Exploring the Challenges of Tertiary Students in Non-Laboratory Courses After the First Year of Emergency Remote Teaching

<p style="text-align: justify;">Shortly after the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic began, studies on the challenges faced by tertiary students during Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) became available. However, the data sets were harvested early, as many countries began implementing ERT in response to the pandemic in March 2020. Many recent studies have failed to distinguish between the challenges faced by students enrolled in the laboratory and non-laboratory courses. There is still a dearth of literature on the difficulties encountered by students enrolled in non-laboratory courses following the first year of ERT implementation. The purpose of this paper was to examine the various challenges faced by tertiary students enrolled in non-laboratory courses following the conclusion of the first year of ERT implementation. Contextualized in two state-owned higher education institutions in northern Luzon, this study employed a fundamental qualitative approach, with focus group discussions (FGDs) serving as the primary data collection technique. Five major themes emerged from the FGDs with 42 purposively selected tertiary students. These themes presented in the spider web illustration include (1) student-focused challenges, (2) instructional material-related challenges, (3) instructor-emanating challenges, (4) technology-related challenges, and (5) student support-related challenges. This article concludes that these issues must be dealt with immediately to facilitate the implementation of ERT in non-laboratory courses. These difficulties may also be dimensions of concerns about distance education, particularly in non-urban areas of the Philippines. The themes also provide some actual pictures of the student challenges in the initial year of ERT in college. This paper highlighted some implications for pedagogy and educational management, as well as future research directions.</p>

Physics experiments using arduino: determination of the air quality index

Air pollution is one of our day’s significant reasons for human health problems and affects every community throughout the world. Monitoring air pollution is a key aspect of raising awareness and pollution mitigation approaches followed by different nations. This paper targets to develop a low-cost Internet of things-based embedded system to measure and maintain air quality index (AQI) indicators at any locality. The system implemented here is minimal and can be deployed quickly and easily. The AQI measurement system was developed and tested for several periods, and recorded values of AQI were found to be in close agreement with actual values obtained from standard databases. In addition, several starting physics and electronics laboratory courses train students on measuring physical parameters over time. In this context, along with the introduction to the current pollution scenario and the challenges, this experiment will give a first-hand exposure of setting up a simple experiment and measuring a physical parameter to time. Students also learn to write simple programs and interface the experiment with a computer to record the results. The current work also demonstrates how to publish/subscribe the data using the message queue telemetry transport protocol.

A remote laboratory course on experimental human physiology using wearable technology

To help educators deliver their physiology laboratory courses remotely, we developed an inexpensive, customizable hardware kit along with freely-available teaching resources. We based the course design on four principles that should allow students to conduct insightful experiments on different physiological systems. First, the experimental setup should not be constrained to laboratory environments. Second, students should be able to take this course without prior coding and electronics experience. Third, the hardware kit should be relatively inexpensive and all other resources should be freely-available. Fourth, all resources should be customizable for educators. The hardware kit consists of commercially-available electronic components, with a microcontroller as its hub (Arduino-friendly). All measurement systems can be assembled without soldering. The hardware kit is cost-effective (~cost of a textbook) and can be customized depending upon instructional needs. All software is freely-available and we share all necessary codes in open-access, online repositories for simple use and customizability. All lab manuals and additional video tutorials are also freely-available online and customizable. In our particular course, we have weekly asynchronous physiology lectures and one synchronous laboratory session, where students can get help with their equipment. In this paper, we will only focus on the novel and open-source laboratory part of the course. The laboratory includes four units (data acquisition, ECG, EMG, activity classification) and one final project. It is our intent that these resources will allow other educators to rapidly implement their own remote physiology laboratories, or to extend our work into other pedagogical applications of wearable technology.

