Factors influencing communication of virtual teams in times of pandemic: a case study in engineering education

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced most universities to shift from traditional face-to-face teaching to remote learning. This sudden transition has presented numerous challenges for institutions that were unaccustomed to remote work, particularly in the context of senior design projects in engineering. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the influencing factors and their relative importance in affecting team communication in senior design projects during remote work. The study used the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach to measure the level of importance of each factor using pairwise comparison in a structured questionnaire. The survey was distributed among group leaders of senior engineering design projects and faculty members who supervised these projects. The study identified five influencing factors: interaction and relations, trust, technology, time, and working environment. The pairwise comparison revealed that interaction and relations were the most important factor in influencing the communication process during remote work. Based on the identified influencing factors, strategies to improve the effectiveness and collaboration of remote meetings were established, providing a roadmap for universities to better prepare for future disruptions and maintain effective communication within student teams during remote work. Furthermore, these findings could have implications for other areas of higher education and the broader workplace.