Evolving professional development in nuclear reactor physics and safety through hybrid learning environments

Paper in proceeding, 2023

Nuclear education providers have difficulties sustaining their programs that typically consist of small cohorts of students and tend to follow a traditional, lecture-based design. This paper presents the GRE@T-PIONEeR project as a response aiming to preserve competencies and skills in computational and experimental nuclear reactor physics and nuclear safety through the implementation of six advanced courses offered globally to PhD and Post-Doc students, nuclear professionals, and MSc students. The courses employ a flipped classroom approach within a hybrid learning environment, complemented by three hands-on training sessions on nuclear training reactors. The courses were evaluated using validated survey instruments associated with various learning-theoretical frameworks. The paper presents preliminary findings derived from one of the courses comprising asynchronous online and synchronous hybrid sessions. While course completion and performance were high both among onsite and online students, some notable distinctions between the two groups emerge. Future research will explore these differences further.