2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Class scheduling is a critical factor to consider in higher education. The time a class is offered impacts many aspects of the learning environment, including student engagement, performance in the course, and student evaluations. Understanding the effects of class time on engineering courses could be a key factor in improving student outcomes. This study explores the impact of class start times on student engagement, feedback, and academic performance in two second-year engineering courses.
This study includes data from multiple semesters of each course during which the courses have been offered at varying times between 8:30 am and 1:55 pm. The course content and structure have remained consistent across the semesters. Department logistics determined the scheduling variations and created an opportunity to analyze the relationship between class start time and student outcomes. This project will address three research questions:
1. How does an earlier class start time affect student engagement compared to later start times?
2. How does the class start time influence student feedback, as documented through course evaluations?
3. Is there a difference in student academic performance when considering the time the course is offered?
A comparative analysis will be used to analyze data from two engineering courses: Civil engineering design and mechanics courses. The data includes attendance records, student participation measures, academic performance (like final grades), and course evaluations collected across multiple semesters. A correlation will be performed to determine the relationship between class start times and student engagement, participation, and academic outcomes.
Through this analysis, the study aims to identify how class start times affect student behavior and performance in engineering courses. The findings of this study can inform classroom design based on the time a class is offered, and they have the potential to inform scheduling decisions that can improve student engagement and learning outcomes.