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Background: Sketching exists in many disciplines and varies in how it is assessed, making it challenging to define fundamental sketching skills and the characteristics of a high‐quality sketch. For instructors to apply effective strategies for teaching and assessing engineering sketching, a clear summary of the constructs, metrics, and objectives for sketching assessment across engineering education and related disciplines is needed. Purpose: This systematic literature review explores sketching assessment definitions and approaches across engineering education research. Methodology/Approach: We collected 671 papers from five major engineering and education databases at all skill levels for reported sketching constructs and metrics, cognition, and learning contexts. Based on the selection criteria, we eliminated all but 41 papers, on which we performed content analysis. Findings/Conclusions: Engineering, design, and art emerged as three major disciplines in the papers reviewed. We found that sketching assessment most often employs metrics on accuracy, perspective, line quality, annotations, and aesthetics. Most collected studies examined beginners in undergraduate engineering design sketching or drawing ability tests. Cognitive skills included perceiving the sketch subject, creatively sketching ideas, using metacognition to monitor the sketching process, and using sketching for communication. Implications: Sketching assessment varies by engineering discipline and relies on many types of feedback and scoring metrics. Cognitive theory can inform instructional activities as a foundation for sketching skills. There is a need for robust evidence of high‐quality assessment practices in sketching instruction. Assessment experts can apply their knowledge toward improving sketching assessment development, implementation, and validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freehand sketching meets a vital need in design for fluid, fast and flexible visual representations that designers build off of and learn from. Sketching more frequently during the design process correlates with positive design outcomes. Engineering designers receive minimal training on freehand sketching, and engineering students do not apply freehand sketching well during the design process. This study examines some of the underlying factors associated with using sketching more frequently. We examine how sketching skills, spatial visualization skills, sketching instruction and engineering design self-efficacy influence designers' self-reported sketching behavior. We find that higher sketching skills are associated with using sketching in a variety of ways, and spatial visualization skills and design selfefficacy are associated with sketching more frequently. The relationships uncovered were emphasized by their longevity: spatial skills and sketching skills in students' first semesters predicted sketching more frequently in a senior capstone design course. These long-lasting relationships suggest the need to invest in students' spatial skills and sketching skills early in the degree program so that they can be leveraged for better design practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Makerspaces are common in engineering programs around the country and around the world. As universities invest more into these spaces, researchers investigate more the impacts of making in the educational setting. As more students across more educational contexts get involved in making and makerspaces, there is a greater need for educators to gain a more wholistic understanding of the impacts of making on the academic environment. both positive and negative. [n this paper, we look at the critical relationship between makerspaces and academic performance at a unique university with a designcentric approach to engineeringeducation. This study presents three key findings: First, more involvement in making early in the curriculum is related to increased retention. Second, increased anxiety towards engineering design is connected to both lower retention and lower involvement in academic makerspaces. Third, GPA and makerspace activity are largely independent at this university where the engineering curriculum prescribes engineering students' engagement in making. As impacts of academic makerspaces are unfolding before us. these findings shed a positive light on their contribution to engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freehand sketching equips engineers to rapidly represent ideas in the design process, but most engineering curriculums fall short of equipping students with adequate sketching skills. This paper is focused on methods to improve engineers' sketching skill through type of instruction, length of instruction, and delivery of and feedback for assignments using Sketchtivity, an intelligent sketch-tutoring software. We answer several key questions for providing better sketching education for engineers. Does perspective training improve freehand drawing ability? Can an intelligent tutoring software improve education outcomes? And how much sketching instruction is necessary for engineers? Analyzing the changes in sketching skill from pre- to post-sketching instruction between different instruction types (n = 116), we found that perspective sketching instruction significantly improved freehand sketching ability compared to traditional engineering sketching methods. When comparing pre to post sketching skill of students using Sketchtivity (n = 135), there was no significant difference in improvement between students using the intelligent tutoring software and those that exclusively practiced on paper - both groups improved