scholarly journals Engineering Students’ Concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and Their Identity Development as Humanitarian Engineers

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8845
Author(s):  
John Jongho Park ◽  
Mihee Park ◽  
Jeremy Smith
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Motivation Factors ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
A Value ◽  
Social Inequities ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering

Humanitarian Engineering extends engineering practice to provide a focus on addressing social inequities and contributing to sustainable development for all. This study investigated undergraduate engineering students’ concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and motives to be Humanitarian Engineers as they acquire knowledge and skills and build a professional identity as engineers who can work in complex socio-technical sustainability contexts. Qualitative data were collected from an open-ended survey of 46 engineering students followed by semi-structured interviews with ten students at a U.S. university. Survey data provided individual characteristics that conceptualized and guided interviews to explore key relationships among participants’ concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and motivations. A central idea of a “Humanitarian Engineer” identity emerged, influenced by various motivations. Students envisioning themselves as Humanitarian Engineers were associated with socio-cultural background, motivation to practice engineering skills, and desire to travel. A value-related motivation, the desire to help others, appeared as a strong catalyst for developing students’ professional identities and empowering a possible future self as Humanitarian Engineers. To support sustainability education in engineering demands, initial motivation factors associated with student Humanitarian Engineer identity development are researched to support potential future practice and career development.

scholarly journals Humanitarian Aspirations of Engineering Students: Differences between Disciplines and Institutions

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela R. Bielefeldt ◽  
Nathan E. Canney
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Helping Others ◽  
The World ◽  
Environmental Materials ◽  
Institutional Differences ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering ◽  
Motivating Factor ◽  
Attraction And Retention

This study explored the aspirations of undergraduate engineering students in regard to helping others, examining potential differences between disciplines and institutions. Over 1900 undergraduate students from 17 U.S. universities responded to a survey in spring 2014. In open-ended responses, 15.5% of the students included some form of helping people and/or the world as one of the factors that motivated them to select their engineering major; for 6.7% of the students this was the primary or only motivating factor listed. Helping as a motivation was not equally prevalent among different engineering disciplines, being much more common among students majoring in biomedical, environmental, materials, and civil and less common in computer and aerospace. Different disciplines also varied in the priority for helping people relative to other future job factors - highest in chemical/biological, moderate in civil and related majors, and lowest among electrical/computer and mechanical. Institutional differences were found in the extent to which students indicated an importance that their career would help people and the extent to which an ability to help others was a central message in their major. The results indicate the percentages of engineering students who are most likely to embrace humanitarian engineering; fostering these aspirations in students could help with attraction and retention.

scholarly journals Examining engineering students’ participation in entrepreneurship education programs: implications for practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prateek Shekhar ◽  
Aileen Huang-Saad
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Student Participation ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Academic Transitions ◽  
Entrepreneurial Intent

Abstract Background Recent research has demonstrated the importance of entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) in the professional development of engineering students. Numerous universities have adopted various forms of EEPs which are typically offered as elective programs. To create suitable programs that will encourage students to seek out EEPs, it is critical to understand the factors that influence student participation in EEPs. Using qualitative research methods, we examined the question “What influences engineering students’ participation in entrepreneurship education programs?” The purpose of our work is to identify and understand the factors impacting engineering student participation in EEPs. Results Analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews of undergraduate engineering students was conducted using the first and second cycle coding methods to determine key factors that inform students’ participation in EEPs. We found that student decisions to participate in EEPs are influenced by several factors: entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial intent, attitude, subjective norm, goals, academic transitions, information and resources, social capital, opportunities and challenges, and past participation in EEPs. Conclusions Findings demonstrate that students’ non-compulsory participation is not a result of a single act, but is regulated by multiple factors. Explication of these factors using our qualitative results provides actionable guidance for EEPs to encourage engineering students’ participation and offers directions for future research.

HOW STUDENTS DEFINE THEIR SUCCESS: A RESEARCH STUDY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Ullrich ◽  
David S. Strong
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Survey Instrument ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Full Study ◽  
Definition Of Success ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Diverse Groups

How undergraduate engineering students define their success and plan for their future differs notably amongst students. With a push for greater diversity and inclusion in engineering schools, it is valuable to also better understand the differences in these areas among different students to allow institutions to better serve the needs of these diverse groups.  The purpose of this research study is to explore students’ definition of success both in the present and projecting forward 5 to 10 years, as well as to understand to what level students reflect on, and plan for, the future. The proposed survey instrument for the pilot stage of this research includes 56 closed-ended questions and 3 open-ended questions. Evidence for the validity of the research instrument is established through a mixed-method pilot study. This paper will discuss the survey instrument, the pilot study, and outline plans for the full study.

