Virtual Meetups for Remote Learners

David G. Novick; Denise Saenz

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference
Location: Prairie View, Texas
Publication Date: March 16, 2022
Start Date: March 16, 2022
End Date: March 18, 2022
Page Count: 10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--39221
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/39221
Download Count: 253

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Paper Authors

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David G. Novick University of Texas at El Paso

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David G. Novick, Mike Loya Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Professor of Engineering Education and Leadership, earned his J.D.at Harvard University in 1977 and his Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science at the University of Oregon in 1988. Before coming to UTEP he was on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Oregon Graduate Institute and then Director of Research at the European Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Engineering. At UTEP he has served in a number of positions including as Chair of the Department of Computer Science, Associate Provost, Associate Dean of Engineering for Graduate Studies and Research, and co-director of the Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce. His research focuses on college-level engineering education for entrepreneurship and leadership. He has authored or co-authored over 135 refereed publications and over $16 million in funded grant proposals.

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Denise Saenz

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Abstract

This study assesses the impact of providing a weekly teleconference virtual meetup and Jamboard “meetup room” for students in engineering courses delivered via remote learning.

In pre-pandemic times when courses met in on-campus classrooms, many students often hung around, usually in the corridor outside the classroom, for several minutes after class. Such interaction on the margins of formal course structures served to fill in the course’s gaps, helping the students overcome limitations such as course material not getting effectively delivered, students’ varying degrees of understanding, lack of time in class for students to coordinate, and so forth. The nearly universal remote learning necessitated by the pandemic has effectively eliminated these opportunities for informal interaction that actually made courses work for students.

To address this situation, we set up for each of the three upper-division engineering courses (1) a weekly (non-hosted) one-hour Zoom session at a day and time convenient for as many students as possible and (2) a Google Jamboard “Virtual Meetup Room” in which the students could create new pages, leave notes, ask questions, share notes, and so forth. The investigators did not participate in or observe the Zoom sessions. We assessed the students’ use of these assets through pre- and post-surveys using a newly developed assessment instrument:

• Students reported pre-pandemic use of informal time for coordination of activities, discussion of what was going on in the class, and hanging out and seeing friends, which acted as an outlet from the stress of classes. • Students reported that during remote courses there was less time for interactions because people usually do not have a reason to talk to other students, that it was not possible to do homework together, and that doing things took longer. • The 12 students (out of 48 possible) responding to the post-survey averaged about 8 hours total over the semester in the Zoom sessions. The Zoom sessions did better in supporting discussing when assignments were due but less well in supporting doing homework together or hanging out with friends. • The students appear to have not used the Jamboards to any significant extent.

Our results suggest that regularly scheduled Zoom meetings can be a reasonably effective substitute for some aspects of in-person informal interaction. The effectiveness of the meetings could likely be improved by having them more than once a week and by providing more guidance to students on how to use the meetings. Our results also suggest that students are unlikely to use a Jamboard as a substitute for in-person informal interaction.

Citation
Format

Novick, D. G., & Saenz, D. (2022, March), Virtual Meetups for Remote Learners Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference, Prairie View, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--39221

TY - CPAPER
AB - This study assesses the impact of providing a weekly teleconference virtual meetup and Jamboard “meetup room” for students in engineering courses delivered via remote learning.

In pre-pandemic times when courses met in on-campus classrooms, many students often hung around, usually in the corridor outside the classroom, for several minutes after class. Such interaction on the margins of formal course structures served to fill in the course’s gaps, helping the students overcome limitations such as course material not getting effectively delivered, students’ varying degrees of understanding, lack of time in class for students to coordinate, and so forth. The nearly universal remote learning necessitated by the pandemic has effectively eliminated these opportunities for informal interaction that actually made courses work for students.

To address this situation, we set up for each of the three upper-division engineering courses (1) a weekly (non-hosted) one-hour Zoom session at a day and time convenient for as many students as possible and (2) a Google Jamboard “Virtual Meetup Room” in which the students could create new pages, leave notes, ask questions, share notes, and so forth. The investigators did not participate in or observe the Zoom sessions. We assessed the students’ use of these assets through pre- and post-surveys using a newly developed assessment instrument:

• Students reported pre-pandemic use of informal time for coordination of activities, discussion of what was going on in the class, and hanging out and seeing friends, which acted as an outlet from the stress of classes.
• Students reported that during remote courses there was less time for interactions because people usually do not have a reason to talk to other students, that it was not possible to do homework together, and that doing things took longer.
• The 12 students (out of 48 possible) responding to the post-survey averaged about 8 hours total over the semester in the Zoom sessions. The Zoom sessions did better in supporting discussing when assignments were due but less well in supporting doing homework together or hanging out with friends.
• The students appear to have not used the Jamboards to any significant extent.

Our results suggest that regularly scheduled Zoom meetings can be a reasonably effective substitute for some aspects of in-person informal interaction. The effectiveness of the meetings could likely be improved by having them more than once a week and by providing more guidance to students on how to use the meetings. Our results also suggest that students are unlikely to use a Jamboard as a substitute for in-person informal interaction.
AU - David G. Novick
AU - Denise Saenz
CY - Prairie View, Texas
DA - 2022/03/16
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Virtual Meetups for Remote Learners
UR - https://peer.asee.org/39221
DO - 10.18260/1-2--39221
ER -