Abstract:

Context:
Due to the 2020/2021 pandemic environment, the academic interaction between students and lecturers was mainly on-line, with the new normality policies in the universities and the limited attendance to lecture sessions, the “hybrid model” with students attending in a dual method, using both, face-to-face and remote attendance, simultaneously, is a common practice. Students enrolled in the Civil Engineering program, specifically in Structural Engineering topics, have been attending their lectures rotating between both methods of attendance. The objective of this paper is to obtain the students’ perception of the effectiveness of the hybrid method for acquiring knowledge and basic concepts regarding the disciplinary competencies within the subject’s topic.

Purpose or goal:
The purpose of this project is to acquire a general image of the students’ perception regarding their learning. The authors would like to present qualitative information obtained by the results of surveys applied to the students. They will be asked about how they acquire knowledge and how they develop disciplinary competencies through the dual method. How the face-to-face version versus the remote version of the same lecture affects the level of comprehension of the topics studied. Also, this project is going to present their perception of the activities developed in the classes and workshops using this method. It’s important for the authors to analyze what is the opinion of the students concerning the difference of “doing it” or “watching it done”. We will use different tools for obtaining the information and perception directly from the students. Some of the questions will be directly focused on the different approach of acquiring knowledge and others will be non-direct questions pursuing the same objective.

Examples of these questions are:
a) Did you attend the lectures remotely, face-to-face or both?
b) Did you felt a difference in your level of comprehension, between one method of attending the lecture and another?
c) If so, in which circumstances did you get a better level of comprehension?
d) Getting focused on the lectures’ topic was easier or harder in which model?
e) What were some distracting factors that you considered in each method in case you attended both?
f) Did you get the same attention from your lecturer when you were at the classroom compared to when you were on-line?
g) Which activities did you prefer on the on-line model?

Approach:
From March 2020 through September 2021, most universities in our country had to turn into an on-line model in all the courses and programs. When students started to attend the lectures in September 2021, the universities implemented a hybrid model, having simultaneously students on-line and face-to-face. The teachers and lecturers since then have faced the challenge to pay the same level of attention to on-line and face-to-face students. Both types of students are getting the same information, the same material, and the same activities so we are questioning the level of knowledge acquired and competencies developed in the different attending circumstances.
After at least one academic period attending lectures “on-line” or “face-to-face”, students enrolled in the Civil Engineering program between 6th through 8th semester, answered polls and surveys that provided the information about their perception on the level of attention received, knowledge acquired, and the competencies developed.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Tec21, Hybrid Model, Structural Engineering Teaching.