Lights! Camera! Action! Who would’ve thought a Soil Mechanics lab at Lethbridge College would be featured on the big screen? But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that’s the new way of conducting engineering technology classes because of limited in-person capacity.
Cameras are pointing at the equipment and it’s time to do a sound check. That is something you might expect to see on a movie set, but instead it’s just another day at the office for Lethbridge College Engineering Technologies instructors.
Back in his office Doug May, Civil Engineering Technology instructor, prepares his next lecture for the soil mechanics lab broadcast. He says that even though it is not an ideal situation, it’s the best that can be done for students.
“We’re pushing the data out to our viewers at home and then the lab gets submitted. So, it’s the best thing that we can do in I guess these circumstances,” said May.
For those not able to physically be present, the best next thing is to watch a live broadcast of the process taking place. Even though it doesn’t replace the hands-on experience, it provides students with the necessary visuals.
With three cameras in the lab stationed at scales and at the workbench where the students are doing their activities, the atmosphere has a Hollywood feel. While only four students, an instructor and lab assistant are allowed in-person, everyone else at home is watching a live stream “performance” of how to conduct various lab activities.
May says his lab assistant is basically the production manager, as she is in charge of cameras, making sure they are pointed towards the action. This requires her to constantly adjust camera angles and positions, as well as making sure the proper feed from each camera is set to be viewed on the screen for those at home.
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“I think that the college really stepped up to help us, because we asked for the cameras, we came up with an idea on how we could still deliver the content to the students, even though we were limited by the number of students that we could have in our lab. We asked for the equipment and within weeks we had the equipment in our labs,” said May.
Most of the engineering lab courses happen in the winter. Soil mechanics, concrete design and residential construction. “This was the real test for our program, getting through the winter,” added May.
Some students have had the opportunity to attend multiple lab sessions. Hassan Kubba is one of them and he says there is a big difference between being able to be part of the process in person and watching someone else do it on a screen.
“It’s definitely better to be hands-on, 100 per cent. However, due to Covid this is the best they can do and, in my opinion, they’re doing a pretty good job,” said Kubba.
Sometimes the process involves more than one student as well as the help of the instructor to be able to showcase the action properly for those watching at home. Since there is limited capacity for how many people can attend in-person labs, some courses had to be combined. And since parts of the curriculum overlap among the engineering technology programs, some labs are broadcasted to students in the Civil Engineering and Geomatics programs at the same time.
