COVID-19 Membership Impact Survey

During the summer, the Society began a research project to monitor how COVID-19 is impacting the delivery of classes within the IEEE fields-of-interest. Using multiple survey techniques, we hope to provide an end-of-the-year snapshot of experiences, best practices, and assessment metrics. The first survey technique was a direct-to-member online questionnaire emailed to each member of the Society on 21 August 2020. A reminder campaign was implemented two weeks later. The survey instrument provided context, focused response on a set of common definitions, and established the absence of risk through anonymity. The survey was written in the English language and read:

Our Society was founded in 1957 and is one of the oldest technical societies in IEEE. It is a worldwide society of professionals dedicated to ensuring high-quality education in science and engineering. Our members engage students each day, research and propose new theories in learning science, and innovate classroom practice. As part of our membership, we value your contributions to engineering and computing education, and we value your insight as a member of our community. We would like to create a snapshot of how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the delivery of classes and the professional lives of our members. This snapshot will be summarized in graphical form in our October newsletter and on our website. We invite you to anonymously answer one single question by clicking on the appropriate hyperlink.

There are many delivery formats used to mentor students and different names are used in different countries. Please read these definitions and click the one that best matches your current professional practice even if it does not match it exactly. If you are applying multiple options, please choose the one that you use most often.

* Classroom Learning - all enrolled students are present at the same time in a physical classroom with no remote on-line instruction
* Cohort Classroom Learning - subsets of my class attend at different times in physical classrooms with no remote on-line instruction
* Blended Classroom Learning - students mix remote on-line activities with physical classroom activities
* Hybrid Classroom Learning - students have been divided into a remote on-line cohort and a physical classroom cohort taught simultaneously
* Remote On-Line Learning - students are learning without physical classroom activities
* Campus Closed - my institution has canceled all courses
* Retired or not-teaching - I am not currently employed as an educator

Thank you for your participation!

The survey instrument was answered by 329 unique members (n=329) from a total Society population of 3186 members for a completion rate of 10.4 %. The survey data is presented below in the tabular and graphical form.

Survey responses show that approximately 72% of respondents are currently teaching with some online components. The largest subgroup is teaching in a remote-online format with no physical classroom activities. The second most common response is a blended classroom with a mixture of online and physical classroom activities. Classroom learning is currently in use by only 8.5% of the respondent group.

It is clear from the data that COVID-19 has caused a worldwide shift in delivery format from traditional residential instruction to online modes of delivery. Through additional survey instruments, the Society hopes to provide a deeper look into the effect of this shift as the academic year progresses.

Russ Meier, Ph.D., FIEEE, Professor
IEEE Education Society President