and cognitive support for engineering students to sustain their learning. A series of learning activities including flight simulation and virtual tours were held in an online lab setting by aviation professionals and lecturers at a university in Hong Kong to 35 undergraduate engineering students. The online lab encouraged students to apply knowledge into practice and develop their theoretical and conceptual knowledge through activities. Workshops focusing on aviation laboratory education aimed at students’ development of aviation theoretical and technical knowledge, collaborative skills, field-specific, and practical skills. A mixed research method was employed with the use of a motivational survey, teachers’ observation, and semi-structured interviews to understand students’ learning perceptions. This study found that the online laboratory activities could effectively motivate students to learn about aviation and improve their aviation knowledge cognitively and socially. It is recommended for online engineering educators to use lab technologies to teach aviation and related disciplines for future career preparation.

KEYWORDS:

• Online lab
• online learning
• aviation education
• flight simulation
• virtual reality

Acknowledgements

I thank Dr. Jac Leung, Mr. Lawrence Lai, Mr. Alex Lam, Ms. Au Yeung Sin Man, and Mr. Matthew Chan for data collection and coordinating the online aviation learning activities. Thanks to Mr. Ross Ng for proof reading the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Davy Tsz Kit Ng

Davy Ng is the IT Panel Convener at local secondary school in Hong Kong and a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong. He holds a MEd Educational Psychology, BS Computer Science and Postgraduate in IT Education from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). His research interests lie in the areas of AI literacy, STEM Education and technology-enhanced pedagogic innovation. It is informed by recent research on AI education, online learning, computational thinking, and STEM education on the focus of aviation. He has been a Chief Technology Officer in a non-profit-making organization in Hong Kong and a research team member from the Education University of Hong Kong.