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Objective/Research Question: There is a growing demand for skilled workers in engineering and technology fields. However, the number of engineering technology degrees awarded is much less compared to engineering, and a high percentage of students in engineering technology do not persist beyond the first year. To meet the demands for skilled workers, it is important to understand the experiences of engineering technology students to identify factors that contribute to their matriculation and persistence. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the research that exists on the academic and personal experiences of engineering technology and welding technology students. The research questions guiding this study are: (a) what are the academic and personal experiences of engineering technology and welding technology students at 2- and 4-year institutions? and (b) what are students' experiences with persisting in engineering technology? Methods: Using our research questions and predetermined inclusion criteria, we performed a literature review of relevant articles retrieved from Scopus and ERIC ProQuest databases. Results: We identify three areas of opportunities for future research examination: (a) experiences of students of marginalized populations in engineering technology, (b) how to leverage career and technical education and 2-year engineering technology programs to support matriculation, and (c) ways to address the negative stigma associated with engineering technology programs. Conclusions/Contributions: To meet the demands of the nation's economy and future workforce, it is important to further examine the experiences of engineering technology students.

Background: Training both pre - and in-service teachers who are capable of planning and enacting engineering design-based science instruction are critical for integrating engineering into K-12 science curricula. Purpose: This study investigates pre-service teachers' efforts to integrate engineering into their lesson plans. Sample: 13 pre-service chemistry teachers, enrolled in a 13-week engineering-infused integrated STEM course, were the participants of the study. Design and Method: Considering the purpose of the study, qualitative design was deemed to be the best fit including qualitative data collected through lesson plans and reflection papers. To assist pre-service teachers' learning, 13-week engineering-infused integrated STEM was started with the information about the engineering profession and how engineers work. Additionally, pre-service teachers engaged in six integrated STEM activities including engineering design cycle. After each activity, the participants were asked to write a reflection paper on what they learned about engineering, the engineering design process, and integrated STEM. Finally, the participants had three chances for analyzing strong and weak integrated STEM lesson plans and planning integrated STEM lesson planning experience with mentors. The pre-and post-course lesson plans (n=26) were analyzed using existing codes from the related literature, which is a deductive coding process. Later, an inductive approach was used to determine the categories of engineering integration into the lesson plans. Four categories (ranging from a complete engineering lesson to a science lesson with no engineering link) were formed. Reflection papers were used to support the findings. Result: The results showed that none of the pre-plans included engineering. However, after participated in a 13-week integrated STEM course, all post-course lesson plans integrated engineering through the use of engineering design processes to some extent. Conclusion: The training with different experiences seems promising for pre-service teachers to learn engineering integration into STEM lesson plans.

In many mechanical engineering undergraduate curriculums, there are topics that are vital to the students' future careers in the manufacturing and design workforce that are not taught in-depth. As one of those topics, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing, or GD&T, is vital to companies who develop and manufacture products because it allows one to communicate with other team members in order to produce and inspect manufactured parts. GD&T is filled with intricate concepts that are hard to grasp without repetition and practice. An active learning intervention was developed and deployed in a mechanical engineering undergraduate class at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The active learning interventions were developed to assist students in learning basic manual inspection methods and communicating through a part drawing. The goal was for the students to obtain a foundational, hands-on understanding of GD&T and implement their learnings onto a part drawing and inspection plan. The results of this intervention were based on a Knowledge Assessment, self-reported Self-Efficacy Survey, and an Exit Survey. These assessments revealed that the GD&T intervention had a significant impact on the students' knowledgebase of the topic and their ability to perform identification and inspection tasks used in the workforce. This paper discusses the intervention structure and its potential applications for engineering education in the workforce.

First-generation college students (FGCS) in engineering bring a wealth of knowledge to their academic and social experiences in higher education, in contrast to deficit-based narratives that students are underprepared. By listening to FGCS' own experiences navigating higher education and using information literacy in their project-based work, librarians and educators can better understand students' funds of knowledge, social capital, and identities, as well as the institutional barriers that must be removed. This paper shares interview findings with (n = 11) FGCS and suggests implications for professional practice that are relevant to information literacy for design, project-based, or practitioner focused disciplines.

Background: The experiences of students and professionals with disabilities are routinely excluded from scholarly and policy debates about equity in engineering. Emergent research suggests that engineering is particularly ableist, yet systematic accounts of the possible exclusion and devaluation faced by engineers with disabilities are largely missing. Purpose/Hypothesis: This paper asks, do engineers with disabilities have more negative interpersonal experiences in engineering classrooms and workplaces than those without disabilities? Utilizing a social relational model of disability, I hypothesize that engineers with physical disabilities and chronic and mental illness are more likely to experience exclusion and professional devaluation than their peers and, partly as a result, have lower persistence intentions. Data/Methods: The paper uses survey data from 1729 students enrolled in eight US engineering programs (American Society for Engineering Education Diversity and Inclusion Survey) and 8321 US-employed engineers (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Inclusion Study Survey). Analyses use regression, mediation, and intersectional approaches. Results: Consistent with expectations, engineering students and professionals with disabilities are less likely than their peers to experience "social inclusion" and "professional respect" at school and work. Students with disabilities are more likely to "intend to leave their engineering programs" and professionals with disabilities are more likely to have "thought about leaving their engineering jobs" compared to peers, and their greater risks of encountering interpersonal bias help account for these differences. Analyses also reveal intersectional variation by gender and race/ethnicity. Conclusion: These results suggest that engineering harbors widespread ableism across education and work. The findings demand more scholarly attention to the social, cultural, and physical barriers that block people with disabilities from full and equal participation in engineering.

