Article Critique: Use of ICT in Engineering Education:

a Survey Report

Karl Llacuna

ICT 11/L: Computer Fundamentals and Programming

Professor Albert Delos Trinos

February 9, 2022
 Article Critique

Engineering students have been disrupted by this rampaging pandemic, but Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) gives solutions to cope with new learning opportunities. The

Use of ICT in Engineering Education: A Survey Report that investigates the usefulness of digital

technologies, shows that the ICT aids the problem and difficulties in engineering education

through teaching-learning activities like content creation, administrative, formative-summative

assessments, student’s performance tracking, training, knowledge management, and knowledge

organization. However, engineering education has been traditionally content-centered, hands-on,

and design-oriented (Journals, 2022). And so face to face interaction is necessary, especially

when undergoing laboratory subjects. From this survey report, we can develop more

advancements in ICT to meet the needs of engineering education to the online format, find new

solutions and approaches for the students to maintain their interest in the learning process

electronically, and for the teachers to be prepared to handle ICT.

This research paper of Lakshmi Dhandabani and Rajeev Sukumaran summarize how ICT is used,

and how it creates new learning opportunities both online and offline. The researchers used a

sample of 250 students from various departments of the engineering stream to investigate the

usefulness of digital technologies imparted into a blended learning model for engineering

education and generate e-surveys to know the student’s and teachers' perceptions in using ICT.

Thus, statistical analysis of the data obtained from the research indicates a significant increase in

terms of overall user satisfaction with the new system. Moreover, teaching-learning interaction

was more productive.

Engineering education has a success rate of execution when it is done physically. But things are

a lot different for engineering students since COVID-19 occurs. When engineers think back to

their

ARTICLE CRITIQUE

university days, most will remember lab experiments, group work, and, of course, student

nightlife and extra-curricular activities (E&T, 2022). And in order for engineering education to

adjust to this new learning system, the use of ICT is essential. As shown in the introduction of

this study, recent advancements in ICT played a vital role in modeling the educational system

amidst of pandemic. Since we are in the 21st century wherein web and mobile-based technology

are increasingly inclined to students, ICT-based learning systems are easy to absorb. For

instance, the MOODLE that has been mentioned in this study is one of the most commonly used

learning systems. Additionally, MOODLE has a set of features that facilitates optimization of

services, such as user management, course management, online editing, data storage, and access

to visual analytics, academic tracking, accountability, session participation, attendance, mark

assessments, tutorials, project evaluation, collaborative study, blogs, and forums. With this

survey report that determines the effectiveness of this kind of learning system (MOODLE) to the

students, therefore, we can distinguish the advancement we need in order to meet the needs of

students. For instance, if this system is hard to access then we need to develop it into more user-

friendly.

Studying online brings a lot of disadvantages especially to engineering students. For instance,

students in online courses were less likely to complete and were likely to receive lower grades.

"Students' average persistence rate across courses was 94.12 percent, with a noticeable gap

between online courses (91.19 percent) and face-to-face courses (94.45 percent) (HECQO,
2022). This only shows that the rate of productivity of students has drastically decreased with e-

learning. Moreover, less productivity of the students tells us that their interest in learning is

slowly fading. With this in mind, researchers of this study nailed to gather data that will give

solutions to this problem. There were 250 student respondents who took part in this survey which

indicates a high

ARTICLE CRITIQUE

level of student satisfaction in the various parameters of inclusive education. This means that the

research effectiveness of the experimental infrastructure that was deployed for the purpose of

creating and maintaining students’ interest and curiosity in the learning process, enhancing their

assimilative capabilities, and kindling the creative fire in their minds had succeeded. And

without being said, this experimental infrastructure which regards to the use of ICT in

engineering students can give solutions to the decreasing rate of productivity.

Aside from students, teachers are also affected by this new learning setup. It should be noted that

there are teachers, especially the old ones who practiced teaching without technology. Thus, this

could bring a lot of errors in the teaching process and gathering of students' records. For teachers

to be prepared in handling ICT, this survey report gathers data to know their perceptions of using

ICT. There were 96 teacher respondents took part in this survey. The teachers’ responses indicate

a high level of satisfaction towards inclusive education, but they displayed the lowest count (95)

that shows anxiety towards the preparatory component ‘Challenging Work Environment’. This

survey result is upstanding for it shows what ICT needs to develop to meet the needs of teachers

in teaching online. Additionally, when this needs are provided, teachers can achieve their

willingness to learn new teaching techniques and employ more innovative and creative
approaches in teaching engineering subjects that aroused the students’ curiosity and then retained

their attention and focus on the subject.

This research paper provides well-written information about the use of ICT in engineering

students and provides data that will determine and investigate the effectiveness of digital

technologies imparted into blended learning. The disadvantages of this new learning setup

experience by both teachers and students by the means unproductiveness and unpreparedness can

attain solutions in

ARTICLE CRITIQUE

the future developments of ICT with this survey report. Moreover, students' and teachers’

perceptions which regard the experimental infrastructure will help to develop an advancement in

ICT, thus, will meet the needs of engineering education to the online format. This kind of

research paper is essential nowadays, for us to know the important use of ICT in engineering

education and what actions and approaches we need to implement to cope with this blended

learning.
ARTICLE CRITIQUE

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Munoyenda A and Whitefield R, “Moodle Versus eClass for Macau Schools”, Learning and

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Url: https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2020/08/how-the-pandemic-might-change-

engineering-education-forever/

Url: https://heqco.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/How_Online_Learning_Affects_Productivity-

ENG.pdf