Evaluating the Impact of Nonconcurrent Flight Laboratory and Ground Course Progress on the Academic Outcomes of Collegiate Aviation Students

Abstract

Flight training is often conducted as a two-part model, where a student completes an academic ground course to learn the knowledge and also enrolls in a flight laboratory course to apply the knowledge and skills required to earn a new certificate or rating. Often, these two parts are offered as separate courses to provide flexibility to students in the training environment. The intent is that the ground course and flight laboratory are conducted concurrently so the students apply knowledge from the ground course during their flight training. However, external factors may delay the flight training progress in the laboratory environment, causing the student to disconnect their flight training and ground course into a nonconcurrent status. This study aims to assess the impact of concurrent versus nonconcurrent flight lab enrollment on the academic outcomes of collegiate aviation students in the classroom. The study will determine whether a student conducting flight training in their current course of study (concurrent training) performs significantly better academically than a student conducting training in a previous flight lab in their current course of study (nonconcurrent training). Quantitative data was collected in the form of academic scores on classroom block exams to evaluate the impact of students in concurrent versus nonconcurrent training environments. A series of independent sample t-tests were used to find consistent evidence that students in a concurrent flight laboratory perform better on block exams in their academic ground course than students enrolled in a nonconcurrent flight laboratory. The results of this research will be used to inform educational practices within flight training departments and will assist in providing clarity to external parties interested in evaluating the impact of students completing a lab course that is nonconcurrent to their current ground course of study.