2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Rapid changes in learning environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to disruptions in students’ routines for studying, exercise, and socialization, causing shifts in time management behavior. This is true for both transitions to remote learning as well as the transition back to in person instruction. The objective of this research is to examine the effect of remote and hybrid learning formats on the time management habits of students and to determine if self-reported time management habits may be related to students’ self-efficacy and academic performance. Towards this goal, we collected students’ numerical responses to survey questions from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) regarding their time management habits and self-efficacy. The survey was administered at the conclusion of two separate offerings of the same course in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California Irvine (UCI): one in a fully remote format (Winter 2021) and the other in a hybrid format that transitioned from fully remote to in person in the middle of the term (Winter 2022). This required upper division course for mechanical and aerospace engineering majors involves lectures, laboratory experiments, and a final team project. We employ non-parametric methods for hypothesis testing to compare survey responses from students in the two different course offerings, and we compute rank correlation statistics of students’ responses and institutional data to determine relationships between time management, self-efficacy, course load, and academic performance. Students in the fully remote course reported better time management and self efficacy than students in the hybrid course, and there were significant relationships between time management, self efficacy, and academic performance in both course formats.