PersPective PaPers Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences 2021, 26(1): 62–65 DOI: 10.24200/jams.vol26iss1pp62-65 Reveived 09 Sep 2020 Accepted 30 Nov 2020 Effect of COVID-19 pandemic situation on the teaching of Graduation Projects and Internship type courses in undergraduate degree programs Hemanatha P. W. Jayasuriya Hemantha P. W. Jayasuriya ( ) hemjay@squ.edu.om, Department of Soils, Water and Agricultural Engineering, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman Perspectives The COVID-19 pandemic has been denominat-ed as a public health crisis by the World Health Organization (WHO) (WHO COVID-19, 2019). Without discrimination, the virus has affected all coun- tries, developed and developing, including the span of different societal levels. The pandemic has had a mon- umental effect on the livelihood of people resulting in all gatherings being prohibited including the sectors pertaining to education. The effect on education at all levels has become one of the main concerns for academ- ic institutions at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. One positive is various new technological developments emerged with online or distance teaching, however there are significant components such as; laboratory practical’s, field work, field visits, projects, internships, and co-op type training coming under secondary and tertiary education that must not be compromised in order to avoid any detriment to the students education. The impediments due to the pandemic on tertiary edu- cation may have an adverse effect as some of the online teaching and evaluation techniques utilized are grossly violating the stipulated accreditation requirements in some college degree programs. Identification of effective teaching methods in light of the COVID-19 pandemic is in continuous discussion amongst academics and educational institutions. The uses of e-learning techniques and computer-based in- novations have largely answered some of the prevailing areas of concern (Hetsevich, 2017; Parashchenko, 2020; Rosel, 2020). However, there are obstacles to be met for أتثري حالة جائحة COVID-19 على تدريس مشاريع التخرج والتدريب امليداين يف برامج درجة البكالوريوس هيمانثا جاايسرياي Abstract. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted all aspects of social life all over the world. It has also significantly affected the global education system from primary to tertiary levels. The effect on college education has likely to be substantial, as some specializations and academic activities have undergone severe setbacks by virtue of the need for the presence of dy- namic, face to face student-teacher interactions to provide effective teaching delivery. This article pinpoints the evident setbacks from a quality assurance perspective, when considering selected components such as graduation projects, internships, laboratory and field work in certain degree programs. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, accreditation criteria, student learning outcomes, teaching delivery, graduation projects, internships املســتخلص:أثرت جائحــة COVID-19 ســلًبا علــى مجيــع جوانــب ومناحــي احليــاة االجتماعيــة يف مجيــع أحنــاء العــامل لــكل مــن البلــدان املتقدمــة والناميــة. كمــا أثــرت بشــكل كبــري علــى نظــام التعليــم العاملــي مــن املرحلــة االبتدائيــة إىل املراحــل اجلامعيــة املتقدمــة. ولقــد كان التأثــري علــى مرحلــة التعليــم اجلامعــي كبــريًا ، حيــث تعرضــت بعــض التخصصــات واألنشــطة األكادمييــة النتكاســات شــديدة بســبب احلاجــة إىل وجــود تفاعــل ديناميكــي وجهــاً لوجــه بــن الطــاب واحملاضريــن لتقــدمي تعليــم فعــال. حتــدد هــذه املقالــة النكســات الواضحــة مــن منظــور ضمــان اجلــودة مــن خــال اختيــار عناصــر للتقييــم مثــل مشــاريع التخــرج، والتدريــب امليــداين، والعمــل املخــربي وامليــداين لعــدد مــن الربامــج أالكادمييــة. الكلمات املفتاحية: جائحة كوفيد-19، معايري االعتماد، خمرجات التعليم، طرق التدريس، مشاريع التخرج، التدريب العملي. 63Perspective Papers Hemantha P. W. Jayasuriya courses with a specific nature that relies on active inter- actions to meet particular teaching objectives such as courses with projects, fieldwork and, laboratory compo- nents. In addition to that, the execution of internships widely used in engineering, science and technology ed- ucation at college level that needs hands-on experiences were notably affected. This article has taken a few examples to provide an overview of the challenges encountered due to the pandemic in the teaching delivery of capstone cours- es, graduation projects and the execution of internship programs embedded in the study plan of the Agricul- tural Engineering degree program at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. The course outlines of these courses are adhered to the ABET (Accreditation Board for Engi- neering and Technology) accreditation criteria and the teaching objectives, continuous and final assessments are aligned with ABET specified Student Learning Out- comes (SLOs). During the course teaching delivery in capstone-grad- uation projects, students are expected to engage with real-world, meaningful projects that are low-cost and use appropriate-technology. As a part of creative think- ing process with direct interactions by the instructor, the project topic identification is given as a prominent brain-storming task and follows an area of national or regional importance that is feasible for a small group of students to carry out. In capstone project type courses, students are required to select a project, design and de- velop, prototype fabrication, performance evaluation, and provide reports and oral presentations defending the outcomes of their project for assessment. Conse- quently, evaluations are based on the accomplishment of SLOs; such as the application of engineering principles, use of a creative thinking approach, and adoption of ap- propriate strategies and standard procedures for solving design problems, engagement in life-long learning, team work for interpretation and presentation of project out- comes are also of significance (ABET Criterion 3, 2019). Before this pandemic situation, student teaching eval- uations