Closing the Gap Between Modern Technology and the College Engineering Classroom

The last 20 years were dominated by technological advances, but many modern classrooms are run the same as they were in the 1990s. An overarching goal of educational institutions is to maximize the quantity, quality, and accessibility of education for their students. There is currently a gap between the technologies available and the ways they are implemented to improve education accessibility. This “tech-lag” is an opportunity and necessity for colleges everywhere to close the gap and create classrooms with diverse access points to learning. From virtual reality classrooms to increased mobile accessibility to independent learning modules, there is a wealth of potential for educational breakthroughs. This research aggregates information from studies regarding the implementation of technology in engineering classrooms and identifies the most promising ideas, technologies, and techniques. This research provides insight into best practices for implementing technologies to improve the education of engineering students. This research provides recommendations to adopt non-traditional teaching methods into action. Educational tools and techniques are evaluated on the basis of: Adoption and Assimilation, Access, Community, Intellectual Presence, Student Perception, and Development of Social and Professional Skills. Finally, this research highlights best practices with descriptions of the technologies and techniques that were found most promising