‘What if my Wi-Fi crashes during an exam?’ First-year engineering student perceptions of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a rapid transition to remote education in post-secondary institutions. To understand the first-year engineering undergraduate student perceptions of this transition to online learning, surveys were administered in two design-focused first-year engineering courses with a total of 201 enrolled students. A thematic qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions resulted in 7 themes: Health & Safety, Growth Mindset, Student Agency, Course Design, Coping/Management, Execution, and Technology. Students expressed positive and negative perceptions of remote education and included opinions related to current and future learning, and future careers. Most student perceptions were grounded in fear of the unknown, and student mental health emerged as a predominant undercurrent in the data. The identified themes and underlying student perceptions suggest that instructors teaching online should aim to (1) support communication, collaboration, and student engagement, (2) promote meaningful learning and growth mindsets, and (3) foster strong learning partnerships and class experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Undergraduate first year experience
• COVID-19 pandemic
• online learning
• student perceptions
• thematic qualitative analysis

Introduction

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic due to the global spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) (Cucinotta and Vanelli 2020). By 8 April 2020, 175 countries, including Canada, had closed their universities and other post-secondary educational institutions to face-to-face instruction (World Bank Group – Education 2020). As of January 2022, many Canadian post-secondary education institutions are still teaching in a remote format online following public health guidelines and restrictions with plans for a measured, partial return to in-person instruction for Winter/Spring 2022 (Vivek 2021).

This emergency transition to a remote format of post-secondary education led to challenges for students and instructors across the globe. Students identified challenges include: inequities in technology access such as broadband quality (Choi et al. 2020; Dutta 2020; Maqsood et al. 2021; Onyema et al. 2020; Smith, Sanford, and Blum 2020); technology issues such as lack of a personal computer (Dutta 2020; Onyema et al. 2020); issues with the at-home learning environment such as no dedicated space (Choi et al. 2020; Maqsood et al. 2021; Smith, Sanford, and Blum 2020); new or worsening mental health issues such as increased anxiety (Chang et al. 2020; Dutta 2020; Nishimura et al. 2021; Park et al. 2020; Revilla-Cuesta et al. 2021; Smith, Sanford, and Blum 2020); competing obligations (Maqsood et al. 2021; Smith, Sanford, and Blum 2020); decreased learning opportunities such as less hands-on learning (Chang et al. 2020; Choi et al. 2020; Nishimura et al. 2021; Onyema et al. 2020; Piyatamrong, Derrick, and Nyamapfene 2021; Smith, Sanford, and Blum 2020); and reduced social interactions and networking (Park et al. 2020).

For instructors, identified challenges include: redesigning courses for remote teaching (Piyatamrong, Derrick, and Nyamapfene 2021; Revilla-Cuesta et al. 2021; Sahu 2020); technology and network issues (Arora and Srinivasan 2020; Joshi, Vinay, and Bhaskar 2020; Maqsood et al. 2021); issues with the at-home teaching environment such as dedicated space, distractions, and interruptions (Joshi, Vinay, and Bhaskar 2020); lack of training (Arora and Srinivasan 2020; Joshi, Vinay, and Bhaskar 2020; Khan and Abid 2021; Onyema et al. 2020); lack of guidance (Dutta 2020; Joshi, Vinay, and Bhaskar 2020); and insufficient resources such as lack of technical access and insufficient technical support (Joshi, Vinay, and Bhaskar 2020; Park et al. 2020).

Engineering departments faced unique, discipline-specific challenges in the pivot to emergency remote education, particularly with hands-on design and lab-focused courses. Over the last ten to fifteen years, there has been increased focus on experiential learning in engineering programmes as an effective way to develop twenty-first century engineers (Conger et al. 2010; Hajshirmohammadi 2017; Regev, Gause, and Wegmann 2008). Experiential learning is the process of students developing knowledge, skills, and experience from direct, hands-on educational experiences (Hajshirmohammadi 2017). In engineering programmes, design courses are often a place for experiential learning (Conger et al. 2010; Hajshirmohammadi 2017; Regev, Gause, and Wegmann 2008), where design can be defined as ‘a systematic, intelligent process in which designers generate, evaluate, and specify concepts for devices, systems, or processes whose form and function achieve clients’ objectives or users’ needs while satisfying a specified set of constraints’ (Dym et al. 2005). Building foundational design skills using experiential learning often starts in the first year of engineering education programmes with cornerstone design courses where students tackle design problems in teams (Dym et al. 2005). Achieving experiential, design-focused education for first year engineering students represents a particular challenge in online learning that has yet to be studied in the literature.

