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Session # 1120

A Comparison of Student Performance in an Online with traditional Based Entry Level Engineering Course

Ismail I. Orabi, Ph.D.

Professor of Mechanical Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences University of New Haven West Haven, CT 06516

Abstract Web technology offers a diverse set of possible innovations to the traditional teaching process. To assess the effectiveness of online learning in entry-level engineering courses, students' performances in an online and traditional version of the same course were conducted. In the online class, students have the opportunity to learn independently from anywhere at any time. The traditional classroom incorporates characteristics of both the traditional and online classroom settings. The Introduction to Engineering course is the students' first exposure to engineering education and probably their first meaningful design experience. It starts with engineering applications and concepts in problem solving, and ends with introduction to design. The student performance, student satisfaction, and instructor experiences were compared in the two class formats. In addition, the study documented the benefits and limitations of the two delivery alternatives. The students’ perception of the instructor and the course with respect to content and delivery were evaluated. The students’ comparative perceptions of their experiences within the online course versus a traditional course were also analyzed in the survey. Student suggestions for improvement of the course were also collected The results show that students appreciated the fact that online courses provide them with convenience and flexibility, self-paced learning, and the opportunity to earn credit while not on campus. The students found the greatest drawback of online courses to be the ease with which one can fall behind, with a distant second being slow internet connections that affected ease of course material access, followed by the lack of student-teacher interaction. The students did not consider the online course to be easier than the traditional course, nor did they find the intellectual challenge to be less than in a traditional course, but 80% of the online students reported that they would recommend this Online delivered course to other students while 100% Proceedings of the 2004 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright C 2004, American Society of Engineering Education

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Orabi, I. (2004, June), A Comparison Of Student Performance In An Online With Hybrid Based, Entry Level Engineering Course Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13147