Impacts of COVID-19 on Transportation Engineering Education and Research

Abstract

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread in the United States forcing many universities to discourage in-person classes and research meetings. Many faculty members modified their modes of instruction and research activities. This research surveyed transportation faculty members across the United States that focused on the changes in their teaching and research practices, and the supports that were provided by the universities to address such difficulties. The survey was conducted between May 14 to June 12, 2020 via the Internet and collected responses from 92 transportation faculty members. The majority of the respondents rated their universities of being “supportive” to “very supportive” in online teaching and learning, and continuously “supportive” in research as before the COVID-19. Eighty-three percent of the respondents who taught undergraduate transportation courses switched from in-person lectures to online lectures. Majority of the respondents replied on technology to offer problem solving sessions, office hours, tests and examinations. However, only 22% of the faculty members taught online laboratory sessions. Majority of the faculty members faced restrictions on travel, field work and laboratory experiment that affected their research projects. Although the opinions on the outlook to secure new research projects was mixed, majority of the faculty members did not expect a significant change in their research performance. The faculty members reported, on average, an increase of 4.4 hours/week of time spent on teaching. This increase was partially offset by an average reduction of 2.5 hours/week in research and service. The end result was an average net increase of 1.9 hours/week of working time during COVID-19.