Online (Remote) Teaching for Laboratory Based Courses Using “digital Twins” of the Experiments

Covid-19 pandemic has introduced radical changes to the engineering education so that most of the teaching moved to the off-campus setting of online classes. However, conducting the laboratory classes, a fundamental part of engineering education has remained to be a challenge. To address to this situation, an ambitious approach is taken to re-establish the laboratory experience entirely online with the help of digital twins of the laboratory experiments. Laboratory based undergraduate courses are important parts of the curriculum at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences (HSLU), Switzerland. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was necessary to adapt to the new environment of remote learning and modify the laboratory experiments so that they can be carried out online. The approach was to develop digital twins of each laboratory experiment with web applications and to provide an environment together with supporting videos and interactive problems so that the laboratory experiments can be carried out remotely. This paper explains the development of the digital twins of the laboratory experiments and provides information about the selected experiments such as potential vortex, linear momentum equation, diffuser flow, radial compressor, fuel cell, and pump test rig. A remote or distance learning has many hurdles, a major one being how to teach hands-on laboratory courses outside of an actual laboratory. The experience at the HSLU showed that teaching online laboratories using the digital twins of the experiments can work and the students can take part in remote laboratories that meet the learning objectives.

Effective Implementation of Complex Engineering Problems and Complex Engineering Activities in Malaysian Engineering Curricular

The Engineering Accreditation Council Standard 2020 requires the stipulated 12 programme outcomes that address complex engineering problems (CEP) and complex engineering activities (CEA) to be incorporated in the engineering programmes. However, the implementation of outcome-based education with regards to CEP and CEA is still in the infancy stage. This study was carried out to give an overview of the implementation of complex engineering problems and activities in Malaysian engineering programmes in relation to the types of assessment used to address CEP and CEA, and the typical weightage and taxonomy level of CEP and CEA employed in these assessments. A survey questionnaire was administered to 256 engineering educators from 25 universities to enquire about the implementation of CEP and CEA in their engineering programmes, particularly in the online teaching and learning during the Covid19 pandemic. The findings showed that most of the programmes addressed complex engineering problems in assignments or projects as compared to final examinations or mid-term tests. Complex engineering activities were found to be addressed in Final Year Project, Industrial Training and Integrated Design Project and laboratory courses. The findings in this study could act as a guideline for educators to enhance the teaching and learning activities incorporating CEP and CEA elements, and hence facilitating the continual quality improvement for an engineering programme. Keywords: Complex Engineering Problems, Complex Engineering Activity, Engineering Accreditation Council, Outcome-Based Education

A Simple and Affordable Biofilm Assay for the Undergraduate Microbiology Classroom

Through experience and surveying undergraduate microbiology curriculum, we found that most schools discuss biofilms in lecture classes but not laboratory courses. Biofilms are a concern for both industry and the medical field and should be studied in student laboratories. To study this at an institution, there would need to be an affordable method to assay them. As a sample specimen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was used as it proliferates into biofilms when it is starved for nutrients, which can be easily simulated in a laboratory environment. Known assays for studying biofilms are expensive, and most departments do not have the materials. In Trypticase Soy Broth (TSB), P. aeruginosa can also be induced to form a biofilm, but the technique is not seen very often because it has not been sufficiently standardized for undergraduate microbiology education laboratories. To account for the absence of specialized reagents, we incubated bacteria for longer periods of time as a means to diminish nutrients or starve the specimen. Using a two-tailed t-test, we were able to show that glass tubes inoculated with P. aeruginosa in TSB for 48 hours were forming distinct biofilms on the glass surface, which is appropriate for undergraduate microbiology laboratory studies.