Using administrative data from nearly 270,000 transfer-intending students who began at 70 community colleges across three state systems, this paper seeks to identify a set of metrics that will be useful to community college leaders as they formatively assess their colleges' efforts to improve STEM transfer outcomes. We find that a relatively simple set of STEM momentum metrics--notably Calculus and other non-math science and engineering coursework specified on statewide STEM transfer pathways, and to a lesser degree the pre-requisites to these types of courses--are reliable indicators of subsequent STEM transfer success across a wide-ranging set of state and institutional contexts, as well as across race/ethnicity and gender. However, community colleges have relatively low rates of completion of these key STEM courses, and disparities in completion of these courses by race/ethnicity and gender are common.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated environment with noteworthy didactic applications in different educational levels and areas of knowledge. The study of the perceptions of the agents involved about the use of VR in lectures is a fruitful line of research because it has implications in terms of the measures to be taken to improve the training and competence of professors in its use. In this paper, a quantitative, descriptive, and correlational research is carried out on the assessments of a sample of 1638 Latin American university professors on both (i) the didactic use of VR and (ii) the influence of the professors' area of knowledge on these assessments. For this purpose, a validated questionnaire was used, the responses to which were subjected to statistical analysis. As a result, it was found that the ratings of VR are very high, but professors believe that their digital skills for its use are insufficient. In addition, the professors' area of knowledge significantly influences their ratings, being higher in the areas of knowledge in which professors have a better self-concept of their digital skills. Furthermore, gender gaps have also been identified in the answers given, which behave differently according to the area of knowledge. Finally, some conclusions, implications, and recommendations are drawn from the results obtained.

Using critical race methodology as a methodological framework, this paper explores how 16 Black men PhD scientists and engineers describe their undergraduate and graduate school choices and how race and racism influenced these processes. Our analysis yielded two descriptive themes focused on counterspaces for Black men in science and engineering (S&E). Implications for higher education researchers and practitioners, and S&E faculty interested in supporting the persistence of Black men pursuing and completing S&E postsecondary degrees are offered within. This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the connections between racism, counterspaces, and undergraduate and graduate choices of Black men pursuing S&E.

Sentiment analysis (SA) is widespread across all fields and has become one of the most active topics in education research, and there is a growing body of papers published. So far, however, there has been little discussion about comprehensive literature reviews in SA in education. Therefore, this study aims to review the high-qualified scientific literature of SA in education and reveals the future research prospects of SA based on the reviewed papers. After systematically searching five online bibliographic databases, 41 relevant articles were located and included in the study. Results show that most studies focus on higher education, and more studies adopt smaller datasets. SA is actively employed in the learning domain of engineering and technology, and teachers/educators are the primary stakeholders considered of studies. Further, utilizing hybrid approaches for SA research is predominant, more studies have refined the granularity of sentiment categories in education. Finally, four major SA research topics, including designing SA methods/systems, investigating learners' satisfaction/attitude/concerned topics, evaluating teachers' teaching performance as well as examining the relationship among sentiment, behavior, performance, and achievement, were identified and discussed deeply. Accordingly, several implications and research issues for SA in education research are provided.

Virtual Reality (VR) provides an immersive and engaging experience that facilitates the teaching and learning of abstract concepts. This paper describes the design and implementation of the VR 360° (VR360) component of the Virtual and Augmented Reality for Structures (VARS) mobile application. This study used VARS to teach basic structural systems to 109 project and facilities management undergraduates. Based on a questionnaire survey, most students agreed that VARS VR360 helped them achieve learning outcomes. Furthermore, the study found that physics background and cybersickness did not influence the perceived effectiveness of the application, but authentic context and immersiveness are important design elements. The contributions of this paper are threefold: (1) the development of a VR360 mobile application for teaching basic structural systems concepts to non-engineering students; (2) the demonstration of how VR360 can be an effective medium for improving the teaching of structural systems to non-engineering students; (3) the identification of critical design elements and factors that influence the perceived effectiveness of VR360 educational technology.

