“Never Met Them in Person, But We Help Each Other”: Black Women’s Experiences in Online Undergraduate Engineering Programs

Abstract

In this empirical analysis, we provide a qualitative investigation of online learning among Black women engineering majors at one institution. Two research questions guide this analysis: (1) How do Black women describe their online program learning experiences? and (2) how do participants describe their interactions with other students and faculty in their online programs? We used an exploratory, qualitative case study research design to collect data for this project and we were guided by Harasim’s online collaborative learning framework. After conducting multiple rounds of qualitative coding, authors arrived at four major themes in response to these research questions. These themes were that participants: (1) experienced isolation, (2) witnessed varying impacts of COVID-19, (3) observed benefits and limitations of flexibility of online programs, and (4) engaged in virtual connection-building. We conclude our piece by discussing implications for faculty development and course designers. Key words: Black women, COVID-19, engineering, flexibility, online learning