Is Poor Classroom Attendance a Virtual-Learning Hangover or the New Normal? A Qualitative Study

Matthew Cooper; E. Daniel Cardenas-Vasquez

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Chemical Engineering Division (ChED) Technical Session 2: Community Retrospectives
Tagged Division: Chemical Engineering Division (ChED)
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43889
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43889
Download Count: 260

Paper Authors

biography

Matthew Cooper North Carolina State University, Raleigh orcid.org/0000-0003-1060-4628

visit author page

Dr. Matthew Cooper is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. He served as a researcher at RTI International before joining the NC State faculty in 2011. Dr. Cooper’s research interests include effective teaching, process safety decision-making skills, and best practices for online education. He also hosts the In The (Fume) Hood chemical engineering education podcast.

visit author page

author page

E. Daniel Cardenas-Vasquez North Carolina State University, Raleigh

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Evidence from a capstone design course in the Fall 2022 semester at the authors’ university showed that in-person attendance by senior ChE students was far below levels seen in previous semesters. It seems that this phenomenon is not isolated to one university; based on discussions with other faculty at the 2022 AIChE Conference, poor in-person attendance in senior ChE courses has been observed at many institutions. During these conference discussions amongst ChE faculty, various hypotheses regarding the reasons for poor attendance were discussed. For example, many faculty stated their course lectures were recorded and/or livestreamed for at-home viewing by students. Is it possible that students feel recorded lectures are a viable like-for-like replacement for classroom attendance based on their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic? Classroom recordings can typically viewed at accelerated rates (e.g. double speed) – do students view the time savings of watching recordings as more valuable than in-class benefits such as interacting with fellow students, participating in active learning activities, etc.? It was also noticed that some students did not regularly attend classes nor review video lectures, yet still performed passably on homework and even in-person exams – how could this be possible?

This work aims to investigate student perceptions on factors influencing their classroom attendance and engagement with the course from a phenomenological perspective. Survey data was collected during the Fall 2022 semester from students enrolled in a ChE capstone design course as part of end-of-semester course evaluations. The survey included two questions that are investigated in this study: the first question regarded what factors students felt contributed to themselves or others deciding not to attend classes in person, while the second question asked for perspectives on how students may have been able to perform well on assignments without attending classes or reviewing recorded lectures. The qualitative data collected via student responses to these questions was then analyzed using thematic coding analysis to elucidate themes and categorizations arising from responses. The resulting analysis provides a snapshot of the changing perspectives of students based on their compulsory experiences with virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Citation
Format

Cooper, M., & Cardenas-Vasquez, E. D. (2023, June), Is Poor Classroom Attendance a Virtual-Learning Hangover or the New Normal? A Qualitative Study Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43889

TY - CPAPER
AB - Evidence from a capstone design course in the Fall 2022 semester at the authors’ university showed that in-person attendance by senior ChE students was far below levels seen in previous semesters. It seems that this phenomenon is not isolated to one university; based on discussions with other faculty at the 2022 AIChE Conference, poor in-person attendance in senior ChE courses has been observed at many institutions. During these conference discussions amongst ChE faculty, various hypotheses regarding the reasons for poor attendance were discussed. For example, many faculty stated their course lectures were recorded and/or livestreamed for at-home viewing by students. Is it possible that students feel recorded lectures are a viable like-for-like replacement for classroom attendance based on their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic? Classroom recordings can typically viewed at accelerated rates (e.g. double speed) – do students view the time savings of watching recordings as more valuable than in-class benefits such as interacting with fellow students, participating in active learning activities, etc.? It was also noticed that some students did not regularly attend classes nor review video lectures, yet still performed passably on homework and even in-person exams – how could this be possible?

This work aims to investigate student perceptions on factors influencing their classroom attendance and engagement with the course from a phenomenological perspective. Survey data was collected during the Fall 2022 semester from students enrolled in a ChE capstone design course as part of end-of-semester course evaluations. The survey included two questions that are investigated in this study: the first question regarded what factors students felt contributed to themselves or others deciding not to attend classes in person, while the second question asked for perspectives on how students may have been able to perform well on assignments without attending classes or reviewing recorded lectures. The qualitative data collected via student responses to these questions was then analyzed using thematic coding analysis to elucidate themes and categorizations arising from responses. The resulting analysis provides a snapshot of the changing perspectives of students based on their compulsory experiences with virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AU - Matthew Cooper
AU - E. Daniel Cardenas-Vasquez
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Is Poor Classroom Attendance a Virtual-Learning Hangover or the New Normal? A Qualitative Study
UR - https://peer.asee.org/43889
DO - 10.18260/1-2--43889
ER -