This paper reflects on the work-integrated learning (WIL) program in an undergraduate Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) department in Indonesia. Given the industrial revolution that has transformed the construction industry into Construction 4.0, concrete steps are needed to bridge the needs of industry for professional workers who are aware of Construction 4.0 concepts. This study aims to develop a WIL model adjusting to Construction 4.0 concepts. A case study of the internship experience that has been conducted for four consecutive years was used to develop the model. This observation was reinforced by a questionnaire survey aimed at students, workplace supervisors and lecturers to evaluate the effectiveness of the internship program in achieving the learning outcomes. The results of this analysis coupled with the findings from the integrative literature review were used to develop a Construction 4.0 WIL model.

Engineering has been considered as a useful context for successful implementation of STEM education. However, teachers have limited opportunities to develop a sound understanding about engineers and engineering, which is necessary for developing students' engineering practices and design skills. In this case study, the main purpose wasto examine 18 preservice science teachers' initial and final views about engineers and engineering in an undergraduate engineering-focused STEM course. Before and after an eight-week implementation including three engineering design activities, data were collected by the adapted version of Views on the Nature of Engineering Questionnaire and reflection papers. Findings revealed four categories: (1) views about engineers and engineering, (2) views about engineering design process, (3) views about the factors that affect engineering, and (4) views about science versus engineering. Based on the codes a scoring rubric was developed to categorize PSTs' views as uninformed, partially informed, and informed. Results showed that PSTs' views become more informed in each category. However, their views were still found as partially informed in some of the categories which shows the need for more emphasis on future research. The changes in their views were discussed with possible reasons and recommendations were provided for further studies.

The paper examines the attractiveness of graduates from Indian Polytechnics (PTs). The attractiveness is examined from the perspective of actors who have a demand for the graduates, namely companies and engineering colleges. To understand the reasons for their assessment of attractiveness, this study uses the concept of institutional logics (ILs) to unveil the inherent reasons behind the stakeholders' perception of attractiveness. To understand the stakeholders' ILs, interviews were undertaken in nine companies and 10 colleges in Mumbai and Delhi. The findings make clear that the companies' and colleges' assessments of the attractiveness of PT graduates are very different, reflecting their own ILs. Companies assess the attractiveness as limited due to the lack of employability of PT graduates. In contrast, colleges view graduates far more positively, as the weaknesses described by companies have less of an impact on them.

Many universities throughout the world apply student-centered approaches. Common to these is that projects, problems, challenges etc. stem from "real life". Mathematics is an effective tool to solve problems, but in this paper, we discuss how we reconcile the fact that mathematics is both a pure and an applied discipline with problem-based learning (PBL) which builds on such authentic real-life problems. How can the learning of pure mathematics benefit from these education approaches? We present a taxonomy to classify types of problems encountered discussing the notion of the problem context -- it can be internal or external to mathematics, or both.

This paper argues that reading English Medium Instruction (EMI) as a performative technology of acceleration in the highly competitive conditions of today's global higher education (HE) contexts is one way to gain insights into present-day realities of EMI orientations, experiences, and practices. In so doing, it examines the interplay of EMI, HE, and Tomlinson's [2007. "The Culture of Speed: The Coming of Immediacy." London: Sage] three cultural narratives of speed. A Saudi HE institution, Sroor University (SU; a pseudonym), is used as a case example study to explore how the cultural narratives of speed have been experienced by language teachers, administrators, and engineering faculty members. The findings of this interview-led study show that a sense of urgency, active control, and an overwhelming tendency to direct all its educational efforts towards the needs of industry is prevalent in the operations of the university. It was also found that the culture of speed has brought about excitement, pleasure, pains, and risk to the academics in their everyday EMI practices. It concludes that reading these complex constellations of experiences through temporal perspectives allows us to capture not only the effects of the culture of speed but also how unequal power relations are played out among social actors within and across individual contexts.

Universities employ numerous approaches to integrate ethics into programs of study that can range from faculty-led case studies integrated into course curricula (distributed model) to standalone ethics courses (consolidated model). The approach described here enhanced a distributed model in which several courses are assigned responsibility to integrate an ethical component into the assignments capped with an integrative experience. We created a problem-solving studio (PSS) environment wherein an ill-defined current case study was presented to the students and the program's board of advisors (BOA). The students role-played as staff engineers (early-career employees with less than three years of experience), and BOA members provided the perspective of specific stakeholders relevant to the case study (e.g., state or federal regulator, principal engineer in a consulting firm, civic leader, etc.). Both groups were provided with the same preparatory materials. Small groups (student--BOA dyads) were established to review the current state and context of the problem, investigate specified or potential ethical considerations, and propose strategies to prevent or address the ethical dilemmas identified. The session was structured around three rounds of discussion (12-15 min) to explore the problem through the ethical considerations of "willful negligence" and "acts of omission." The session ended as a large group, and each BOA member would share one ethical consideration from their career that was evoked during this case study. Students would then submit a short paper to provide their insights into the case study (results of the dyad interactions) and how the event expanded their understanding of the ethical considerations. The ethics PSS provided an opportunity for increased interaction between students and "experienced mentors" equally valued by each group. Assessments revealed that the experience positively contributed to student confidence in meeting course objectives and integrating different perspectives into their development.

