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Work in Progress : Faculty Perceptions of STEM Student and Faculty Experiences during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Fall 2020 Qualitative study.

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Student Division Technical 4: Student Experience & Competencies

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40422

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/40422

Download Count

516

Paper Authors

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Mehdi Lamssali North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (CoE)

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Doctoral Student at North Carolina A&T State University

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Alesia Ferguson

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Olivia Nicholas RAPID

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Andrea Ofori-Boadu North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (CoE)

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Dr. Andrea Nana Ofori-Boadu is an Associate Professor of Construction Science and Management with the Department of Built Environment within the College of Science and Technology at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Her passion is to utilize her God-given talents to advance sustainability in construction materials, processes, and workforce development. Andrea has over 20 years of occupational experience, with her most recent experience being in teaching, research, and service. Dr. Ofori-Boadu is a dedicated instructor, advisor, mentor, and role model who has served over 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students.
Andrea has received almost $2M from funding agencies to include the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Engineering Information Foundation (EIF), the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the National Housing Endowment (NHE), and East Coast Construction Services (ECCS). In 2019, she received her prestigious NSF CAREER grant to construct substantive theories that explain professional identity development processes in undergraduate architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) women in the United States. In 2020, Dr. Ofori-Boadu received a National Science Foundation (NSF-RAPID) grant award to gain insights into undergraduate STEM student decision-making processes during pandemics. Through seed funds from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s Department of Education (Title III) and Center of Product Design and Advanced Manufacturing (CEPDAM) grants, she investigated the utilization of agricultural waste bio-chars for partial cement replacement resulting in a patent (U.S. Patent No. 11,104,611; August 31, 2021).
Her research work has resulted in numerous citations, publications, presentations, and website references such as on the International Bio-char Initiative website. In 2021, Dr. Ofori-Boadu was chosen by the NC A & T Center of Excellence for Product Design and Advanced Manufacturing (CEPDAM) to showcase her research work in a promotional video series named “Women in Design and Manufacturing” during the Women’s History Month. Andrea has received several teaching, mentoring, and research excellence awards to include the 2021 Outstanding College of Science and Technology Faculty STEMinist Mentoring Award, the 2020 National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Outstanding Educator Award, the 2020 NC A & T Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, and the 2019 NC A & T Outstanding Young Investigator Research Excellence Award. Dr. Ofori-Boadu is currently the Director of the year-round Professional Development Program for undergraduate Architecture, Engineering, and Construction women and the STEAM ACTIVATED! Program for middle-school girls at NC A & T. Andrea is married to Victor Ofori-Boadu and they are blessed with three wonderful children.

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Angela White

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Abstract

COVID-19 is a continuing global pandemic causing significant changes and modifications in the ways we teach and learn here in the U.S as well as around the world. Most universities, faculty members, and students modified their learning system by incorporating significant online or mixed learning methods/modes to reduce in person contact time and to reduce the spread of the virus. Universities, faculty and students were challenged as they adapted to new learning modules, strategies and approaches. This adaption started in the Spring of 2020 and has continued to date through the Spring of 2022.

The main objective of this project was to investigate faculty perception of STEM student experiences and behavior during the Fall 2020 semester as compared to the Spring 2020 semester as COVID-19 impacts were prolonged. Through a qualitative methodology of zoom interviews administered to 32 STEM faculty members across six U.S. Universities nationwide and a theming scheme, the opinion and narratives of these faculty members were garnered in a round one and round two sets of interviews, in Summer 2020 and then in Spring 2021 (following the semesters of interest).

Some of the main new themes that were detected in faculty interviews during the Fall 2020 semester and which reflect faculty perceptions are represented as follow: COVID-19 impact on student and faculty motivation, COVID-19 impacts on labs and experiential learning, COVID-19 impact on mental health, COVID-19 impact on STEM students' involvement in STEM experiential learning opportunities and research. Other previous themes detected and which are revisited to analyze major differences with those themes obtained during the Spring 2020 are presented and not limited to: extra efforts from professors, student cheating behavior, cheating factors and prevention, student behavioral and performance changes, student struggles and challenges, University response and efforts to the COVID-19 pandemic. We explored the differences in these themes between the semesters to look at noticed adaptations and modifications.

Presented will also be recommendations to improve student and faculty motivation along with strategies to enhance the student learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. We report on common findings and suggest future strategies.

Lamssali, M., & Ferguson, A., & Nicholas, O., & Ofori-Boadu, A., & White, A. (2022, August), Work in Progress : Faculty Perceptions of STEM Student and Faculty Experiences during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Fall 2020 Qualitative study. Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40422

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