Abstract:

With social distancing measures put in place in many countries due to the covid-19 pandemic, many university courses were forced to move online. Engineering Degree Apprenticeship (DA) courses in the UK were no exception to this rule - Degree Apprenticeships are a recent higher education format where students work for a company whilst simultaneously studying academic modules at university. This education format, however, requires students to balance both their academic studies and their work commitments, so DAs need to be flexible in their delivery style. One challenge which covid-19 brought to educators was maintaining this flexibility through the transition to online learning.

In order to achieve this, in the academic year 20/21 an undergraduate electrical engineering module for DA students was delivered in an online format. A series of asynchronous, interactive online learning tools were implemented within a virtual learning environment (VLE) – with emphasis being laid on making the online module engaging and easy to learn. Interactive lecture videos with embedded questions were used to deliver the course content in a flexible but engaging manner. Online quizzes were used as formative assessments to help students assess their own knowledge and to let the lecturers monitor students’ progress. Finally, two gamification elements, a progress bar and a series of badges, were implemented with the aim of motivating students to engage with the module.

Student engagement data gathered by the VLE was analysed, including quiz completion trends throughout the year. Additionally, a post-module survey was conducted, combining quantitative and qualitative responses. Overall, a very positive response was received from students for the interactive videos, with 71% agreeing that the embedded questions helped them learn the lecture content better. However, gamification elements were not found to be as motivating as expected, with only 25% of student respondents wanting badges to be used on future modules. Reasons for student disengagement were also identified, with having too many external commitments being the main reason. This research also analyses quiz completion trends throughout the year. The outcomes of this research should provide an insight on the design and delivery of future blended modules.

Keywords:

Online learning, blended learning, gamification, interactive videos, asynchronous learning.