Engineering-focused pandemic studies to date have focused on providing a survey of available technological platforms (Khan and Abid 2021), a quantitative and qualitative analysis of non-first-year engineering student surveys (Baltà-Salvador et al. 2021), qualitative analysis of postgraduate engineering student interviews (Piyatamrong, Derrick, and Nyamapfene 2021), a broader survey of undergraduate STEM students (Means, Neisler, and Langer Research Associates 2020), and a theoretical analysis of the effect of emotional experiences on learning (Park et al. 2020). There is a need to understand the experiences of first-year students as they engaged with foundational engineering design courses through remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper will address this need by presenting a qualitative focused ethnographic analysis of first-year engineering students experiences taking engineering design courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Study design

This paper is one aspect of a broader study focused on how students across several years navigated the rapid transition to online learning, and the meaning attached to their experiences in navigating online learning. We chose a qualitative Focused Ethnographic approach to capture the experiences in the specific online culture in which the students were interacting with each other. Focused Ethnography is a still evolving method used primarily in practice-based disciplines to: ‘ … capture specific cultural perspectives and to make practical use of that understanding’ (Wall 2015). Focused ethnography most commonly uses purposive sampling techniques and allows for a holistic exploration of a research question that may adapt as the research occurs (Wall 2015).

This research uses thematic qualitative analysis of results from a series of three surveys administered first as a graded course deliverable, and then as optional follow-up surveys. The investigators gathered the subjective experiences of students during their first fully online undergraduate semester during the COVID-19 pandemic (a first-year systems design engineering class that ran from May 2020 to August 2020 and a first-year biomedical engineering class that ran from September 2020 to December 2020). The students were surveyed three times: (1) the end of week 1, (2) during week 4, and (3) during week 8 of a 12-week semester. The first survey focused on collecting information necessary for online course delivery (e.g. time zone, access to a microphone and webcam, Wi-Fi concerns or issues, etc.), as well as asking course-specific, and related pandemic questions. The latter surveys similarly asked course-specific and pandemic focused questions. This analysis focuses on a qualitative analysis of the open-ended pandemic-specific questions:

• What do you think will be one advantage or opportunity of learning virtually this term?

• What concerns do you have about learning virtually this term?

• […], what are you finding to be the advantages or opportunities of learning virtually this term?

• […], what are some of your remaining concerns or challenges of learning virtually this term?

• Note: […] represents survey-specific timing context like ‘Now that we are a few weeks into term’.

In addition to pandemic-specific questions, ‘Stop, Start, Continue’ questions (Hoon et al. 2015) and an open-ended question were included in the week four and week eight surveys and were included in the analysis.

• What would you like me and the teaching team to START doing?

• What would you like me and the teaching team to STOP doing?

• What would you like me and the teaching team to CONTINUE doing?

• Is there anything else you want me to know?

In the week eight survey for the first year biomedical engineering class, students were asked a course-specific question related to their design teamwork that was also included in the analysis.

How do you think this online term impacted your design team and associated project work?

The study received ethics approval from the University of Waterloo Office or Research Ethics (ORE#: 42929) to perform a secondary data analysis of course surveys.

Participants and data collection

The data analyzed was gathered from course surveys in two courses: a first year biomedical engineering class, and a first year systems design engineering class. Participants were made up of students enrolled in these courses, with a focus of gathering a snapshot of first year students’ experiences. Participants were diverse, currently living in different countries, navigating different time zones, had different availability, and different access to technologies, tools, and the internet. The participant sample comprised different ages and genders. As per consultations with ethics, due to the survey responses being fully anonymised, the size of the classes, and the nature of the information being gathered individual student consent was not necessary.

Data analysis

The surveys were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis to explore student experiences and perceptions during the pandemic, and insights into their lived experiences emerged. Analysis was largely inductive, and used a modified type of constant comparative analysis, done until theoretical saturation was reached (Patton 2014; Ritchie et al. 2014; Silverman 2018). The coding was done in two phases using the following steps – first JH & KM coded individually using ‘free’ unstructured coding with descriptive codes, then, during a two-day meeting aligned the coding through concept mapping to bring together the ultimate codes and define the themes (Martin and Hanington 2012). All names and identifiers were anonymised prior to analysis. Data saturation was reached, but all interviews were coded. Data was stored, organised, and reported using Excel.