When the ethical responsibilities of engineers are discussed in classrooms, the focus is usually on microethics, which concentrates on individual decision-making, rather than macroethics, that addresses broad societal concerns. Pandemics (e.g., COVID-19) and natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, derechos) have presented unique opportunities to observe engineering macroethical responsibilities, because unjust social, economic, and environmental systems have been brought to the forefront amidst the responses (e.g., inequitable transportation access). In this paper, we consider pandemics and natural disasters through the lens of engineering macroethics, aiming to understand students' perceptions about the macroethical responsibilities of engineers. In the fall of 2020, we deployed a survey to undergraduate engineering students at two universities (n=424). Students were asked to discuss what they perceived to be the role of engineering professionals in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. We used a qualitative content analysis to explore the macroethical responsibilities mentioned in students' responses. Many of these responses include considerations of infrastructure resilience, resource distribution, and community equity. Logit models were used to identify which sociodemographic factors were associated with responses that included macroethical responsibilities, revealing engineering major (specifically, civil engineering), employment status, gender identity, and family size, among others as significant factors. The implications from this study include recommendations on curricular content, and identifying which student sociodemographic groups would especially benefit from macroethical content in coursework.

It is well documented that engineering practice is as much social as it is technical. Providing accurate course mapping and supporting teaching staff to scaffold engineering practice learning through whole of programme curriculum are key challenges. This study proposes a conceptual framework for engineering professional practice in an Australian context that is constructed through the triangulation of data collected from practitioner perspectives, literature, and reflection upon both authors' industry experiences. This employability skill development framework describes six key themes as graduate-level learning outcomes aligned to Australian accreditation requirements in a format that readily supports explicit inclusion of engineering professional practice in curriculum design. These key themes are illustrated along a continuum of personal, interpersonal, and contextual competencies and attitudes to communicate the interrelated nature of engineering employability skills. While this paper does not attempt to propose a universal framework, its potential broader relevance, future refinement, and evaluation are discussed.

This paper explores the associations between math-gender stereotypes and two dimensions of student engagement -- class engagement and disengagement -- among Russian engineering students. The data collected in three Russian universities (n = 2,074) were utilised. Structural equation modelling was employed to test hypotheses about relationships between key variables and their variations for male and female subsamples. We revealed that the students' attribution of math-gender stereotypes to faculty slightly decreased class engagement and increased disengagement for both male and female students. Therefore, we hypothesise that male students can be more overconfident about their future performance in exams on math-related subjects because of a better reputation in the eyes of instructors, which can result in less engagement and, as a consequence, lower academic outcomes. These findings demonstrate the high importance of faculty in encouraging engineering student engagement and providing a bias-free learning environment.

Interdisciplinarity has become one of the catchwords in current higher education and science policies, with the underlying rationale being that scientific breakthroughs and solutions to today's global challenges require collaboration across scientific fields. However, several empirical studies have shown that interdisciplinary promises are not necessarily realised in research practices, due to manifold cognitive, epistemic, cultural and organisational barriers. Drawing on interviews with women academics working in health technology in Finland, this paper traces subtle obstacles, hidden power relations and invisible hierarchies in interdisciplinary research work. A special emphasis is placed on understanding intersections of gender and interdisciplinarity, pointing to gendered implications of the current policy rhetoric of interdisciplinarity.

This paper describes the founding principles upon which historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) are built and examines their role in the high-tech economy. It examines and discusses the diversity issues that have led many to posit that HBCUs should embrace computing, informatics, and engineering as focal areas, and partner with Silicon Valley tech companies to ensure their graduates have the skills necessary for gainful employment. The Howard-West partnership of Howard University (an HBCU) with Google LLC and an enterprise architecture framework are presented as conceptual examples of how colleges and universities such as Howard University, can work together and with industry to introduce students to computing, regardless of major, to prepare them for the modern workforce. A conceptual framework is presented, guided by the outcomes of the social cognitive career theory. The theoretical orientation of this proposed work focuses on the intersection between individual, environmental, and behavioral attributes, and describes formative and summative evaluation criteria in support of the research and educational goals. HBCUs can be better served by prioritizing the very areas in which they are currently "overproducing" graduates--computing, informatics, and engineering. The proposed model can be adopted, modified, and integrated by HBCUs, and other universities and colleges, that suffer from a lack of disciplinary integration in their computing programs. The potential outcome of the work would be to attract and retain students to computing majors, which could have an impact on the technology workforce.

