Enhancing Student Engagement through Cloud Computing Coursework: Challenges and Opportunities in the time of COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities world-wide to adjust to an online delivery model resulting in many unforeseen challenges for module delivery and student engagement. The Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) Cloud Platform Development (CPD) final year undergraduate module requires hands-on lab work and coursework, and thus call for more deliberation and interventions to maintain student engagement. The module teaching material created at GCU is also taught at the African Leadership College (ALC), Mauritius using a flipped classroom model. However, for the current academic year, the ALC campus was closed, with the enrolled students spread over many countries and time zones in Africa, resulting in a compounding of the challenges for maintaining student engagement. In this study we describe the approaches and techniques employed at increasing the students’ engagement for the CPD coursework.