By examining students transitioning into and experiencing online learning and comparing these experiences over the three surveyed time points throughout the semester, this paper explores student perceptions, what was and was not said, and how experiences change or did not change over the first full semester of online learning. Triangulation of the data were achieved through the multidisciplinary researchers and two coders (Thurmond 2001).

Results

In total, the perspectives of 201 first year students were analyzed. Course enrolment for the first year biomedical engineering course, BME161, was 107 biomedical engineering undergraduate students and course enrolment for the first year systems design engineering class, SYDE261, was 94 systems design engineering undergraduate students. Completion rates of the end of week 1, week 4, and week 8 surveys are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Survey completion rates.

Survey	End of week 1	Week 4	Week 8
BME161	n = 107 (100%)	n = 69 (64.5%)	n = 58 (54.2%)
SYDE261	n = 94 (100%)	n = 28 (29.8%)	n = 22 (23.4%)

This secondary thematic analysis of open-ended questions resulted in 7 themes: Health & Safety, Growth Mindset, Student Agency, Course Design, Coping/Management, Execution, and Technology. The themes largely remained consistent over the three surveyed time points, see Table 2, except for Health & Safety which only emerged at the week 1 time point, and Course Design, which only emerged at the week 4 and 8 time points. Health & Safety examines practical concerns related to the pandemic such as the reduced risk of contracting COVID-19 when learning online. Growth Mindset provides data on student perceptions of performance, skill development, and social aspects. Student Agency focuses on how students perceive moving online impacts control, the transition experience, and practical concerns such as financial influences on first year. Course Design looks at how the course is designed in an online setting. Coping/Management considers student mental health, group work, and self-discipline. Execution encompasses practical aspects of experiential learning and performance. Finally, Technology assesses how technology impacts student learning, experiences, or concerns around working online.

Table 2. Themes by week.

Week 1	Week 4	Week 8
Health & safety	Growth mindset	Growth mindset
Growth mindset	Student agency	Student agency
Student agency	Course design	Course design
Coping/management	Coping/management	Coping/management
Execution	Execution	Execution
Technology	Technology	Technology

Health & safety

When asked about the potential advantages of learning online, a few students highlighted the health and safety advantages of online learning related to the COVID-19 pandemic. While there was not a substantial number of students highlighting their own health and safety in the survey responses, it is notable that these statements occurred since it was not explicitly asked. For example, the reduced risk of contracting COVID-19 while studying online was identified by one student as a benefit to online learning: ‘ … not catching any pandemic inducing viruses’ (biomedical engineering student, week 1 survey). These sorts of comments only appeared in the week one survey of the class interviewed in September 2020.

Similarly, only occurring in the week one study of the class interviewed in May 2020 students identified online learning as being more casual and ‘more relaxing’ (systems design engineering student, week 1 survey), though this student perception did not appear in later survey responses.

Growth mindset

When asked about the potential advantages of learning online in all three surveys many students identified opportunities for personal growth and skill development that were driven both by what they were learning in the class itself as well as the tertiary skills learned online. The student-perceived skill development opportunities included self-study habits and independent learning, self-discipline and self-regulation, communication, time management, organisation and prioritisation of tasks, and technology and online skills.

One of the more common sentiments that occurred with students was about how they had to grow as learners, and how online seemed to necessitate greater self-discipline.

I think this virtual term will allow us to really test ourselves and grow as learners. It is easy enough to sit in a lecture and take notes when you have a strict schedule and friends to keep you motivated on campus. Learning at home however will require a real drive to learn and work towards better understanding of course concepts. I think we will all come out of this term with more discipline and a greater ability to focus our energy towards learning when we return to campus. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

Another common statement was about how the independence that emerges from online learning was already influencing them, and how they could see forward to this having long term impacts on study when they return to campus. Students identified the self-discipline necessary to watch lectures and go through content was different in an online setting, as was the practices around meeting deadlines.