This paper describes a grassroots outreach program at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), organized by women chemists and chemical engineers, for women studying chemistry and chemical engineering. This effort supports the company's belief that excellence in creativity and innovation is enhanced when its scientists and engineers bring diverse experiences and backgrounds to the teams inventing and developing novel medicines. The in-person event includes seminars, poster sessions, lab tours, a networking lunch, and a discussion panel for students from local colleges and universities. These events were designed to expose students to potential careers in the pharmaceutical industry. We present data from 275 survey respondents out of the 354 participants from the past 7 years. The survey results were overwhelmingly positive and showed that the events were particularly impactful in (1) increasing an understanding of what chemists or chemical engineers do in the pharmaceutical industry, (2) presenting a broader view of academic options, (3) building higher confidence in the students' choice of major, and (4) fostering a sense of belonging and pride to be a woman in a STEM field. These events enhanced the company's ability to attract and hire top talent, while engaging current employees as role models for the next generation of women in STEM. We believe the program is an excellent model for other companies, industries, and professional societies to attract talented students from underrepresented groups to STEM fields.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether there is an adjustment between the Portuguese higher education supply and the needs of the labour market. Design/methodology/approach: An empirical study is performed, using a quantitative approach, relating the job offers for graduates registered at the employment centres and the number of graduates by higher education institutions (HEIs) in Portugal, at an aggregate level and NUT II regions, by areas of education and training, over the 2003-2018 period. To understand how job offers and graduates are correlated, bilateral Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated. Findings: The results show that, in large groups of educational areas, exists a match between the higher education supply and the labour market needs, with an emphasis on the fields of "social sciences, business and law", "engineering, manufacturing and construction" and "health and welfare". However, at a more disaggregated level, a mismatch in the sub-areas of "teacher training and education science" and "computing" was found since labour market needs are much greater than graduates by HEIs and the two variables are moving in opposite directions. Practical implications: The study has revealed important aspects that the educational policy should take into account in order to create the conditions for a gradual adjustment to the labour market needs. Also, the results demonstrate that some measures should be taken in short/medium term to avoid problems in the medium/long term. Originality/value: One implication of this empirical study was the elaboration of a correspondence table to standardise the data analysis units from two different sources. As this correspondence did not exist prior to this study, this output is a relevant contribution to the research field. Another important contribution is the demonstration of a mismatch in some educational sub-areas that deserves special attention from educational policymakers.

Solving ill-structured problems is a complex task that is required of engineers who work in industry. To better prepare undergraduate engineering students for this complex task and their future professional careers, this paper provides an analysis of the results of research focusing on the study of problem-solving processes adopted by civil engineering students, faculty members, and practicing engineers. This exploratory work presents findings concerning the way in which 16 participants solved an ill-structured engineering problem and examines similarities and differences between the participants in terms of their problem-solving processes. This study was guided by the following research question: What specifically are the problem-solving processes of (1) students, (2) faculty, and (3) practicing engineers, and what are the similarities and differences between them when solving an ill-structured problem? In order to answer this research question, verbal protocol analysis was used. Participants were asked to think aloud as they formulated potential solutions to the proposed problem. Our findings indicate some distinct differences between students, professors, and practicing engineers in their problem-solving processes. Faculty were found to double-check their solutions and make assumptions more than students and practicing engineers, while students were found to express their feelings more and use analogies and outside knowledge less than faculty and practicing engineers. These differences between students, faculty, and practicing engineers suggest that engineering curriculum and instruction should supplement well-structured problems with ill-structured problems in engineering classrooms in order to help students become familiar with multiple problem-solving approaches available to them and better understand the connection between the workplace and the classroom.

