Survey of Engineering Faculty: Experience of and Plans for Online Teaching

This report looks at how 123 engineering faculty drawn from major engineering programs at research universities predominantly in the USA but also in Canada, the UK, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand – experienced online teaching - -and how they view online teachings’ future in engineering education. The report gives detailed data on who taught online, how much, and what they thought of the quality of the online classes vs. in-person classes. Respondents also relate just how much that they would like to teach online in the future and what they think the online teaching policies of their engineering programs will be irrespective of their own wishes. They also pinpoint the types of classes they think are best taught online and those that are more difficult or even impossible to teach online. The report also looks at the services that instructors used – library services, information technology department services, for example – and quantify the use of some of these service pre, during, and post pandemic. Respondents also comment on the possible new engineering courses and programs that might be developed given the greater familiarity with online teaching.