Blended Learning in an Upper Year Engineering Course - The Relationship between Students’ Program Year, Interactions with Online Material, and Academic Performance

Oct 15, 2026

A comprehensive public university in Western Canada required a fourth-year risk and safety management course for engineering students, delivered as blended instruction after enrollment growth. Students took the course in different program years, leading instructors to observe differences in maturity and questions whether this affected online-material interactions. Research on upper-year blended engineering courses and mixed-experience cohorts is limited. This study analyzed about 2000 learners’ online interactions and performance across five course sections, finding more advanced students interacted less online, while greater online interaction predicted higher academic performance; instructional materials may need tailoring by program year.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Course context and motivation

Research gap

Study design and data

Key findings and implications

The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning | Volume 11 | Issue 3 | Article 3 | | --- | --- | | Winter 12-31-2020
Blended Learning in an Upper Year Engineering Course: The Relationship between Students’ Program Year, Interactions with Online Material, and Academic Performance
Ellen Watson
University of Alberta, [ellen.watson@ualberta.ca](ellen.watson@ualberta.ca)[ ](ellen.watson@ualberta.ca)[Luis F. Marin](Luis F. Marin)
University of Alberta, [luisfern@ualberta.ca](luisfern@ualberta.ca)[ ](luisfern@ualberta.ca)[Lisa N. White](Lisa N. White)
University of Alberta, [lisa.white@ualberta.ca](lisa.white@ualberta.ca)[ ](lisa.white@ualberta.ca)Renato Macciotta
University of Alberta, [macciott@ualberta.ca](macciott@ualberta.ca)[ ](macciott@ualberta.ca)[Lianne M. Lefsrud](Lianne M. Lefsrud)
University of Alberta, [lefsrud@ualberta.ca](lefsrud@ualberta.ca)
Follow this and additional works at: [https://www.cjsotl-rcacea.ca](https://www.cjsotl-rcacea.ca)
[https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2020.3.8270](https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2020.3.8270) | | Recommended Citation Watson, E., Marin, L. F., White, L. N., Macciotta, R., & Lefsrud, L. M. (2020) . Blended learning in an upper year engineering course: The relationship between students’ program year, interactions with online material, and academic performance. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 11(3). [https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2020.3.8270](https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2020.3.8270) Blended Learning in an Upper Year Engineering Course: The Relationship between Students’ Program Year, Interactions with Online Material, and Academic Performance Abstract At a comprehensive, public university in Western Canada, a fourth-year course in risk and safety management was recently made a requirement for all engineering students; depending on their program, students may take this course in their second, third, fourth, or fifth year of their program. Asa result of increasing class sizes, this course was shifted from traditional to blended instruction. Since blending and opening this course to students with varying years of undergraduate engineering experience, instructors noted a difference in students’ maturity (e.g., a change in quantity and quality of in-class discussion, questions, participation, student-teacher interactions, and problem solving capabilities) and questioned whether this impacted their interactions with online material. Research examining the impact of blended learning in Engineering has primarily focused on large first-year undergraduate courses; research about blended learning in upper-year engineering courses is sparse. Studies investigating courses with students of varying years of experience in the program are virtually non-existent. Therefore, to better understand students’ interactions with online material during blended learning as connected to years in their program, we examined the relationship between levels of interaction and performance of students by year in program. This study analyzed approximately 2000 students’ interactions with online material and performance across five sections of a riskmanagement course in engineering. We found that students who had completed more years of their program interacted less with online material than students earlier in their undergraduate careers. Academic performance, on the other hand, was higher for students who had interacted more with online material and slightly higher for students who had completed more years in their program. These results suggest that the delivery of instructional materials may need to be tailored to students’year in their program. Further implications and areas of future study are discussed. Dans une université polyvalente publique de l’Ouest du Canada, un cours de quatrième année sur lagestion des risques et de la sécurité a été récemment déclaré obligatoire pour les étudiants et

FAQs

Why was the engineering risk and safety course changed to blended instruction?

Rising class sizes led to a shift from traditional to blended instruction after the course became required for all engineering students.

How did students’ program year relate to their interactions with online material?

Students who had completed more years of their program interacted less with online material than students earlier in their undergraduate careers.

What relationship did the study find between online interactions and academic performance?

Academic performance was higher for students who interacted more with online material, and it was slightly higher for students who had completed more years in their program.

Oct 15, 2026

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