This paper reports the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on the practice and delivery of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering (GGE) education modules, including lectures, lab sessions, student assessments and research activities, based on the feedback from faculty members in 14 countries/regions around the world. Faculty members have since adopted a series of contingent measures to enhance teaching and learning experience during the pandemic, which includes facilitating active learning, exploring new teaching content related to public health, expanding e-learning resources, implementing more engaged and student-centred assessment and delivering high-impact integrated education and research. The key challenges that faculty members are facing appear to be how to maximise the flexibility of learning and meet physical distancing requirements without compromising learning outcomes, education equity and interpersonal interactions in the traditional face-to-face teaching. Despite the challenges imposed by the pandemic, this could also be a good opportunity for faculty members obliged to lecture, to rethink and revise the existing contents and approaches of professing GGE education. Three future opportunities namely, smart learning, flipped learning and interdisciplinary education, are identified. The changes could potentially provide students with a more resilient, engaged, interactive and technology-based learning environment.
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25 May 2021
Research Article|
May 07 2021
Geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering education during the pandemic Available to Purchase
Ning-Jun Jiang, PhD, MASCE
;
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
(corresponding author: jiangningjun@gmail.com)
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James L Hanson, PhD, PE;
James L Hanson, PhD, PE
Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
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Gabriele Della Vecchia, PhD;
Gabriele Della Vecchia, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
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Cheng Zhu, PhD, PE;
Cheng Zhu, PhD, PE
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA
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Yaolin Yi, PhD;
Yaolin Yi, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
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Dali N Arnepalli, PhD;
Dali N Arnepalli, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
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Benoit Courcelles, PhD;
Benoit Courcelles, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
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Jia He, PhD;
Jia He, PhD
Associate Professor
College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
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Suksun Horpibulsuk, PhD;
Suksun Horpibulsuk, PhD
Professor, Director
School of Civil Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
Center of Excellence in Innovation for Sustainable Infrastructure Development, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
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Menglim Hoy, PhD;
Menglim Hoy, PhD
Lecturer, Fellow
School of Civil Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
Center of Excellence in Innovation for Sustainable Infrastructure Development, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
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Akihiro Takahashi, DEng, PEJp;
Akihiro Takahashi, DEng, PEJp
Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
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Arul Arulrajah, PhD;
Arul Arulrajah, PhD
Professor
Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
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Chih-Ping Lin, PhD;
Chih-Ping Lin, PhD
Professor
Department of Civil Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
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Osama Dowoud, PhD;
Osama Dowoud, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering, Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey
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Zili Li, PhD;
Zili Li, PhD
Lecturer
Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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Zhiwei Gao, PhD;
Zhiwei Gao, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering
James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
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Toshiro Hata, DEng;
Toshiro Hata, DEng
Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
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Limin Zhang, PhD;
Limin Zhang, PhD
Chair Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
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Yan-Jun Du, PhD;
Yan-Jun Du, PhD
Professor
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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Venkata Siva Naga Sai Goli, MTech, SMASCE;
Venkata Siva Naga Sai Goli, MTech, SMASCE
Research Scholar
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
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Arif Mohammad, BE;
Arif Mohammad, BE
Research Scholar
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
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Prithvendra Singh, MTech, SMASCE;
Prithvendra Singh, MTech, SMASCE
Research Scholar
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
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Ganaraj Kuntikana, MTech;
Ganaraj Kuntikana, MTech
Research Scholar
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
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Devendra N Singh, PhD, FASCE, FICE, FNAE
Devendra N Singh, PhD, FASCE, FICE, FNAE
D. L. Shah Chair Professor for Innovation
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
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(corresponding author: jiangningjun@gmail.com)
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Received:
June 09 2020
Accepted:
March 16 2021
ICE Publishing: All rights reserved
2021
Environmental Geotechnics (2021) 8 (3): 233–243.
Article history
Received:
June 09 2020
Accepted:
March 16 2021
Citation
Jiang N, Hanson JL, Della Vecchia G, Zhu C, Yi Y, Arnepalli DN, Courcelles B, He J, Horpibulsuk S, Hoy M, Takahashi A, Arulrajah A, Lin C, Dowoud O, Li Z, Gao Z, Hata T, Zhang L, Du Y, Goli VSNS, Mohammad A, Singh P, Kuntikana G, Singh DN (2021), "Geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering education during the pandemic". Environmental Geotechnics, Vol. 8 No. 3 pp. 233–243, doi: https://doi.org/10.1680/jenge.20.00086
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