Human-Centered and Psychological Concepts in Undergraduate Engineering Project Documentation

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 505-509
Author(s):  
Rod D. Roscoe ◽  
Samuel T. Arnold ◽  
Chelsea K. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Project Documentation ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Psychological Concepts

The success of engineering and design is facilitated by a working understanding of human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. In this study, we explored how undergraduate engineering students included such human-centered and psychological concepts in their project documentation. Although, we observed a range of concepts related to design processes, teams, cognition, and motivation, these concepts appeared infrequently and superficially. We discuss how this analysis and approach may help to identify topics that could be leveraged for future human-centered engineering instruction.

Why Does He Do It? What Explanations Resonate During Counseling for Women in Understanding Their Partner’s Abuse?

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052198985
Author(s):  
Sally Marsden ◽  
Cathy Humphreys ◽  
Kelsey Hegarty
Keyword(s):  
Partner Violence ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Clinical Group ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Women’S Perceptions ◽  
Ipv Perpetration ◽  
Insight Into

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex and multifaceted problem gaining increasing attention within mental health research and practice. IPV explanations focus on both individual and systemic levels; however, it is increasingly acknowledged that a single level explanation may not be sufficient. The practices of clinical disciplines may, however, still privilege an explanation at one level over another, which will influence how they work with clients. It is likely that one such clinical group, psychologists, may play a critical role in helping victim-survivors to understand and explain their experiences of IPV. However, we were unable to find any studies focusing on women’s perceptions of psychologists’ role in this. Additionally, we know little about women victim-survivors’ perceptions of why their partners use IPV. To address these gaps, the research question for this study was: What explanations resonate during counseling for women in understanding their partner’s abuse? To explore this question, 20 women who had seen psychologists after experiencing IPV participated in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and three themes constructed from the data. The first two themes, narcissist description was helpful and not all bad all the time, showed that the women found it powerful in their healing processes when psychologists offered the opportunity to discuss their partners individual characteristics as explanations for their use of IPV. The third theme, structural explanations, showed that some of the women also reflected on wider structural contexts. Implications for clinical practice include the potential healing effect when practitioners can move along a continuum of explanation levels, covering both the inner and outer worlds. Implications for research into IPV perpetration are that women hold expertise and insight into individual perpetrators and could make valuable contributions to this field.

Health and death literacy and cultural diversity: insights from hospital-employed interpreters

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. e8-e8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Hayes ◽  
Anne Marie Fabri ◽  
Maria Coperchini ◽  
Rafatullah Parkar ◽  
Zoe Austin-Crowe
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Qualitative Description ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
A Value ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Advance Care ◽  
End Of Life Decision

Objectives001225The aim of this qualitative study is to better understand, through the experiences and insights of hospital interpreters, how people from culturally and linguistic diverse (CALD) communities might respond to advance care planning (ACP) and end-of-life discussions.MethodsHospital interpreters from five Melbourne metropolitan health services were recruited for in-depth semi-structured interviews that explored the question, ‘What can be learnt from hospital interpreters about cultural issues related to ACP and end-of-life decision-making?’ Thirty-nine interpreters, representing 22 language groups, were interviewed. Analysis of the transcribed interviews used qualitative description.ResultsThematic analysis identified three major themes: (1) moral difference; (2) health and death literacy; and (3) diversity within culture.ConclusionA value-based approach to ACP is recommended as a way to capture the person’s individual values and beliefs. Health and death literacy have been identified as areas that may be over-estimated; areas that can be addressed and improved, if recognised. Health and death literacy is a particular area that needs to be assessed and addressed as a pre-requisite to ACP discussions.

Revisiting presenteeism to broaden its conceptualization: A qualitative study

Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Mouna Knani ◽  
Pierre-Sébastien Fournier ◽  
Caroline Biron
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Small Enterprises ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Holistic Interpretation ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
Negative Factors

BACKGROUND: Presenteeism is generally viewed as a symptom of organizational or individual dysfunction and is rarely considered as a behavioral response to positive triggering factors. Our study examines this issue in small enterprises (SEs), which are an unexplored environment in terms of presenteeism. OBJECTIVE: Through in-depth analysis, this study aims to understand the positive and negative factors that impact presenteeism in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with a particular focus on SEs. METHODS: We adopt a qualitative methodological approach in which we conducted 17 semi-structured interviews with employees and owner-managers of SEs with between 20 and 49 employees. RESULTS: Our thematic analysis shows that presenteeism can be explained by factors related to pressure to attend work, by individuals’ constraints and commitment, by organizational and individual characteristics and by a congenial work environment. Presenteeism can also be a type of “therapy” which helps individuals to avoid focusing on being sick and enables them to stay active and avoid social isolation. CONCLUSIONS: Our study differs from earlier research by providing a more in-depth analysis of the positive and negative factors that trigger presenteeism. This article will help to expand the current theoretical knowledge about presenteeism and encourage a more holistic interpretation of the phenomenon.

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