Enabling hands-on, team-based project work during COVID-19
Subject
Abstract
COVID-19 has impacted delivery of the first-year engineering design curriculum throughout the post-secondary system. At Vancouver Island University (VIU), instruction of the first-year curriculum shifted to an entirely remote learning environment where students were not expected to be in physical contact at any point during the term. This presented a significant challenge to delivering its learning outcomes and activities, particularly hands-on, team-based project work. At VIU, students typically complete a cornerstone design project in the second term of their first year of studies. Due to COVID-19, this project was modified to allow for completion within a virtual learning environment. Teams of three or four students were tasked to cooperatively create a rolling ball structure, built in isolation, but delivered and assembled at the University campus by the course instructor and its technician. This structure was required to form a path for a rolling ball, and interact with its neighbouring structures to create seamless track. Collectively, all team structures (a total of ten) formed a ring allowing for continuous ball movement once started. These pass-off points between each structure were determined collaboratively between both teams and individuals. This paper describes how a team-based cornerstone project experience was managed, and its impact on the student experience.
Description
Conference paper: 2021 First-Year Engineering Experience. Virtual conference dates: August 9 - 10, 2021.
© 2021 American Society for Engineering Education. This paper was originally published as: Dick, B. (2021). Enabling hands-on, team-based project work during COVID-19 [Paper presentation]. 2021 First-Year Engineering Experience Conference. https://peer.asee.org/38378
© 2021 American Society for Engineering Education. This paper was originally published as: Dick, B. (2021). Enabling hands-on, team-based project work during COVID-19 [Paper presentation]. 2021 First-Year Engineering Experience Conference. https://peer.asee.org/38378