A Student Primer on How to Thrive in Engineering Education during and beyond COVID-19

Abstract

In this paper, we strive to provide a primer for students on how to thrive and learn effectively in engineering education in the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) times following the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, which has disrupted the educational enterprise massively with universities physically closing in many parts of the world and students and faculty transitioning to remote learning. Although the immediate audience assumed in this paper comprises engineering students (such as those enrolled in electrical, electronics, or computer engineering programs) studying in an outcome-based education (OBE) environment—the global educational paradigm mandated by the Washington Accord that aims to standardize engineering competencies in terms of the attained student learning outcomes—the presented ideas are more general and broadly useful for learners of all types. We will describe seven evidence-based steps that the students can adopt to thrive in OBE settings in these challenging times. The main contribution of this paper is practical: we present a synthesis of the vast research literature on effective student learning in normal, online, and disrupted settings to present practical insights that students can leverage to substantially improve their learning. At the end of the paper, we also present a discussion of important issues related to remote teaching and online education such as ensuring equity and the handling of lab work for engineers in such settings (e.g., through simulators and virtual labs).