scholarly journals The Gender Gap in Engineering Education During The COVID-19 Lockdown: A Study Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 117-131
Author(s):  
Borja Bordel Sánchez ◽  
Ramón Alcarria ◽  
Tomás Robles ◽  
Diego Martin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Computer Engineering ◽  
Women In Engineering ◽  
Engineering Degree ◽  
Study Case ◽  
Final Causes

Higher education in Spain, especially in Madrid, was suddenly and unex-pectedly shut down on March 9th 2020 because of the beginning of the COVID-19 first wave emergency. In engineering education, where practical laboratories are a relevant part of the educational process, professors followed different approaches (sometimes concurrently), designed after only three or five days of discussions. Although, globally, the obtained results are ac-ceptable considering the situation, after informally analyzing the data and observing the post-lockdown students’ profile, it emerges clearly that some collectives have suffered a higher impact than other. The objective of this work is to analyze if the performance of women in engineering courses, spe-cifically in computer engineering, is different from male students. The study case is carried out at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, particularly, in the computer engineering degree. Furthermore, if a statistically relevant differ-ence is discovered, the final causes of this worrying situation will be studied. Official academic results were analyzed. Besides, more than one hundred surveys among students were developed. Results clearly show a deterioration in all indicators for all collectives and students, comparing the performance during the lockdown and the performance of previous years. However, this impact is not homogenous, and results also show how there is, actually, a gender gap placing women in engineering education during the lockdown (an after) in a disadvantaged situation

New Teaching and Learning Methodologies in the Smart Higher Education Era, A Study Case, Wikipedia

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-83
Author(s):  
Borja Bordel ◽  
Pilar Mareca
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Smart Education ◽  
Study Case ◽  
Deep Integration ◽  
Special Case ◽  
Specific Learning

Smart education systems and methodologies are based on the deep integration of information technologies in the educational process. Among all the tools belonging to the environment of teaching technologies, wikis have been reported as ideally suited for collaborative learning. Several Universities around the world are running Projects and events about the use of wikis in higher education. Therefore, in this paper the authors explore the use of wikis in the higher educational institutions, being focused on a special case: Wikipedia. Wikipedia presents special characteristics which make it perfect to not only reach the specific learning objectives of a certain particular subject, but also the transversal abilities so demanded today (such as teamwork or social responsibility). Finally, the authors analyze more deeply the experiences about the use of Wikipedia conducted in the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and the obtained results are presented.

scholarly journals PEDAGOGY 1:1 IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-110
Author(s):  
Mateja Ploj Virtič ◽  
Uroš Župerl ◽  
Marija Javornik Krečič
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Technical Documentation ◽  
Successful Student ◽  
Remote Lab ◽  
The University

The use of ICT in education has changed substantially over the last two decades. The development of new technologies has enabled us, the users, to mature and gain experience. The introduction of ICT in the educational process at the same time means a change of the teachers' role. The teacher appears in the role of a mentor who directs the activities of the learner. There has been a change in the teacher preparation to teach. He should provide both the content as well as technical support and to create a suitable learning environment. The way of teaching in the natural science and engineering education is specific due to the need of transfer knowledge into the practice. The nature of work in this kind of education requires more experimental work, based on individual learning process. There are many different implementation options of laboratory exercises that advantageously incorporate ICT into the nature of their work. The most popular in engineering education are two different types of laboratories: Simulation (virtual) and Remote controlled (online) labs, defined by Balamuralithara and Woods (2009). A remote controlled laboratory for conducting remote experiments at the University of Maribor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering was developed. Development of the remote lab was carried out as an exploratory work of the group of students and professors. The lab was developed in the following three phases: development of the construction with corresponding technical documentation, development of the control system and development of the system for remote control of a lift. The successful student project is evident through the applicability of the developed laboratory that serves as a great tool for studying and offers all the benefits of ICT. Key words: experimental work, higher education, learning environment, pedagogy 1:1.

scholarly journals What is engineering?

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Mel Chua
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Graduate Student ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Computer Engineering ◽  
First Semester ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Science Academy

Point of view:  I'm a contagiously enthusiastic hacker, scholar, and teacher with an industry background in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) communities. As a teenager at the Illinois Math and Science Academy, I loved storytelling and cinematography and wanted to major in the arts. That wasn't an option for my family of immigrants, so I took up electrical and computer engineering at Olin College (BS), where I arrived thinking that a breadboard was for baking (it's for electronics). I am Deaf and have always been a strong visual thinker; this piece was written and drawn during my first semester as a PhD student in engineering education at Purdue University. I’m intrigued by how multiple interacting curricular cultures in higher education can deconstruct our notions of engineering, education, and just about everything else. Value: This work is a playful contribution to engineering education ontologies (as a subset of philosophy), which explores questions of reality and being - what "is." It challenges the high consensus culture of engineering, especially the tendency to seek clearly defined and fixed meanings for terms. In this case, the notion of "engineering" itself is called into question. It also explores what graphical/non-textual scholarship in and about higher education might look like. Summary:  This graphic essay was made when I was a first-semester engineering education graduate student. This past self was naive regarding "scholarly" and "academic" writing conventions, and frustrated both by the limitations of text as a standalone medium and the engineering disciplinary tendency to seek clearly defined and fixed meanings for terms rather than exploring their possibilities. I am now a slightly more seasoned scholar seven years down the line with a desire to engage in discussion and revision of the piece. Note to readers:  This document consists of a comic submission which is meant to be experienced visually: What is Engineering?. Each page of the comic is presented separately here, followed by text descriptions for that page. Text descriptions are provided for acces.

