Build it and they will come : maintaining students access to fabrication and testing during a pandemic

The Civil Engineering curriculum at Sheffield University offers students the opportunity to work in groups to design, build and test models. This fulfils vital learning outcomes including interpreting a project brief, production, design, and teamwork, which are accreditation requirements. The onset of the pandemic restricted the amount of face-to-face teaching. While mature streaming software allows lectures or seminars to take place remotely, delivering design, build and test activities is more problematic. Presented here are methodologies to reconfigure teaching with restricted access to allow learning outcomes to be achieved while keeping students motivated. It focuses on examples within the course where structured teaching tasks are performed by large numbers of students. Traditional hands-on manufacturing and testing were replaced by “service” build and test schemes that hinged around the typical relationship between a designer (students) and a contractor. With the use of screens, PPE and careful communication, fabrication activities simulated an “assembly line” relay rather than the traditional “fixed-position assembly” allowing the activity to safely run face-to-face. Students were able to engage individually and in groups on these teaching methods to execute exciting and real projects, in a way that is scalable to large class sizes [1]. The reconfigured teaching is evaluated based on informal student feedback and academics’ self-reflection. We explore the advantages and drawbacks of these approaches and suggest elements to be retained when restrictions are lifted.