The impact of emergency remote learning on students in engineering and computer science in the United States: An analysis of four universities

Background In Spring 2020, the COVID‐19 pandemic sent universities into emergency remote education. The pandemic has been disruptive but offers the opportunity to learn about ways to support students in other situations where abrupt changes to teaching and learning are necessary. Purpose/Hypothesis We described the responses of engineering and computer science students to a series of prompts about their experiences with remote learning. Design/Method Data about students' remote learning experiences were collected from undergraduate engineering and computer science students at four different universities through an end‐of‐semester survey. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and qualitative responses were analyzed using qualitative content analysis through the lenses of master narrative theory and sociocultural theory. Results Student responses revealed how their individual circumstances combined to reduce motivation, create home environments detrimental to completing schoolwork, and increase stress. Many students described the negative impacts of remote learning, but some students found positive aspects of the situation. The majority of students did not indicate a change in their desire or plans to pursue engineering or computer science majors. Conclusions There was wide variation in how students experienced the disruption to university learning during Spring 2020. Implications of this paper can help not only in cases where emergency remote learning is needed in the future but also as universities seek to return to “normal” operations in 2022 and beyond.