clientinterviews. The student team were able to communicate in real time with messaging apps on their phones.Real time file sharing and collaborative technologies like Google Drive facilitated real time collaborativeteam work, file sharing and documentation. Cloud-based technologies like OnShape computer AidedDrafting software facilitated team collaboration and file sharing with instructor and the lab manager.Effect of Service Component of Project on Student MotivationDuring the project presentations and in the students’ reflections, the students repeatedly expressed thatthey found the project inspiring and motivating because of the service component involved. They statedthat the fact that their work was going to impact and make the lives of other people
larger numbers of participants, collaboration amongmore diverse teams, computational topics, and utilization of previously collected data. Ashcroft et al. (2020)also discussed the larger community college impact of remote REUs before the full impact of COVID.Another virtual REU example (Cadena et al., 2020) included diverse applications and poster presentations.2.0 The Interdisciplinary Research Experience for UndergraduatesFor the past two summers (2018 and 2019), groups of students from a Historically Black College in theSoutheast participated in a problem-based learning journey in the context of studying about autonomousvehicles. One of the long-term goals of this project was to prepare students, who are underrepresentedminorities, for