Pandemic Pedagogy: K-12 Technology and Engineering Education Under COVID-19

Abstract

No single event in modern history has affected education like COVID-19. This study examines the effects of COVID-19 related modifications within technology and engineering education. Using social media, a survey was distributed among groups whose focus was technology and engineering education. This survey asked how teachers addressed COVID-19 related modifications to instruction and how they felt about instructional quality and support. The results showed that teachers are working longer hours, yet instruction is suffering due to virtual/ hybrid teaching, social distancing, and sanitation concerns. Hands-on and group work has been largely limited or eliminated entirely, and many lessons have had to be heavily adapted if they are possible at all. Most concerning is an apparent deficit in morale, with a substantial number of teachers contemplating leaving the classroom if the current conditions continue. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in nearly every facet of life in 2020, but the challenges faced in education are largely undocumented within the academic literature. It is imperative that the real-time effects of COVID-19 on teaching and learning be understood so that adjustments can be made while the nation is still affected by the pandemic and future changes to instruction to address currently developing deficits are made with a full understanding of what occurred during the crisis rather than retrospectively.