Is economics a man’s business? Exploring the long-term effects of the gender gap in economic competencies at the upper secondary level on students’ choice to study economics at university

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jüttler ◽  
Stephan Schumann
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Gender Specific ◽  
Upper Secondary Level

In higher education, across countries, a large share of students choose to study economics. Although there is only a small difference in the share of female and male students in that field, there is robust empirical evidence of a gender gap in economic competencies, showing that male students in most cases outperform female students. There is a broad discussion about the differences in gender-specific socializations that cause this gender gap. However, no research exists on the long-term effects of this gender gap. This study uses longitudinal and representative data of N = 1397 Swiss students (824 female students) to analyse the gender-specific effects of economic competencies at the end of the upper secondary level on their aspiration and decision to study economics. The results show that economic knowledge and interest in economics have a substantially stronger effect on the choice of economics for female students. The aspiration to study strongly mediates these effects. We argue that these results can mainly be traced back to different interests and self-perceptions of skills and abilities in economics caused by gender-specific socialization. Possible implications of gender socialization and discrimination in economics for secondary and higher education and for the labour market are discussed.

scholarly journals Two Perspectives on the Gender Gap in Computer Engineering: From Secondary School to Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10445
Author(s):  
María Teresa Alonso ◽  
Virginia Barba-Sánchez ◽  
María Teresa López Bonal ◽  
Hermenegilda Macià
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
P Value ◽  
Computer Engineering ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Chi Squared ◽  
School Girls

In a setting that prioritises the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), sustainable development cannot be achieved without the contribution of female talent. This paper is focused on studying the reasons for the gender gap and the offered strategies to reduce it. The debate on the reasons for the low enrolment rates of girls in technological degrees remains open in the literature. This study investigates the causes of why girls do not choose a computer engineering degree and makes a comparison between ex-ante (secondary school) and ex-post (higher education). Based on a survey of students from both secondary school (229) and higher education (171), a quantitative study on gender differences was performed. The chi-squared test was applied to compute the corresponding p-value. Gender significant differences concerning goals were found (such as, at secondary school, girls preferred to help people, whereas boys preferred to be rich or to have a lot of holidays), and degree preferences (secondary school girls showed great interest in degrees, such as psychology, criminology and medicine, while boys showed great interest in sports sciences and engineering). However, these differences cannot be attributed to the existence of gender stereotypes, to the poor social image of workers in that field, or to the goals to be achieved within this profession. Some proposals are offered to reduce the gap.

scholarly journals USAGE OF HEALTH-SAVING INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS OF FUTURE SPECIALIST IN COMPUTER ENGINEERING TRAINING

2020 ◽  
pp. 88-96
Author(s):  
R. Zhaliy
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Educational Activity ◽  
Computer Engineering ◽  
Educational Activities ◽  
Innovative Technologies ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Engineering Training

The article highlights the features of the health-saving innovative technologies used in the educational process of future specialists in computer engineering training. The basic categories ‘academic freedom,’ ‘innovative form,’ ‘educational activity,’ ‘innovative activity,’ ‘educational classes,’ ‘types of educational classes’ are revealed. The research reveals the peculiarities of the training of higher education graduates of technical specialties, for whom it is essential to master the humanities, the formation of speech competencies, and the study of the basics of rhetoric during educational activities. The example of physical education classes demonstrates a wide range of innovative forms of work, the use of which promotes students’ cognitive activity; it is an essential factor in the formation of young people’s valeological competence and is a priority factor in demonstrating fashion for a healthy lifestyle, physical activity, leisure and recreation, amateur or professional sports, etc. During the preparation of the article methods of analysis of legal norms (in line with the generalization and systematization of current educational legislation), the results of a pedagogical experiment, which took place at Poltava Yuri Kondratyuk National Technical University. Some forms and types of students’ activities aimed at acquiring skills and abilities to use health-saving innovative technologies in further professional activities are considered. The importance of not only physical exercises, popularization of motor activity, but also the presence of thorough internal motivation (which is formed during classes) in future computer engineers in the educational process, which will contribute to the formation of a high level of readiness to use the described technologies, and in further professional activity. The promising areas of further research are substantiation of the structural and logical scheme of studying the humanities in a technical institution of higher education with consideration of key competencies of the specialist at each stage of study; disclosure of methodical features of innovative forms of work, which should be used in educational activities: ‘biennial,’ ‘consulting,’ ‘fresh,’ etc .; study of the specifics of theoretical and methodological requirements for teaching physical education for graduates of technical specialties in the modern processes of reforming the education system.