… testing out new study habits to find out what’s best for each person. On campus, students are heavily influenced by the actions of their peers when they make a decision on what to prioritize, but now everything is up to their personal gaols and feelings. Having a fully online study term may end up completely changing some student’s study habits in the long run when campus re-opens. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

Learning how to discipline ourselves and manage our own time to watch the lectures and get through content as well as meet deadlines. (Systems design engineering student, week 4 survey)

Other opportunities identified were to prepare for future professional work, build confidence, and make better use of available resources. These opportunities were associated with moving online itself, developing better online collaboration technology skills, and improving their time management skills.

An advantage or opportunity that I can potentially see due to learning virtually this term is that I will be better prepared to use an online platform as a means of learning or working in the future. (Biomedical engineering student, week 1 survey)

Opportunity to build time-management skills and learn to work remotely if needed in the future for a job. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

Student agency

Across all three surveyed time points most students identified increased personal agency in their own learning. This was typically identified in answers to questions related to potential advantages of online learning with ‘learning at own pace’ (all surveys) and ‘set own schedule’ (all surveys) being frequently occurring student responses. Some students identified this increased personal agency in answers to questions related to potential challenges of online learning which will be further examined in the Coping and Management theme.

The other side of learning at your own pace is that it requires even more motivation than in a normal classroom. My primary concern is being able to sustain an appropriate pace and not fall behind. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

Several students in all surveyed time points identified the increased control of their own time beyond online learning related to activities like pursuing jobs and personal hobbies. Reasons for this increased time included studying at home and the associated lack of commute time.

I save a lot of valuable time without transportation. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

One advantage of learning online: not having to wake up for 8:30 am lectures. One opportunity of learning virtually: a chance to maximize my time on side projects/passions since lecture times have been reduced. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

One final area of increased control was financial, which appeared in the week 1 and 4 surveys but not the week 8 surveys. Students regularly commented on financial savings due to the ability to study at home and not pay on-campus residence fees, rent, or transportation costs to campus and specific international experiences were also flagged.

I can stay in my country while attending classes, therefore, I do not have to board. Hence, I do not have to pay fees for boarding nor meal plans. (Biomedical engineering student, week 1 survey)

Course design

Students did not comment on course design in the week 1 survey with positive and negative perceptions of course design emerging in the week 4 and 8 surveys. Related to the content of the course, students appreciated content being available through a centralised learning hub, and content being available ahead of time.

… posting the content for the next week in advance … lets me see what must be done for the next week and helps me be more organized. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

Related to presentation of course content, students perceived organised course material, a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous content delivery, and open book exams to support positive online course experiences.

I think that the way you structured this course online is great!!! I admire your organization! (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

I like when courses that have asynchronous lectures also have synchronous tutorials. (Systems design engineering student, week 4 survey)

I find that because tests are open book, I have more time to understand the concepts rather than cram it in my head which is nice. (Systems design engineering student, week 8 survey)

Additionally, students identified professor help, empathy, and availability as being important for a positive online course experience. Most of these comments appeared in response to a question asking what the teaching team should continue doing.

Continue to be friendly, helpful, and answering questions on teams. (biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

Please continue to support us as you have been doing so far. It’s really reassuring to know that if I reach out for help, there is someone there to help me. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

Focusing on negative student perceptions of course design related to course content, students perceived an increase of workload related to the amount of content, number of assignments, and harder assessments.

At times I feel that there are too many deliverables as every class has almost at least weekly deliverables. (Systems design engineering student, week 4 survey)

For some courses, there’s a lot of homework which makes it more difficult than if classes were in person. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

In particular, biomedical engineering students, but also some systems design engineering students, noted a lack of hands-on experience as a disadvantage and missed skill development opportunity learning online.

The hands on/physical design aspect of the project is going to fall short online than if it was done in person. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

I think that the online format has eliminated the hands-on portion of the project work. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

Related to the presentation of course content, students identified inconsistent structure between courses as being a challenge of online learning.

… since professors don’t have the same approach to virtual learning, it can be a bit confusing to keep track of which professors are using which platforms/where to look for course materials. (Systems design engineering student, week 4 survey)

Coping and management

Throughout all survey time points, students answered the question related to concerns of learning online with issues related to coping with and managing online learning. One area of particular concern that arose in students’ responses was related to health. Many comments were related to mental health: anxiety, stress, uncertainty, isolation, and feelings of being overwhelmed.

