Synchronous Online Army Educational Research Program for High School Students

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought chaos on education systems worldwide, affecting several billion students all over the world. This had far-reaching consequences in every part of our life. Traditional educational techniques have been considerably disrupted because of social alienation and restricting mobility policies. Innovation, implementation of alternative educational systems and evaluation methodologies are in demand. The COVID-19 outbreak has given us a chance to lay the groundwork for digital learning. The Army Educational Research Program (AEOP) is a summer internship program that allows students to do research in a real laboratory environment with the help of a professional STEM mentor and researcher. For the past 12 years, this program has been delivered as an in-person apprenticeship at Texas Tech University (TTU). Face-to-face apprenticeships were canceled and shifted online because of the pandemic, resulting in the emergence of online learning, which has allowed learners to complete their study. Students, instructors, administrators, and education leaders faced several issues because of the abrupt shift from face-to-face to online learning. This article aims to provide a comprehensive assessment on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the transition of the AEOP program from face-to-face to an online teaching mode at TTU.