Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Learning Effectiveness: Implications from the Lived Experiences Amidst a Mixture of In-Person and Online Instruction

Abstract

Grounded in the existing literature on learning effectiveness in postsecondary education, this study aimed to develop better understandings of learning effectiveness in the context of increased digital teaching and learning in the post-pandemic era. We applied interpretative phenomenological analysis to focus group data collected from undergraduate engineering students at a comprehensive Canadian university during summer 2022. The findings of this study confirm students' interpretation of learning effectiveness in terms of both learning outcomes and processes. The learning process perspective was related to the affective, cognitive, and behavioural domains of student engagement. Efficiency in learning and ease of access to learning resources were also identified as indicators of learning effectiveness. In particular, under the mixed in-person and online instruction modes, engineering students interpreted their learning effectiveness as a result of individual-contextual interactions. Students developed their own perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of in-person and online instruction based on their experiences during the pandemic. For some engineering students, their discipline-based understandings of learning contexts in various courses shaped their perceptions of learning effectiveness, which suggests the role of engineering and personal epistemologies in perceived learning effectiveness. This can be an area of future research on learning effectiveness. Scholarly and practical implications from these findings are discussed.