I have been extremely overwhelmed with all the work given and tests and assignments every week. This plus not being able to see friends and destress from school has been pretty bad. (Systems design engineering student, week 4 survey)

I am concerned about feelings of isolation and not feeling connected to my peers and cohort. (Biomedical engineering student, week 1 survey)

One student summed up their concerns about coping with online learning and the impact on their mental health by stating:

It’s awful. I hate to say it but it just sucks. I know I would be so excited doing this in person but I feel so demotivated, so disconnected. It feels like the work we’re doing is fake, I feel like I am slipping away. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

There were also comments on physical health-related to fatigue, screen fatigue, reduced activity levels, and issues with sleep.

… I can’t sit in front of a computer for this many hours a day. Sitting in front of a computer for this many hours a day is extremely taxing on mental and physical health. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

I am spending too much sat down screen time as I find myself with lower back pain, getting frequent headaches, and daily strained eyes. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

My sleep schedule is all over the place. (Systems design engineering student, week 8 survey)

Some students also commented on experiences related to burnout.

I’d like to find a balance and not end up burnt out by the end of the term. (Systems design engineering student, week 8 survey)

In addition to health-related comments, students expressed concerns about their ability to manage online learning and the demands this would place on them individually. Students raised concerns about their own organisation, motivation, time management, self-discipline, productivity, and ability to focus.

Mainly just motivation and self-discipline on my part. I’m a big procrastinator … (Systems design engineering student, week 4 survey)

I will have to be more disciplined in avoiding procrastination as I no longer have the environment of people around me pushing me to keep pace. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

Students also identified a range of social concerns related to social relationships with classmates, connecting with professors, and working in teams online. The comments related to groupwork appeared in the later week 4 and 8 surveys and was mostly found in the responses of the biomedical engineering students, as their course had a much greater focus on design-based teamwork and a specific question on this topic in the week 8 survey.

It is hard to make relationships online. I am afraid I am missing out a lot on creating memories and friendships to last a lifetime. Its also really hard for me to collaborate with people because I get a little scared/shy which prevents me from asking questions. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

I think that conflict resolution and disagreements online may be harder to deal with as sometimes people’s tones and body language are different over a computer than it would be in person. Though my team only had one minor disagreement, even that was hard to mediate. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

I believe it is so much harder to work as a team online, and I personally believe it is harder for me to share my ideas and feel as if I am part of a cohesive team over the online platform. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

Some students spoke to feeling that the online learning environment placed an additional barrier between them and others that made connecting and communicating more challenging.

I feel it is harder to be willing to ask questions or get help from TAs and professors because we are online. Perhaps it is because of an extra ‘invisible barrier' that comes with online learning. It is not because TAs or professors don’t make themselves available. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

Another big disadvantage is … there is that ‘invisible barrier' that prevents me from reaching out to people. (biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

While some students identified groupwork as an area of concern for online learning, others identified online groupwork as an advantage. Similar to the concerns, these comments appeared in the biomedical engineering course week 4 and 8 surveys.

Team meetings are actually faster and more efficient than in-person group work usually goes, since there are less distractions and Microsoft Teams works well for file sharing and collaboration. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

Easy to connect and schedule meetings with team members. Files are easily sent out to everyone, everyone can work on the document at the same time. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

An additional concern related to socialising and teamwork expressed by students not living in the same time zone as the university was how the difference in time zone might impact their ability to interact with others, particularly within their design groups in the biomedical engineering course.

Due to a totally different time zone, I am struggling to keep on track with my group. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

One of the difficulties we have is time zones and trying to balance our busy schedules with meeting dates and times … (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

Execution

Students identified concerns about experiential learning, specifically over a lack of hands-on learning, no in-person labs, no physical prototyping and no extracurriculars emerged as concerns during the week 4 and 8 surveys.

I worry that being unable to complete the labs in person will take away the full learning experience. (Systems design engineering student, week 4 survey)

Multiple students mentioned concerns about missing hands-on experience, and how this would affect their education, and their performance in future terms specifically.

No hands-on application of the design process which in later steps of the process is generally required. This makes me nervous for next year when we will begin to do design projects and physically build/test without a whole lot of practical applications skills. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

I am concerned that things will remain online for a long time, and although it isn’t too big of a deal to have the first design course online, in the future it may be very detrimental to not complete a design project until 2nd or even 3rd year (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

Students were also concerned with the potential impact of distractions, their ability to pay attention, as well as a lack of a structured schedule on their learning. Students identified that they felt there were more distractions at home including online, familial, and home life distractions. They also identified a feeling of reduced structure when learning in a home environment as opposed to an on-campus, classroom setting.

