Engineering Students Perceptions of Tool Based Instructions for Engineering Chemistry: A Case Study During Covid

Abstract

The covid pandemic had evolved a new era in academia. This global disruption led educationists to deliver lessons online with minimal or no formal training especially in Indian education system. This is a qualitative study about the contextualized  instructing and learning approach during pandemic and its impact on the teacher and the students perception about tool based approach in Indian set up with participation of  161 engineering students of different branches of three engineering colleges. These cohorts were not used to even blended learning platforms. This instructional strategy was gauged by collecting survey responses, focused interviews and instructors observation at the end of the course. It expects to increase the understanding of  inclusion of tool based instructions  to scaffold the students learning and teachers instructing based on CoI framework. Statistical data was analysed through SPSS with Cronbach's alpha  of 0.892.The mean score,t and p values revealed a higher number of students affirming the positive impact of face-to-face approach , the inclination of students to include tool based instructions partly in the curriculum and  which tool was most opted . This learning process transformed the instructors' and students' views on online teaching and its productiveness, nevertheless its challenges and made the instructor ready to leverage online instructions even after pandemic ,including elements of cognitive, social, teaching presence, based on student responses and instructors’ observation.