key: cord-1053447-hh00yegv
authors: London, Jeremi S.; Douglas, Elliot P.; Loui, Michael C.
title: Introduction to the special themed section on engineering education and the COVID‐19 pandemic
date: 2022-02-26
journal: Journal of Engineering Education
DOI: 10.1002/jee.20457
sha: 49dc42e79a5b147f125beca159b7d7a5ce45539b
doc_id: 1053447
cord_uid: hh00yegv

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leverage this opportunity to glean lessons learned that call us to rethink the way we do engineering education. There are two lessons in particular that we would like the field to consider.

The first lesson relates to a common argument by scholars who study universal design. The articles in this special themed section highlight some of the changes instructors and institutions made as part of ensuring that a reasonable level of access to education was still possible, despite disruptions caused by the pandemic. These changes are related to teaching, learning, and assessment. In light of a universal design ethos, the lesson worth considering is whether the changes that were made to benefit students during this unique circumstance would also help students at any time. For example, would flexible deadlines be beneficial as a general practice? How might assessments look if take-home exams became commonplace? How could the engineering student experience be improved if distributed learning were accessible to all? These are examples of practices we could begin to reimagine as we socially construct our new normal in engineering education.

The final lesson is a related one. In conversations about change in engineering education, we typically assume that change must be slow. And the inertia built into existing education systems is certainly real and notable. However, the COVID-19 articles discuss substantial changes that happened almost overnight. Thus, the swift changes mentioned in them highlight two observations: we have the capacity to make significant changes quickly, and small, swift changes can be transformative. Consequently, we can now serve as our own case study when looking for examples of when transformative change does not take a long time. May we draw inspiration from our example when we engage in future discussions about what it takes to transform engineering education. Although awful, the pandemic has shown us that sometimes all we need is a context that demands transformative change.

Report on evaluation of engineering education

Creating a culture for scholarly and systematic innovation in engineering education: Ensuring US engineering has the right people with the right talent for a global society (Phase 1 report)

A study of engineering education: Prepared for the Joint Committee on Engineering Education of the National Engineering Societies

Educating engineers: Designing for the future of the field

Jeremi S. London 1 Elliot P. Douglas 2,3 Michael C. Loui 4,5