Track: Global Engineering Education (GEE)

Abstract

The recent global pandemic and the academic efforts, nationally and internationally, to minimize teaching and learning interruption due to this unexpected phenomenon provided educators an opportunity to explore alternative teaching and learning methods. Several online communication mediums saw opportunities to explore these needs and stimulate the innovative use of these technologies. The engineering education community was among the groups who cautiously led this transformation. Over the past twenty years, the Texas A&M University-Qatar campus has established itself as one of the leading academic institutions in the region. The Education City in Doha, Qatar, houses six American university branches, among which Texas A&M University-Qatar is the only one that offers four ABET-accredited engineering degrees in Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical, and Petroleum. Texas A&M University-Qatar campus has consistently been regarded as an institution that often takes the lead in developing, implementing, and assessing the most innovative use of innovative teaching and learning methods to engage students in learning further actively.

This paper reports some of the results of an empirical study conducted at Texas A&M University in Qatar and Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, in two undergraduate courses taught on these two campuses. This study also compared students' academic performance in synchronous learning environments with face-to-face teaching and learning options.