were on the high end (above 3.5/4.0) and with highly positive comments under open-ended questions, such as “satisfaction on achievements of making some- thing workable solving a identified problem”, “success due to teamwork and continuous instructor interac- tion” etc. Some of the prototypes developed by student groups won competitions (TRC/OCC Awards, 2019; Al Watan, 2019), and were submitted for patents and commercialization programs, and some extended for postgraduate research studies (Al-Hinai and Jayasuriya, 2020; Al-Hinai et al., 2019; Jayasuriya et al., 2018). Before COVID-19, the teaching delivery of these courses could be considered as high-impact teaching practice making it a captivating learning approach for students. However, under the influence of this pandemic, teaching delivery of these courses has become a serious challenge along with the need to satisfy the accreditation and quality as- surance requirements. Considering the importance of not delaying the graduation of students, alternative on- line teaching and assessment methods have been iden- tified by academic institutions and relevant authorities around the globe. Having stated the possibilities of online teaching with new technologies, there are components of teaching that cannot be compromised and compensated by this online approach, illustrating the harsh effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two such areas in undergraduate programs are Internships and Graduation Projects (shown in Fig- ure 1); both are considered essential components of any undergraduate curriculum. When it comes to the intern- ship component, undergraduate students are supposed to undergo training with career-guidance professionals at relevant work establishments where they are given status as trainee employees. Due to the pandemic, some institutions and programs have initiated online intern- ship programs; however, the success of these approaches will be program-specific or depend on the nature of the degree program, but would not be properly replicated. Similarly, for the Graduation Project component, undergraduate students individually, or in small groups should engage in realistic projects relevant to their field of study under the supervision of an academic or pro- fessional in the same specialization. These projects en- able them to accomplish some of the SLOs stipulated by the degree program objectives under the accreditation process. Such SLOs include the; application of scien- tific or engineering principles, a creative thinking ap- proach, the use of appropriate strategies and standard procedures for solving realistic problems, engagement in life-long learning, team work and brain-storming for acquiring solutions, and finally the successful in- terpretation and presentation of the project outcomes. The above-mentioned learning outcomes are specified as requirements by ABET (ABET Criterion 3, 2019). Project Based Learning (PBL) method (PBL, 2020) is currently one of the recommended approaches that facilitates online delivery of teaching and instructions for successful completion of specific project type tasks such as graduation projects to some extent. However, the projects of development and validation nature that fall under engineering and technology areas will not be completely successful without having the necessary student-teacher interactions and hands-on activities. Conclusion As the pandemic seems to continue for the present and until uncertain future, there are major challenges for the academics in these specific areas to find alternative active teaching delivery methods to overcome possible learn- ing deficiencies that may impact their graduates during the pandemic period. As a short-term alternative, de- grees can be awarded pending completion of such com- ponents once the cessation of the pandemic situation. 64 SQU Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, 2021, Volume 26, Issue 1 Effect of COVID-19 pandemic situation on the teaching of Graduation Projects and Internship type courses in undergraduate degree programs Unfortunately, an enormous level of uncertainty lies ahead due to uncontrollable fluctuations in COVID-19 infections with multiple waves appearing in some coun- tries. It is time for academic institutions and potential employers around the globe to create internationally acceptable guidelines on accreditation and quality as- surance standards for the graduates completing their degrees during the COVID-19 global pandemic. More- over, there is a dire need for innovating and developing new teaching delivery methods to mitigate abovemen- tioned deficiencies as long-term solutions, not only for COVID-19, but also for any future pandemic situation. References ABET Criterion 3. (2019). https://www.abet.org/accred- itation/accreditation-criteria/criteria-for-accredit- ing-engineering-programs-2019-2020/#GC3 Al-Hinai A, Jayasuriya H, Al-Adawi S, Al-Mahdouri A. (2019). Ergonomic Performance Evaluation of Date Stripping Process, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, SpringerBook Series (AISC), vol- ume 789, p. 74-84. Al-Hinai A, Jayasuriya, H. (2020). Development of a stripper machine for Al-Mabsili dates and evaluation of human interactions and performances, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, Springer Book Series (AISC), Volume 1018, p. 737-742. TRC/OCC Awards. (2019). Sawsan Al-Khanbashi won the best project idea in the first phase of the Inno- vation Room Award for a project “designing a dried lime pulp extraction machine” The Research Coun- cil and Oman Chamber of Commerce awards 2019, Oman TV, September 16, 2019. Al Watan. (2019). “Anfal Al Hamdani wins a project related to a dried lime extraction machine at Qa- tar foundation competition”, Al Watan Newspaper, Oman, November 11, 2019. Jayasuriya HPW, Al-Hinai, A, Al-Adawi S, Al-Mah- douri, A. (2018). Comparison of ergonomic perfor- mance evaluation in mechanized and traditional date stripping processes, ASABE Library paper No. 1800790, ASABE Annual International Meeting 2018 (doi:10.13031/aim.201800790.. Hetsevich I. (2017). 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