Gad, G. M., & Palomo, M., & Cheng,, W. (2023, June), Virtual or Face-To-Face Learning Mode: Is That the Question?  Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44603

\bibitem{asee_peer_44603}
  Gad, G. M., \& Palomo, M., \& Cheng,, W. (2023, June), \emph{Virtual or Face-To-Face Learning Mode: Is That the Question?}
  Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland.
  10.18260/1-2--44603

Ghada M. Gad, Monica Palomo, and Wen Cheng, P.E..  "Virtual or Face-To-Face Learning Mode: Is That the Question?".  2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2023.  https://peer.asee.org/44603 Internet.  20 May, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_44603}
  Ghada M. Gad, Monica Palomo, and Wen Cheng, P.E..
  "Virtual or Face-To-Face Learning Mode: Is That the Question?".
  \emph{2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland, 2023, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2023.
  https://peer.asee.org/44603 Internet.  20 May, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_44603
author = "Ghada M. Gad, Monica Palomo, and Wen Cheng, P.E."
title = "Virtual or Face-To-Face Learning Mode: Is That the Question?"
booktitle = "2023 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2023"
month = "June"
address = "Baltimore , Maryland"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/44603}
number = {10.18260/1-2--44603}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - During spring 2020, the world pandemic forced XX‘s CE program to move all its courses (both lectures and laboratories) to be delivered in a fully virtual mode. Starting March 2020 of the spring semester through the following academic year as well as during the summer of 2021, all the courses were offered virtually.  The CE department student population includes 45% of underrepresented minority students (first generation, low income, adults, veterans among others) who pre-pandemic already had their own set of challenges of just attending school. This virtual learning mode exacerbated the students’ living conditions, by adding a new stress level of learning in a virtual environment. The objective of this paper is to investigate how the students adapted to this new virtual learning environment, the challenges they faced, and the new learning opportunities that emerged. To achieve this objective, two surveys were distributed to the ~1,200 undergraduate students of the CE department (Civil and Construction Engineering programs) for two consecutive years (spring 2020 and spring 2021). The two surveys received a 20% response rate representing 20% of the student population at large (250 students). The survey included questions related to the benefits and disadvantages of the virtual learning environment, the student preference for the learning modes for lectures and laboratories, their ability for virtual learning as digital learners, their need for hands-on experiences, and their overall preference for virtual vs face-to-face delivery modes. The survey results analyzed indicated that the majority of the respondents preferred the face-to-face and hands-on environment for the laboratory classes. However, it was also recognized that fully synchronous or asynchronous learning provided students some unprecedented opportunities for a better quality of life including less time while commuting and parking  (compared to pre-pandemic) and more time to rest, exercise, and even study. In addition, some students expressed that they became more environmentally aware of their carbon footprint and that they would prefer to have lectures in fully synchronous, asynchronous, or hybrid modes to reduce their negative impact on the environment. Lastly, some senior students expressed that they would be looking for jobs that would allow them to do some work from home to preserve this new lifestyle. These results have led the XX CE department to evaluate the virtual and hybrid delivery of courses as potential instruction modes to support students in future semesters.  
AU  - Ghada M. Gad
AU  - Monica Palomo
AU  - Wen Cheng, P.E.
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Virtual or Face-To-Face Learning Mode: Is That the Question?
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/44603
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44603
ER  -