Student Perceptions of Instructional Delivery Methods Utilizing Various Teaching Modalities in an Integrated Lab Curriculum

This paper discusses students’ perspectives about the instructional delivery methods they preferred and found effective in four courses at a major university. Different teaching modalities were used, including asynchronous course delivery and a hybrid format which utilized synchronous virtual meetings for lectures and in-person face-to-face hands-on building activities. A survey was conducted, and results indicated that students both preferred and found most effective hands-on and lab activities over all other methods. The results of the student surveys are presented and discussed. The learning laboratories were designed to complement and enhance student learning in fundamentals, building information modeling, residential, and commercial construction courses, and provided opportunities for students to build and virtually design assemblies outside the classroom by applying knowledge first learned through reading and lecture. The laboratory exercises have been designed to reinforce course comprehension by combining them with additional instructional delivery methods allowing students to “learn by doing.” Each hands-on experiential exercise incorporated concepts learned in lecture (recorded or virtual); these exercises included hand drafting, virtual design, framing, exterior systems, door and window flashing and installation, and concrete. This information may assist educational programs that are interested in developing hand-on experiential laboratory exercises to enhance other course delivery methods.