The effectiveness of combining e-learning, peer teaching and flipped classroom for delivering physiology laboratory course to nursing students

The Internet and 5G era make e-learning a vital part of modern education, and extensive evidence has shown that peer teaching and flipped classroom contribute to increased success in medical teaching. However, the applicability of these pedagogies in laboratory courses remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to evaluate the academic performance, proficiency in procedural skills and perception of nursing students in physiology laboratory classes delivered using non-traditional classroom (NTC) pedagogies comprising the combination of e-learning, peer teaching and flipped classroom. Each class was sub-divided into two equal halves by successive student identification (ID) and randomly assigned to control or NTC group. Compared to control class, NTC teaching significantly enhanced mean score of six pre-class tests (67.77 ± 9.83 vs. 62.94 ± 9.70), with "B" graders increased obviously, suggesting pre-class e-learning was more effective than textbook-based preview, especially for general grasp of the topic. Similarly, average scores on post-class quizzes in NTC group was improved (79.40 ± 9.12 vs. 74.43 ± 8.88). Lesser time-cost and higher success rates were observed in trachea, artery and heart catheterizations in NTC group , although no disparities were found in ureteral intubation . Majority of (~74%) students supported the reform and shared positive experiences in NTC methodology. They reported virtual experiments and self-paced procedural skill videos affected pre- or in-class learning outcomes most, respectively. These findings indicated NTC pedagogy was workable to improve students' subject scores and proficiency in complicated and direct-viewing procedural skills, and was favorable by students.

Examining the Deliquescence of Lithium Salts and Those of Other Alkali Metals Through a Range of Humidity

It is well known that lithium chloride is able to extract moisture from the ambient air. Our research in this area has examined a variety of lithium salts for their ability to do so, as well as their counterparts containing sodium and potassium. Additionally, we have made and utilized chambers that allow us to examine deliquescence of these salts in conditions of various humidity. We will present the results, and how these experiments can be adapted to the teaching of laboratory courses.

The Effects of Gamified Flipped Learning Method on Student’s Innovation Skills, Self-Efficacy towards Virtual Physics Lab Course and Perceptions

Laboratory courses are extremely important in Physics education in terms of providing a better understanding of the theoretical course subjects by the students. However, since the COVID-19 epidemic caused education to be carried out remotely and digitally all over the world, practical as well as theoretical courses were moved to digital platforms. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of the Gamified Flipped Learning (GFL) method on students’ physics self-efficacy and innovation skills in a virtual physics laboratory course. The study was carried out with true experimental design and the participants were a total of 70 first-year engineering students, which were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group was trained with the GFL method, the control group was trained with Classical Flipped Learning (CFL) method. Data were collected from a physics self-efficacy questionnaire, innovative skills questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews form. The research results showed that GFL method has a positive impact on the innovation skills of students although insignificant improvement was introduced by gamified-flipped learning on students’ self-efficacy. In addition, the interviews with the students revealed a positive perception of gamification, by mentioning some important aspects of the process that were extremely beneficial.

A SCOPE REVIEW ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REMOTE TEACHING FOR ENGINEERING LABORATORY COURSES DURING THE PANDEMIC COVID-19

This article aims to carry out a scoping review of the implementation of remote teaching for engineering laboratory courses in higher learning institutions during the pandemic COVID-19. Outcome-Based Education (OBE) implementation has required the graduate to attain a minimum of twelve skills and attributes upon graduating from the engineering program; it includes the psychomotor skill involved in laboratory courses. The finding shows that it has various implementations in conducting laboratory courses during the pandemic. The implementation includes recording a video, conducting an online simulation to replace the experimental work, and transforming face-to-face activity into a virtual lecture, modelling, and simulation. The approach for the laboratory that uses software also has recorded videos, using open-source software similar to the software listed in the syllabus, and some institutions allow students to access the computers lab remotely. There are no physical experimental works carried out in the laboratory during the pandemic due to non-access to the lab. Students then are expected to learn from the video to grasp the knowledge and concept. This 'scope review' also found that they have not discussed the suitable assessment in evaluating the psychomotor skill during the pandemic. Therefore, this paper recommends conducting a study to determine the implementation of a laboratory course and investigate the effectiveness of the assessment conduct during the pandemic COVID-19 to obtain the course learning outcome and evaluate its psychomotor skill.