Virtual Conference
July 26, 2021
July 26, 2021
July 19, 2022
First-Year Programs
Diversity
19
10.18260/1-2--37263
https://peer.asee.org/37263
457
Sydney Morris is a senior at Northeastern University majoring in chemical engineering and minoring in mechanical engineering. She has been involved in the Connections Chemistry Review Program for three years, and is also an active member of the university's chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). She is currently a co-captain of the ChemE Car team, and is a research assistant in the Complex Electrochemical Systems Laboratory on campus where she works with lithium ion coin cells. She has completed two co-ops, where she has worked on grid-scale energy storage technologies and electrochemically mediated CO2 capture devices. She is an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient and will begin pursuing a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Brown University this Fall.
Hannah Boyce is a fourth year undergraduate student pursuing a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University. She has been involved in the Connections Chemistry Review program for a three years, is a peer mentor, President of AIChE and Conference Chair for the 2021 AIChE Northeast Regional Conference. She performs research in drug delivery and extracellular vesicles and is currently at ETH Zurich for coop. Her long term goals are to become a professor in chemical engineering and improve student pedagogy and effective training of tenure track professors in teaching.
Caroline Ghio is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Chemical Engineering and minoring in Data Science and Math. She has been a Connections tutor for four years. Ghio conducts independent research studying iron absorption in the gut, serves on the e-boards of the Society of Women Engineers and Tau Beta Pi, and is a Developer and Data Analyst for IDEA, Northeastern University’s venture accelerator. Ghio also has completed three co-ops at early stage biopharmaceutical companies. She will be entering a Ph.D. program in Fall of 2021.
Amanda Dee is a second-year undergraduate student at Northeastern University, majoring in bioengineering and minoring in mathematics and music. This is her first year with the Connections Chemistry Review program. In the past, she has been a first-year tutor for the College of Engineering and is currently a CRLA Level 1 tutor for the Northeastern Peer Tutoring Program. She is also passionate about research and is currently developing tools for engineering and evaluating transgenic root cultures. Outside of academics, she is an avid musician and performs with NUStage, Northeastern's student-run musical theater organization.
Alexis is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in bioengineering at Northeastern University. This is her first year working with the Connections Chemistry Review Program. Additionally, she is working as a COE Undergraduate Program Assistant. She previously worked as a co-op student for the College of Engineering as the COE Undergraduate Upper-class Tutoring Coordinator and Supervisor.
During his academic career as a faculty member in engineering and the sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, Olin College, and Northeastern University, Paul A. DiMilla has been the recipient of the first Whitaker Young Investigator Award from the BMES, a Searle Scholar Award, and an Early Career Development Award from the NSF as well as a three-time recipient of the Omega Chi Epsilon Outstanding Faculty Award from the Northeastern Student Affiliate of AIChE and the Dick Sioui Teaching Award from Northeastern University. He also has led industrial R&D teams at Organogenesis Inc. and Polymerix Corporation developing tissue-engineered medical products and drug- generating biodegradable polymers, respectively, and has co-founded Automated Cell, Inc. In addition to being an inventor on 12 issued US patents, he has published the textbook General Chemistry for Engineers with Cognella Academic Publishing. He currently is an adjunct faculty member focusing on improving content delivery and student engagement in remote learning in Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University and in Science at Clackamas Community College.
Rachelle Reisberg is Assistant Dean for Engineering Enrollment and Retention as well as Director of Women in Engineering at Northeastern University. Prior to joining Northeastern University, Rachelle held a wide range of management positions in IBM, Hanover Insurance, and was the President of a high tech start-up company.
In this study, we investigated the effects of online supplemental instruction (SI) and hybrid learning on first-year students who were enrolled in a required first-year general chemistry class for engineers at Northeastern University during the Fall 2020 semester. During the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about spreading contagion compelled many universities to switch to either fully remote or hybrid learning, the latter an instructional method which combines in-person and remote instruction. Studies have reported conflicting outcomes for online and hybrid instruction, with some showing that students taking classes in an online or hybrid environment perform worse than their in-person counterparts [1], and others showing that online or hybrid learning can be more effective than in-person learning [2]. The impact of online and hybrid learning models on academic outcomes and attitudes of first year engineering students, specifically those matriculating during the COVID-19 pandemic, merits further attention and was the motivation for our study.
Approximately two decades ago, the College of Engineering at Northeastern University developed the Connections SI program, which provides first-year engineering students with structured group peer tutoring. In recent years, the Connections team has reported how factors such as student and instructor gender, pre-matriculation credit, and previous experience with SI affected use of SI during the first year and academic outcomes (e.g., GPA) during students’ first year through graduation. Specifically, we found that female undergraduates who regularly used SI during enrollment in required first-semester general chemistry had higher rates of retention within engineering and higher first-semester GPAs compared to their male counterparts [3] - [9]. This current study explored how offering SI online during the Fall 2020 semester influenced students’ participation in SI and whether previous experiences with online learning affected academic outcomes and behaviors. We also looked at whether there were correlations among hybrid course instruction, use of online SI, and course grades in general chemistry and overall GPAs this past fall. We then compared these outcomes to our previous findings from multiple reports for a recent group of students who had graduated and only had in-person classes and SI [4].
We found that chemistry course grades and course completion rates were higher in Fall 2020 than in Fall 2013, suggesting that online SI and hybrid course instruction did not negatively impact first-semester academic outcomes. However, students in Fall 2020 who attended class in person multiple times weekly, under the University’s rotating weekly schedule, had higher GPAs than students who attended class in person only two-to-four times monthly. Participation in SI was impacted by the hybrid format: a lower percentage of students attended SI when it was held remotely in Fall 2020 compared to when SI was held in person in Fall 2013. However, a slightly higher percentage of males used SI during Fall 2020 compared to Fall 2013, while a significantly lower percentage of females used SI during Fall 2020 compared to Fall 2013. Among users of SI, females having significantly higher chemistry course grades and first semester GPAs than males. Based on analysis of surveys offered to enrolled students, we also found that students’ attitudes towards online learning at the end but not the beginning of the semester had a significant correlation with their chemistry course grades and GPAs.
Morris, S. A., & Boyce, H., & Ghio, C., & Dee, A., & Pathwick-Paszyc, A., & DiMilla, P., & Reisberg, R. (2021, July), Hybrid Learning: For Better or Worse? The Effect of Hybrid Learning on Grades and Attitudes of First-year Engineers in Chemistry Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37263
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