2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Balancing professional responsibilities and academic demands makes it difficult for working students to fully engage in traditional physics courses, particularly in rigorous subjects such as electricity and magnetism. This study explores the perceptions, expectations, and experiences of nontraditional students enrolled in a quarterly online electricity and magnetism course in an engineering program at a private university in Chile. Using a qualitative approach with semi-structured focus groups, this research identifies key factors influencing student engagement, including prior training, the balance between theory and practice, content depth, and the teaching modality. The findings reveal that while students value the flexibility of the online format and the emphasis on analytical skills, they face challenges related to the compressed course schedule and limited synchronous interaction. Students expressed a strong preference for practical, work-related applications of theoretical concepts and emphasized the value of adaptive support resources and hybrid learning models. The study underscores the importance of aligning course design with the realities of working students, integrating active learning strategies, and leveraging innovative teaching modalities to enhance accessibility, engagement, and academic outcomes in STEM education.