Purpose: The purpose of our research is to show the point of view of the members of the Board concerning advantages, disadvantages and effectiveness of open ended questions used as a complement to closed response questionnaires. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, we will describe a pilot experience carried out at a Spanish public university where a short questionnaire with open ended questions was launched, and students were invited to comment on their perception of the teaching received. Findings: The response return rate (about 35%) was relatively high compared to other online closed response questionnaires delivered. Moreover, the students' comments provided valuable information which made the members of the Board of the Engineering Degree chosen reflect. Their reflection was evidence based and led to initiatives and actions to improve the quality of teaching, as well as to get an extensive view of the Degree. Practical implications: Findings reveal that the information retrieved can also be used in multiple ways such as formative feedback or even for improvement of courses and instruction. Originality/value: Student evaluation of teaching is a powerful tool for continuous teaching improvement but the information provided by conventional closed response questionnaires may not be sufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By 11 March 2020, the phrase "COVID-19" had officially entered everyday life across most of the word. Each level of education suddenly faced new changes and new challenges. Emergency remote teaching became widespread, and new methodologies to deliver classes and courses were adopted by educational institutions. In this paper, we focus on the impact of the remote learning experience of engineering students enrolled at the Politecnico di Milano. The subjects were recruited from all engineering courses from the first to the fifth year and were asked to complete a multidimensional survey. The survey featured 66 items regarding the participants' perceptions of the challenges of emergency remote teaching compared with pre-COVID-19 in-person teaching. The questionnaire addressed six dimensions: the organization of emergency remote teaching, subjective well-being, metacognition, self-efficacy, identity, and socio-demographic information. In this paper, we describe the entire survey and discuss a preliminary analysis. Using Cronbach's alpha test, a confirmatory factor analysis, and the t-test, we performed a more in-depth analysis concerning the outcomes of metacognition and self-efficacy. The data analysis suggested a small, unexpected change in the metacognition strategies. The students, in some regards, improved their learning strategies. Some other answers underlined their appreciation of the courses' organization and the lack of relationships with their peers and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the service quality (SQ) of higher education institutes (HEI), offering professional courses from the perspective of faculty as they are the service providers as well as a major stakeholder in the educational arena. PHEISQUAL (Professional higher education institute service quality) scale has been developed to measure the service quality of HEI offering professional course using mixed methodology. Four factors namely—Training & Placement, Faculty Resource, Learning Infrastructure, and Assessment & Evaluation have been extracted. The scale has been subjected to rigorous analysis of scale development process and has complied with same. Thus this study accrues a new instrument to measure service quality of professional institutes offering higher education by taking into account the technical as well as operational factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a global health crisis that led to a sudden migration of many educational activities to digital environments. This migration affected the digitization process of higher education. This paper conducts a quantitative statistical analysis of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the habits of use of information and communication technologies (ICT) among 426 Latin American university professors in engineering areas. In particular, this impact has been analyzed in terms of the digital generation of the participating professors. To achieve this, the responses given by them on a validated questionnaire were examined for the purposes of this research. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase of up to 47% in the use of ICT among engineering professors, but unevenly according to the different uses of these tools within the teaching activity. In addition, in engineering areas, it seems that digital natives have increased their use of ICT more than digital immigrants after the pandemic (between 8% and 20%, depending on the type of digital tool in question). It is suggested that universities take measures for the digital integration of older professors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-partnered engineering projects provide a mechanism for cultivating the development of sociotechnical engineers prepared to design within diverse and complex cultural, environmental, social, and other contexts. During the 2021–2022 academic year, we guided three teams of senior undergraduate engineering students through year-long community-partnered projects for their required capstone design course, which instead typically features corporate/industry-sponsored projects. We analyzed end-of-semester reflections (both fall and spring semester) from each student using inductive thematic analysis to explore how they perceived their experiences. The themes that emerged from the student reflections, including connectivity, transdisciplinary, multiple stakeholders, sustainability, justice, and ethics, are all components of the sociotechnical engineering capabilities that we are working to develop in our students. We consider these findings encouraging, and suggestive that integrating community-partnered projects into engineering capstone design offerings is worthwhile and effective. However, our implementation was not without challenges, such as trying to force the projects to fit into a course structure and timeline developed to support corporate/industry-sponsored project teams, which was burdensome to the community-partnered project teams. In this paper, we highlight both the complexities and benefits of this approach and insights gained from student and instructor reflections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The surge of online platforms has generated interest in how specialized platforms support formal and informal learning in various disciplinary domains. Knowledge is still limited regarding how undergraduate students navigate and use platforms to learn. Objectives: This study explores computer and software engineering students' learning practices, wherein online platforms are used as resources for both curricular learning activities and students' interest‐driven learning. Methods: The learning practices of 73 students were examined using a mixed‐methods design and a conceptualization of practices accounting for the context and purpose of their enactment. The dataset includes students' self‐reports on domain‐specific learning activities, three‐month‐long web‐browsing history of multiple platforms and stimulated‐recall interviews. The data were analysed through latent class and thematic analyses. Results and Conclusion: Five distinct patterns were found in the use of online platforms. These patterns show that different types of platforms were used purposely and in combination during curricular and interest‐driven activities aimed at learning software development. Moreover, students' purposes were driven by both the need to progress in their learning activities and the development of their interest in software development. The findings highlight the complexity of students' learning with online platforms, which develop quite extensively beyond curricular boundaries. Implications: The findings stress the need to recognize that undergraduate students' learning practices involve multiple online platforms and activities beyond the formal curriculum and that these play a key role in developing students' interests in learning software development. Moreover, our findings indicate the importance of taking into account the way students' learning practices unfold within platforms and how these relate to domain‐specific practices. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Online platforms are mostly used by teaching staff in undergraduate education to support student learning during formal curricular tasks.Research knowledge is limited mostly to specific features of social networking platforms, such as Facebook Groups or instant messaging technologies.Students informally use interest‐driven activities and both social and domain‐specific platforms to support their learning.Research on students' interest in using massive open online courses suggested that students' learning is motivated by academic success, prospective economic opportunities, and personal interests. What this paper adds?: Students combine various types of online platforms purposely (e.g., search engines or Q&A sites), many of which are domain‐specific (e.g., Stack Overflow).Students use online platforms informally during work on curricular tasks to, for example, collaborate, solve problems, and understand concepts or methods.Domain‐specific (e.g., software engineering) platforms are used during other study‐related leisure and entrepreneurial activities.Online platforms play a key role in how students develop their interests in learning. Through them, students connect not only with other students but also with professionals, companies, and information about them. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Curriculum developers and faculty should consider preparing students to use disparate types of online platforms beyond what is included in the curriculum.Curriculum developers should also consider other activities beyond the classroom that are study‐related and meaningful for students and their learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reveals some approaches to the interpretation of the concept of the cognitive component of mathematical competence, reveals some ways of forming the cognitive component of mathematical competence of students of technical specialties. Based on the analysis of literature sources, the purpose and objectives of the study, the research hypothesis are substantiated. The purpose of the study is to check the effectiveness of the proposed method of improving the level of mathematical training of students of technical specialties (STS) in the form of checking the formation of the cognitive component of mathematical competence of STS. The method of improving the level of mathematical preparation consists in its fundamentalization. The paper also presents a statistical verification of the reliability of the obtained results. The methodological apparatus of the research covered modern principles and approaches of higher school pedagogy. The main approaches to improving the quality of mathematical training through its fundamentalization include: synergistic, systemic, activity, competence, knowledge-activity, personality-oriented; teaching and research approach. Also, the idea of forming professionally oriented mathematical competence is substantiated in the work. The work describes the structural scheme of the concepts of the proposed methodological system for improving the mathematical training of students of technical specialties through its fundamentalization. The obtained results of the study clearly confirm the effectiveness of the proposed concept of improving the quality of mathematical training of STS, and confirm the impact on improving the cognitive component of mathematical competence. The obtained results of the study indicate the need for further development in order to improve the quality and level of mathematical preparation of STS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to design a guide for engineering problem solving with a mathematical approach, based on the use of creative, heuristic and reasoning strategies. The research is divided in two phases: the literature review and the conception of a guide for engineering problems with an open or closed solution. This guide combines the engineering method with algorithmic and heuristic-creative components in three steps: a) understanding, approaching and characterising the problem; b) planning, tackling and deciding on the best alternative; and c) solving, reviewing and evaluating the problem. The authors conclude that this guide will allow future engineers to reach a solution to a problem considering the implications in the financial, technical, environmental and other domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyse to what extent the engineering curricula contribute to the development of visual literacy among engineering students. Communicating and thinking visually is a basic skill for all engineers, being a fundamental part of their educational stage. For this purpose, Engineering Graphics subjects from 30 engineering schools from Spain have been selected to review their content. The sample consists of 80 subjects of Engineering Graphics, mechanical design and computer-aided design. The curricula were analyzed using a quantitative and qualitative method. A database has been developed where keywords that identify the objectives of the analysis have been tabulated. Learning technical visual language and visualization skills as a means of developing visual literacy in engineering has been taken as the basis of the analysis. The results show that the curricula of the subjects contemplate the development of graphic skills around communication and technical representation and, to a lesser extent, visualization. On the other hand, the teaching activities contemplated do not dive into the cognitive aspects of graphics. We can also observe the pre-eminence of computer graphics as the main basis for teaching activities and marginal use of freehand drawing, which is basic for the development of Visual Literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current higher education is based on a competence development approach including generic competences for the integral development of students. Degrees have been designed based on this paradigm centered on lifelong learning, self-regulated learning strategies and active methodologies in which the student is the core of the formative process, aiming at contributing to develop the key competence learning to learn. In the present paper, strategies for generic competences development and evaluation are discussed in tile context of engineering and technical courses and degrees. Challenges in competence assessment as well as alignment of formative assessment, methodologies and learning outcomes are discussed based on a series of experiences. Experience evidence that competence development requires designing activities oriented towards competence development, in which learning outcomes and assessment procedures are clearly defined. The alignment of these three elements is the key for competence development since succeeding in a course by achieving the defined learning outcomes implies succeeding in the acquisition of the generic competences planned. Through the paper it is also discussed that competence evaluation is a challenge for university teachers. for which they will need to be formed and trained, and provided with institutional support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The literature on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field reveals that even with incentives to encourage women into the field of engineering, their level of