equally. However, completing sketching tasks on tablets did not hinder students' skill development even when measured on paper. Future work will more directly explore the influence of Sketchtivity on sketching skill development. Additionally, we found that five weeks of sketching instruction greatly improves sketching skill compared to only three weeks of instruction (n = 108), but both approaches significantly improve sketching self-efficacy. These outcomes support more extensive sketching instruction in engineering classrooms, and changes in instruction type to promote more freehand sketching skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Naturopathic oncology in conjunction with conventional treatment is commonly referred to as integrative oncology (IO). Clinics directed by oncology board certified NDs (Fellows of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology or FABNOs) provide high-quality data for describing IO therapies, their costs and measuring clinical outcomes. Purpose. To describe the types of IO therapies prescribed to breast cancer patients by ND FABNO physicians. Study participants (n = 324). Women who sought care at 1 of 6 naturopathic oncology clinics in Washington State were asked to enroll in a prospective 5 year observational outcomes study. Methods. Medical records were abstracted to collect treatment recommendations and cost data. Results. More than 72 oral or topical, nutritional, botanical, fungal and bacterial-based medicines were prescribed to the cohort during their first year of IO care. Trametes versicolor was prescribed to 63% of the women. Mind-body therapy was recommended to 45% of patients, and 49% received acupuncture. Also, 26% were prescribed injectable therapy, including mistletoe, vitamin B complex (12%), IV ascorbate (12%), IV artesunate (7%), and IV nutrition and hydration (4%). Costs ranged from $1594/year for early-stage breast cancer to $6200/year for stage 4 breast cancer patients. Of the total amount billed for IO care for 1 year for breast cancer patients, 21% was out-of-pocket. Conclusions. IO care for women with breast cancer consists of botanical and mushroom oral therapies, parenteral botanical and nutrient therapy, mind-body medicine and acupuncture. IO clinic visits and acupuncture are partially paid for by medical insurance companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Insufficient sleep is a problem affecting millions. Poor sleep can trigger or worsen anxiety; conversely, anxiety can lead to or exacerbate poor sleep. Advances in innovative consumer products designed to promote relaxation and support healthy sleep are emerging, and their effectiveness can be evaluated accurately using sleep measurement technologies in the home environment., Objective: This pilot study examined the effects of smart goggles used at bedtime to deliver gentle, slow vibration to the eyes and temples. The study hypothesized that objective sleep, perceived sleep, self-reported stress, anxiety, relaxation, and sleepiness would improve after using the smart goggles., Methods: A within-participants, pre-post study design was implemented. Healthy adults with subclinical threshold sleep problems (N=20) tracked their sleep nightly using a polysomnography-validated noncontact biomotion device and completed daily questionnaires over two phases: a 3-week baseline period and a 3-week intervention period. During the baseline period, participants followed their usual sleep routines at home. During the intervention period, participants used Therabody SmartGoggles in "Sleep" mode at bedtime. This mode, designed for relaxation, delivers a gentle eye and temple massage through the inflation of internal compartments to create a kneading sensation combined with vibrating motors. Each night, the participants completed questionnaires assessing relaxation, stress, anxiety, and sleepiness immediately before and after using the goggles. Daily morning questionnaires assessed perceived sleep, complementing the objective sleep data measured every night., Results: Multilevel regression analysis of 676 nights of objective sleep parameters showed improvements during nights when the goggles were used compared to the baseline period. Key findings include sleep duration (increased by 12 minutes, P=.01); duration of deep sleep (increased by 6 minutes, P=.002); proportion of deep sleep (7% relative increase, P=.02); BodyScore, an age- and gender-normalized measure of deep sleep (4% increase, P=.002); number of nighttime awakenings (7% decrease, P=.02); total time awake after sleep onset (reduced by 6 minutes, P=.047); and SleepScore, a measure of overall sleep quality (3% increase, P=.02). Questionnaire responses showed that compared to baseline, participants felt they had better sleep quality (P<.001) and woke feeling more well-rested (P<.001). Additionally, participants reported feeling sleepier, less stressed, less anxious, and more relaxed (all P values <.05) immediately after using the goggles each night, compared to immediately before use. A standardized inventory administered before and after the 3-week intervention period indicated reduced anxiety (P=.03), confirming the nightly analysis., Conclusions: The use of smart goggles at bedtime significantly improved objectively measured sleep metrics and perceived sleep quality. Further, participants reported increased feelings of relaxation along with reduced stress and anxiety. Future research expanding on this pilot study is warranted to confirm and expand on the preliminary evidence presented in this brief report., (© Sharon Danoff-Burg, Elie Gottlieb, Morgan A Weaver, Kiara C Carmon, Duvia Lara Ledesma, Holly M Rus. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org).)