Learning from the Student Experience: Impact of Shelter-in-Place on the Learning Experiences of Engineering Students at SJSU

This is a research paper based on an in-depth study of the impact of COVID-19 on students and faculty in the San José State University (SJSU) College of Engineering completed in Spring and Summer 2020. In this paper, we report on the interviews we did with 40 students from the College. In March 2020, SJSU moved all of its classes online for the remainder of the Spring term. Overall, 25 men, 14 women and one binary student were interviewed. The students included freshmen (3 students), sophomores (2 students), juniors (7 students), seniors (11 students) and graduate students (17 students). During the interviews, the students reported more negative experiences with their classes after the move online as compared to positive experiences with 32 of the 39 students reporting at least one negative experience after the move online. The students had many comments related to course content including project work in the Spring 2020 semester (28 students), online tests and exams (27 students), lab issues (23 students) and PowerPoint use and issues (13 students). Also, approximately one-third of the students responded that their instructors did not respond to emails from students. Most students showed appreciation for the efforts that faculty made in the quick transition online. However, the students expressed concerns about the organization of the classes (13 students), the lack of interactivity (9 students) and the availability of lecture videos (9 students). More than half of the students gave recommendations as to how faculty could improve their online classes in Fall 2020. Many faculty, according to the student interviews, were unprepared to teach online. They had difficulties in using the learning management system (LMS), Canvas, as well as Zoom. As well, some faculty would not record their lectures or not post them online. The student comments can give faculty insight into improving their classes in the future.