Unpacking engineering students' challenges and strategies in a fully online learning space: The mediating role of teachers

It has long been recognized that students' experience within an online learning space is mediated by many factors, one of which is teachers' behavior and practices. To better understand the online learning challenges students confront during the pandemic, the perspectives of the two key stakeholders (i.e., the students and the teachers) merit consideration. This study sought to unpack the challenges students experienced in fully online engineering courses and the strategies they used to overcome these challenges. To further advance this line of research, the study also examined how teachers supported students during online learning. This descriptive, mixed-methods study involved 483 engineering students and ten engineering teachers from five universities in the Philippines. The findings indicated that students experienced minimal to moderate challenges and used a variety of strategies to mitigate them. Many of these strategies converge with the strategies that teachers employed. However, differences in their responses were also observed because of their unique interaction with various external factors. This study also provided important information on how the use, misuse, and absence of appropriate pedagogical strategies could impact students' online learning experience. Implications for classroom practices, policy-making, and future research are discussed.