Benefiting from online teaching experiences – a collaboration between two engineering courses

Abstract

In this paper, we present our concept for continuous and efficient course development in the context of two engineering courses during the pandemic. The aim is to streamline course development through cross-course collaboration expanding the student-to-teacher feedback loop between courses. As data sources, we rely on student surveys, teacher-to-student/teacher-to-teacher communications, as well as internal discussions with colleagues. The results from our past and ongoing investigations have identified a high potential for adopting digital teaching in parts of the courses (e.g., lectures) while there is a general desire from students and staff for integrated on-campus teaching activities (e.g., seminars or project work) resulting in a blended learning environment (e.g., flipped classroom). Apart from improving course development, additional benefits with cross-course collaboration include potential positive impacts on student learning because of increased student activity in class and greater teacher approachability. Overall, there is a great potential for an integrated and blended version of teaching. Paramount to the success of this is an ongoing process of teacher collaboration, self-reflection, student feedback and course evaluation.