enrolment and graduation remains low. This study aims to first examine the overall wage returns of all engineers in Trinidad and Tobago and second their gender wage gap at the paraprofessional (certificate/diploma) and undergraduate (first-degree) level of qualifications. Using Labour Force Survey (LFS) data for the 1991-2015 period, the returns of engineers are analysed by estimating a Mincerian earnings equation, and then an Oaxaca-Blinder wage decomposition, using a statistical level of significance, i.e., 0.1% it was found that in the first instance, the earnings of paraprofessional engineers were generally negative (fewer earnings) and significantly smaller than undergraduate engineers. Undergraduate engineers’ earnings appeared to be larger, and positive, and exhibited rising returns, with the highest returns shown at q80 of 18.8%, and the lowest returns at q20 of 13.2%. The earnings of undergraduate female engineers, although higher than their male colleagues, appeared to be falling across the wage distribution, i.e., from 12.7% to 8.2% between q10-q90, but benefit from higher earnings if employed in a low-income job. In the second instance, when looking at the field of engineering as a whole there is a gender wage gap of 1.7%, but when the type/level of qualification is considered, it produces a gender wage gap of 19.6% for engineers with paraprofessional qualifications, and 12.3% for engineers with an undergraduate degree in engineering. The largest gender wage gap is observed amongst engineers holding paraprofessional qualifications. Further analysis into the different components of this gap (unexplained, explained and interaction) reveals that female engineers are more likely to be discriminated against, especially when holding an undergraduate degree in engineering (4.8%), when compared to a paraprofessional qualification (3.6%). Thus, the gender wage gap does not favour female engineers. The paper expands on existing research on the gender wage returns associated with different fields of study and provides detailed evidence of the gender wage gap and the wage patterns emerging from the field of engineering in Trinidad and Tobago, regarding key groups of engineers holding paraprofessional and undergraduate qualifications in the field. It also gives important insights into the earnings of men and women in engineering for the period 1991-2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mental health issues reported among college‐aged individuals have increased. Prevalence of these issues has an established impact on students' personal, professional, and academic outcomes. Graduate students experience unique stressors that impact their mental health. In particular, engineering graduate students have lower help‐seeking tendencies, which can impact the severity and length of their mental health problems. Purpose: We investigate the literature concerning engineering graduate students' mental health, focusing on academic outcomes, mental health measures, and mental health findings, to highlight gaps in current literature and the need for further research. Scope/Method: Five research databases, EBSCO: CINAHL, EBSCO: PsycINFO, ProQuest: ERIC, PubMed, and Scopus, were searched in a scoping literature review. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied during the screening process. Peer‐reviewed publications (i.e., articles and conference papers) were identified and coded for study focus, keywords, participants and institution(s), journal discipline, study type, methods used, and work referenced, in addition to academic outcomes, mental health measures, and mental health findings. Results: Nineteen of the 4,826 unique studies identified were included in the review. Ten academic outcomes and 13 mental health measures were discussed. Mental health findings were grouped into five themes: social support and sense of belonging; student–advisor relationship; cultural barriers faced by international students; gender and racial stereotypes; and generalized findings. Conclusions: Research on engineering graduate students' mental health is limited. Given that mental health has direct ties to students' well‐being and ultimately their success, engineering education researchers should focus on studying students' experiences, sharing these findings, and communicating best practices for all stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This position paper sets out the need and rationale for systemic change in STEM learning and teaching as a means of retaining and supporting the success of underrepresented cohorts in STEM. Efforts in recruiting and retaining these students in STEM higher education degrees and subsequently, STEM careers, will continue to be undermined, if we are unable to provide them with a supportive learning environment that recognises and mitigates the inherent disparities that they have historically faced and continue to face. We propose that rather than focusing on an individual equity group and how to best support them, which may lead to perpetuation of a deficit mindset for faculty, we instead propose a project that considers the biases inherent in our current pedagogical practices and the ways in which we can build awareness of the inequities that these entrench. We intend for the outcomes of this project to support the ongoing efforts for individual equity groups as well as mitigating against future inequities by empowering faculty to create inclusive learning experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper address how we may understand inclusion strategies designed to reduce the gender gap in higher education in engineering and ICT engineering in particular. Based on a case study of a long-term inclusion effort and statistics on recruitment and retainment, we argue that inclusion initiatives which address important inclusion needs and put down a substantial effort are likely to be successful. However, such changes seem to be not very sustainable, and need continuous effort. Based on our findings and a review of previous research we argue that inclusion efforts are instrumental in gaining a higher share of women in ICT, but that the win may be short-lived. We suggest that there is a need also to work for a higher share of women faculty to obtain more sustainable recruitment and retainment of women in ICT. Moreover, we found that the probability of dropout among men students was systematically reduced with increased gender balance, which indicates that more gender-balanced programs are more attractive to remain in for both men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, great strides have been made to increase access to education and enrollment rates at all levels (primary, secondary, and higher education). Actions such as promoting equal access to education, preventing school dropout, and establishing free education, among other actions proposed by organizations such as UNESCO, seek to guarantee the universality of education. This is undoubtedly a great challenge, and to address it, it is necessary to characterize how students face the learning process, considering factors such as autonomy, competencies, and their own basic psychological needs, looking for effective learning models based on students' needs in a changing world, where ICTs play a relevant role. This research analyzes learning models, motivation, self-determination, and technologies used for learning achievement in higher engineering education. The study will highlight relevant initiatives and the most commonly used technological tools. It will also identify learning models that seek to link emotional intelligence, self-determination, cognitive skills, and ICT. The PRISMA protocol guided the study, finding 132 relevant articles to be analyzed and proposing best practices in using learning models, strategies, and ICT to foster students' intrinsic motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]