"Widening the Umbrella in the Midst of a Pandemic: Mathematics, Stratistics, and Computer Science Students Join First Year Engineering Design Course"

Background: Prior to emergency remote instruction in Spring 2020, the UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS) began a significant realignment of undergraduate curricula across its Engineering (Mechanical, Civil, Environmental, Biomedical, Electrical), Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science programs.An early outcome of this transition was the redesign a first-year seminar course (1 cr.), previously only available to students in engineering.The proposed course (CEMS-050) would be required for all incoming first-time, first-year students (~300) and would create opportunities for students to practice key skills common to the CEMS disciplines, including technical communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.In addition, the course would introduce students to each of the College's ten academic programs, campus resources, advising, and provide opportunities for cohort-building during a semester when most general education courses occur in other colleges.In Spring 2020, feedback was gathered via department-led discussions and a multi-disciplinary working group was formed to develop the course learning objectives and assessment strategies for implementation in Fall 2020.Course Structure: Learning outcomes focused on the Design-Thinking process, effective and inclusive teamwork, technical communication, self-reflection and bias, and the ability to leverage campus resources.A project-based structure was adopted to incorporate these learning outcomes into two projects: (1) "Micro-Design Projects", to practice teamwork and design while building simple mechanisms and structures (floating table, mechanical hand, water-balloon launcher), (2) "Semester-long Projects", in which students address a campus-based problem, posed by a partnering campus organization (Facilities, Waste, Transportation, Health and Wellness).In both cases, students voted on their desired project and were placed into interdisciplinary teams.Semester project options spanned three themes (Energy, Resources, Health) and seven specific challenges.Students presented their proposed solutions to the campus community at a final virtual poster event in December 2020. COVID-Specific Challenges:In Fall 2020, students chose whether to attend courses entirely from home or remain on campus for in-person and hybrid courses.CEMS-050 held in-person labs, which required additional space, PPE, disinfection protocols, and specialized classroom technology to engage at-home students.Micro-Design kits were sent to at-home students and additional instruction was provided to support teamwork in mixed-modality teams.UVM's infection rate remained low during this period (0.07%) due in part to strict testing and quarantine requirements.Lessons Learned: Overall, students across disciplines responded positively to the opportunity to engage with peers and campus partners while working on meaningful real-world problems.Student feedback indicated a strong positive impact of in-person instruction (most other courses were entirely remote).At-home students expressed some difficulty working in mixed-modality teams and many teams struggled to manage team productivity regardless of modality.Further improvements include streamlining project-planning assignments and strengthening the peer-and self-reflection components of the course.In fall 2021, we will consider the role of sense of belonging in the academic trajectory and retention of first year students.