Staying at home makes it significantly harder to remain focused and motivated as the term goes on. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey).

Staying on track, not falling behind, and not getting distracted by my phone/other tasks. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

It’s hard to stay motivated, or in ‘school mode’; because of all of the differences with learning virtually, so it’s hard to get through lectures and studying sometimes. Unlike learning on campus, there are no actual classes to go to so I find it easy to procrastinate watching lectures. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

In parallel to this, students also did identify that the flexible timing of the courses, being able to absorb content at one’s own pace, and learning independent study skills and adaptions were both beneficial to their learning, as well as a concern. A lack of distractions was also identified as a positive as was the ability to rewatch course content like lectures.

I can relearn/rewatch some of the contents and live lectures to double check for what I’m doing. This means that I generally don’t miss deadlines and I can learn at my own pace. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

I’m really appreciating pre-recorded/recorded lectures that allow me to go back and review exactly what professors are teaching. I expect that this will be especially useful when midterms/finals roll around and is, so far, a big advantage of learning virtually this term. (Systems design engineering student, week 4 survey)

Time management was also emphasised as an advantage of virtual learning, with students citing both self-discipline and flexibility as beneficial to performing well. Flexibility was connected to a flexible schedule, as well as the ability to manage their own time.

I like that online learning provides a flexible work schedule. I feel like it’s making me a lot better at time management. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

Flexibility: students can create their own schedules and work accordingly. For example I study better at night, which gives me the ability to do other activities in the morning and focus on school at night. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

Respondents identified several areas of concern related to their performance in several areas including time zones, their grades, falling behind, missing deliverables, what would happen with binging content, if they would retain and comprehend the information the same way, and ultimately their engagement in courses. It is notable that several students specifically identified that their fears were not specific to the course they were in that offered the survey but were broader about their education.

My major concern is when I do not understand the topics in one course and I struggle to understand the material. I feel it is easy for me to understand the material that I have seen before such as physics or math. However, when it is something completely new for me such as programming, I spend several hours in just one course and my progress is very slow. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

Time zone concerns were specifically identified by students, and tied closely to concerns about focus, routine, and performance.

Due to my specific time zone, I have to wake up at 6:30 am to attend the live BME161 synchronous session at 7:30 am my time. As I already have to wake up at 5:30 am on Tuesday for my BME121 lecture, I feel uncertain of getting up incredibly early for class 2 days in a row. I cannot focus if I’m lacking sleep/attending half asleep. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

I just hope there would be some tolerance plans that allows international students to fit their time difference during submission and synchronous meeting … We really suffer in a messy work and sleeping routine just to keep on track. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

In early surveys, students expressed worry that there would not be structure in online learning in the home environment and the need to set their own schedule. They were also concerned for what that means for what they are learning, and if they are learning at all.

The lack of structure of working at home. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

I don’t know if im really learning what I need to. I takes decent notes but I am always worried that I am either behind or am not retaining an adequate amount of the content the design teams really help me orient myself. (Biomedical engineering student, week 4 survey)

Technology

At all the surveyed time points, students identified technological related concerns in the question asking about concerns related to online learning. Some of these concerns related to the technology and internet available to them at home.

What if my Wi-Fi crashes during an exam!? (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

A big concern for me is that my laptop will pose technical challenges as it is somewhat dated and struggles with all the multitasking required to study online. (Biomedical engineering student, week 1 survey)

My internet connection is bad at certain times throughout the day, so I have to wait. (Systems design engineering student, week 4 survey)

Some students expressed concerns that they might not have sufficient technological skills for online learning.

I worry about having to deal with tech. issues as I’m not particularly tech-savvy. (Biomedical engineering student, week 1 survey)

… it is difficult in some courses to upload work for quizzes, assignments, tests, midterms. (Biomedical engineering student, week 8 survey)

Other concerns were related to the number of different platforms being used by instructors and managing these platforms and the content within them. At times, these concerns are connected to the mental health concerns discussed earlier under the theme of ‘coping/management’.