scholarly journals Engineering Education: Problems of Modernization in the Context of a Competence Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Negmatzhan Almetov ◽  
Ainur Zhorabekova ◽  
Ibragim Sagdullayev ◽  
Zhanar Abilhairova ◽  
Kholidin Tulenova
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Professional Competencies ◽  
State University ◽  
Academic Planning ◽  
The Future ◽  
Study Programs ◽  
Scientific Technical ◽  
Competency Based

The complex issues of engineering education in a modern university are highlighted in this study from the perspective of the implementation of a competence-based approach. It is worth noting that the development of future basic professional competencies for engineers within a university context requires updating the content of higher education in transition areas with emphasis on results. There is also an opinion that today many characteristics of engineering education need to be improved. However, education in engineering, despite many developments, still falls short of the level of economic, scientific, technical, social, and cultural targets that are required for it to be effective. A defined set of problems for training future engineers in the context of the competency approach are therefore identified here: fundamentalization of the content of engineering education and improving its intellectualization; the formation and development of student engineering creativity; the development of ecological thinking; a humanization of the content of engineering education, and; professional skills and personal self-development for future engineers. These related problems require innovative approaches and solutions to the development of the content and organization of educational process in the preparation of the future engineers at university. The aim of the study is to determine the basic professional competencies of the future engineer and, on this basis, to identify and characterize the fundamental directions and ways of modernizing the content of engineering and technical education in higher education. The research is based on a survey of students and teachers of engineering specialties of M. Auezov South Kazakhstan State University, analysis of study programs and academic planning documentation of universities, theoretical analysis of references on the issues of engineering education, pedagogical modeling of the content of engineering education based on a competency-based approach.

scholarly journals The Gender Gap in Engineering Programs in Colombia

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. e86758
Author(s):  
Nancy Elena Hamid Betancur ◽  
Maria C. Torres-Madronero
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information System ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Women In Engineering ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
National Programs ◽  
National Information

In Colombia, engineering is an unattractive field for women. As of 2018, 63,7% of undergraduate engineering graduates were men, and only 36,3% were women. This gap has not changed significantly between 2001 and 2018. This paper analyzes the gap between women and men who obtain undergraduate or graduate engineering degrees in Colombia. The analysis is based on data from the Labor Observatory for Education (OLE) and the National Information System for Higher Education (SNIES) between 2001 to 2018, and it is presented according to degree levels (undergraduate, master and Ph.D.), regions, specific fields of engineering, and salary. The data show a clear difference between the number of women and men graduating from engineering programs at all levels. This gap disappears in programs related to environmental, biomedical, and chemical engineering, where more than 50% of the graduates are women; but, in programs such as electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineering, the gap is more critical, with less than 20% of women’s representation. To propose public policies or national programs to improve this situation, this paper also presents a review of international initiatives that have succeeded in improving the representation of women in engineering programs.

scholarly journals The Features of Building Integrated Digital Educational Environment for Engineering Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 01015
Author(s):  
Sergey A. Slastnikov ◽  
Denis A. Korolev ◽  
Aleksandr V. Belov
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Educational Environment ◽  
Educational Process

The work describes the approaches and technologies applied in building the digital educational environment for training students of engineering courses in MIEM HSE. Such an environment intended to cover all aspects of the educational process for engineers, considering modern tendentiousness of higher education: particularly, academic and project parts, online and offline components of the educational process.

scholarly journals Why Not STEM? A Study Case on the Influence of Gender Factors on Students’ Higher Education Choice

Mathematics ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Paloma de las Cuevas ◽  
Maribel García-Arenas ◽  
Nuria Rico
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Influence Factors ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education Choice ◽  
Engineering Degree ◽  
Innovative Products ◽  
Study Case ◽  
The Developed Countries

The gender gap in STEM-related job positions is a fact, and it is closely related to the low percentage of women studying STEM degrees. This poses a problem because Europe, as well as the United States and the rest of the developed countries, keep demanding the best engineers and scientists to continue developing innovative products. This problem can thus be approached by answering, firstly, the following question: Why are women not studying STEM degrees? In this paper, we summarize the factors, found in literature, that influence students—both boys and girls—to not study STEM, particularly engineering, computer sciences and technology. We study these influence factors in a sample of N = 338 students from a secondary school placed in the south of Spain; we carry out a survey in order to find out if those students fill out the same answers other researchers have found and published in the related literature. Our main conclusions are as follows: The results confirm that the number of women in technical courses decreases when the level of the course increases; the lack of role models is not an impediment for girls to feel comfortable; unlike boys, girls will not choose engineering, even if their scoring in STEM is good; and we found that girls and women see themselves as not capable of studying an engineering degree more than boys and men do. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the situation regarding the gender gap in STEM fields in ages in which both girls and boys must choose their future studies.

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