The possibility of missing assignments or postings as there are various online platforms. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

There are so many different platforms where professors can post assignments, notes, etc. that it is very overwhelming and students always feel like they don’t fully know everything they need to do. (Systems design engineering student, week 1 survey)

Discussion

The original purpose of gathering the data for this analysis was to better understand how students felt about transitioning to and learning in an online environment. Our analysis identified that most areas identified by students were at least to some extent, grounded in fear of the unknown, and that the student experience of navigating independently online learning was in many cases fraught with external and internal pressures. This analysis illuminated barriers and opportunities for student engagement and education in online learning settings. This qualitative exploration of student experiences gathered both positive and negative opinions and included opinions related to both their current learning, as well as implications for their future as engineering students and professionals. It also reflects their current lived experience, aligning with current emerging research into this area (Chang et al. 2020; Choi et al. 2020; Dutta 2020; Khan and Abid 2021; Maqsood et al. 2021; Means, Neisler, and Langer Research Associates 2020; Nishimura et al. 2021; Onyema et al. 2020; Park et al. 2020; Piyatamrong, Derrick, and Nyamapfene 2021; Revilla-Cuesta et al. 2021; Smith, Sanford, and Blum 2020), and provides opportunities for future study and inform future pedagogical practice (Adnan and Anwar 2020; Agarwal and Kaushik 2020; Baltà-Salvador et al. 2021).

One of the interesting outcomes of the thematic analysis was that the identified themes stayed consistent across the three time points. The ‘Health & Safety’ theme was limited to the week one survey, and the ‘Course Design’ theme occurred only in the latter week four and week eight surveys. The remaining themes of ‘Growth Mindset’, ‘Student Agency’, ‘Coping/Management’, ‘Execution’, and ‘Technology’ appeared consistently across all surveys. Therefore, while some initial student perceptions did change as the semester went on, most remained the same, particularly those around time management, future classes, focus, and balance. Acknowledging that as the semester went on there was a drop-off in survey response rate, this does reflect known trends in student workload (Gerrard et al. 2017; Pitt et al. 2018).

The consistency of student perceptions, particularly around concerns related to online learning, had strong connections to comments about fear of the unknown. Students would comment that a perceived concern had not occurred yet or that the current online experience did not align with the stated concern (Baltà-Salvador et al. 2021; Lemoine and Richardson 2020), but that they were still worried that it could be realised. One exception to this was student concerns and perceptions around building connections and fostering relationships in an online setting. These concerns were expressed across all timepoints and connected to student experiences of struggling to make these social connections. This echo’s current questions about how to build connections both between students, and between students and their instructors in online settings (Rickes 2016; Schwieger and Ladwig 2018).

Closely linked to relationships and connections student mental health rapidly emerged as one of the most predominant undercurrents in the data, appearing both explicitly and implicitly. Our research agrees with the current research on student mental health and wellness during pandemic learning and echoes current emerging research that raises concerns about student mental health learning in lockdown settings and environments (Baltà-Salvador et al. 2021). Research is emerging that students are experiencing increased stress, depression, and anxiety (Aslan, Ochnik, and Çınar 2020; Son et al. 2020), even as it is balanced with broader emotions such as relief, comfort and reassurance, something that has been less researched. The survey responses in this study echo this dichotomy of emotional experiences. While some students feel relieved that they can remain at home, or delay moving onto campus, or demonstrate the value of having the ability to make their own rules, overarchingly the results demonstrate that students are feeling anxious, talk about feeling less motivated, and feel more isolated. Students did not discuss accessing or being aware of mental health and wellness resources available to them, but it is important to note that throughout the three surveys students did consistently bring up both the positive and negative aspects of wellness, connections, isolation, and not being on campus with their peers.

One thing that unexpectedly emerged was students expressing their experiences and concerns about their general online experience, explicitly not specific to the course that offered the survey. This suggests that students felt a need to express their concerns and fears related to online learning more broadly and used this course-specific survey as an outlet. The other unexpected area that emerged was the barrier to connection that students felt between themselves and the teaching team (i.e. instructors and teaching assistants), regardless of teaching team availability, or the availability of support and resources. This runs counter to emerging thought in the literature that young adults of that age prefer online-focused communication (Cavanaugh 2019; Rickes 2016; Roseberry-McKibbin 2017). The barrier to interaction appeared to be counter to instructor driven efforts to be available (e.g. online office hours, synchronous course offerings, availability over various chat platforms).

‘Growth Mindset’ was identified across all three surveys in both courses. Students consistently identified the opportunity for meaningful skill development related to time management, self-discipline, technological skills, etc. with potential benefits for their future education and careers. This aligns with a growth mindset that intelligence is malleable and can be further developed (Dweck 2007). Growth mindset has been connected to several positive student attributes that could assist students learning online including buffering against demotivation (Aditomo 2015), student persistence (Hochanadel and Finamore 2015), and grit (Hochanadel and Finamore 2015; McClendon, Neugebauer, and King 2017). To this point, McClendon et al. identified that a growth mindset in combination with grit and deliberate practice could reduce attrition rates in pre-pandemic, online education (McClendon, Neugebauer, and King 2017). Therefore, an area of future pedagogical potential would be to present online learning within a growth mindset framework (Campbell, Craig, and Collier-Reed 2020). This sort of meaningful engagement could improve student perceptions and experiences when learning online and represents an important area of future study.

Student perceptions around online course design can give meaningful insight to instructors to guide their course design process as we continue to navigate the global pandemic and help address the instructor identified issue of lack of guidance in this area (Dutta 2020; Joshi, Vinay, and Bhaskar 2020). Students struggled when being asked to navigate course content across multiple platforms and this manifested primarily as a fear around missing content and more importantly, from the student perspective, missing deliverables and deadlines. This issue was not related to the surveyed course in isolation but rather platform use across all courses taken by students. Students appreciated and saw value in course design that was well organised, combined synchronous and asynchronous activities, provided course content ahead of schedule, and incorporated open book examinations. Students identified availability, approachability, and empathy as instructor attributes that supported their learning in an online environment.

Limitations & next steps

This study was intended as an in-time examination of student experiences. Students have significant deliverables and final assessments at the end-of-term, and after consultation with administration the decision was made to not give an end-of-term survey. This allowed students to focus on the university-administered end-of-term survey and their coursework. Future studies would benefit from data from this end-of-term data, multiple data sources (interviews), and could include participants from multiple institutions. This paper provides a snapshot into the first-year experience, and the broader study also conducted similar surveys to a third year Mechatronics class (ME321) and a third year BME class (BME362). Future work can analyze these data and provide further insights into how moving rapidly online impacted upper year students, touching on comparisons to unique first year insights.

Conclusions

Understanding the diversity of student experiences of online learning and how students navigate these experiences across a semester can reveal important insights to better prepare the academic community for future scenarios that necessitate a rapid transition in the learning environment. The findings from this study demonstrate that student perceptions of online learning tend to be framed around fears related to the unknown, isolation, health, academic success, and other areas related to their academic experience. The analysis focused on identifying themes around understanding student experiences and concerns, the student context of learning online, and understanding barriers students perceive to their success as engineering students.

Students have diverse needs when it comes to ideal work-from-home environments for their studies. While different students need different tools to be successful, there are nuances towards creating both course content as well as an environment that fosters student trust and communication. The role that instructors have in influencing a positive learning environment should be given significant consideration when working to maximise student engagement, which impacts student success and best learning. Well-designed courses for a traditional, in-person learning environment will understandably need alterations during scenarios like the COVID-19 pandemic that rapidly change the learning environment. When making these crisis-mode, emergency alterations, instructors should be mindful to make course design decisions that (1) support communication, collaboration, and student engagement, (2) promote meaningful learning and growth mindsets, and (3) foster strong learning partnerships and class experiences.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the students who shared their first-year online learning lived experiences with us throughout the semester in their survey responses. All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Survey development and data collection were performed by JH. All authors contributed to data analysis and manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Given the secondary nature of data analysis, data will not be publicly hosted.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Howcroft

Jennifer Howcroft, P.Eng., M.HSc., Ph.D., is a Lecturer in Systems Design & Biomedical Engineering at the University of Waterloo where she teaches engineering design, human factors, and engineering mechanics courses. Jennifer completed her Masters of Health Science in Clinical Engineering at the University of Toronto, and then completed her Ph.D. at the University of Waterloo in Systems Design Engineering. Her engineering education research focuses on undergraduate design instruction, empathy in engineering, and ethical skills.

Kate Mercer

Kate Mercer, M.I., Ph.D., is the STEM Liaison Librarian & Adjunct Professor in Systems Design & Biomedical Engineering at the University of Waterloo where she teaches communication and user centred design research. Kate completed her Master of Information from the University of Toronto’s iSchool, and then completed her Ph.D. at the University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy, which focused on medical decision-making. Her current research addresses how STEM students access, understand, and disseminate information.