ABSTRACT
The education system in Pakistan is suffering a lot of challenges in this modern world of advanced technologies. The engineering and technical education system is implementing modern techniques to improve the quality of education. The current disaster of coronavirus has badly affected the operation of engineering education in Pakistan, and student and faculty members are suffering from several issues in implementing a successful online education of digital semester. Each stakeholder has their own problems to make online education efficient. A questionnaire survey has been conducted with students as well as faculty members of engineering disciplines from different institutions. Different problems and issues are discussed with both stakeholders to observe the flaws which have been suffered by Pakistan’s higher education in the engineering sector. The effect of teacher’s academic profile, their attitude, professional field experience and advanced skills were discussed with 1000 students randomly. Similarly, 100 faculty members were questioned regarding the problems of the digital education system and pandemic effects on their performance. Various observations are concluded with this short survey-based research, and some suggestions are provided to improve the quality of education in this pandemic situation. The proposed solutions include the training sessions for teachers to get quipped with digital technologies, enforcement of lab sessions by opening all institutions at least one day a week, and professional experience requirements for the eligibility of academic staff. © Pakistan Academy of Sciences.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To explore emergent values for community-based peer support in three projects and use of peer research methodology. Background: Peer support refers to the support people with shared lived experiences provide to each other. Its roots are in the civil rights movement, providing alternatives to clinical treatments. This method of support is delivered in different settings, with varying degrees of structure. In this paper, it includes shared experience of mental health issues. Methods: We reviewed interview data from two evaluations and one development project - mental health (n = 69), women-only (n = 40), and maternal mental health (n = 24), respectively. Each project used peer research methods. Peer support values from each project were compared, along with reflections from mostly peer researchers who worked on them (n = 11). Results: Six peer support values emerged and were found to be identifiable and applicable in different contexts. Decisions on facilitation and leadership varied across projects and generated some concerns over professionalisation, including non-peer leadership. Frameworks were viewed as broadly useful, but peer support is heterogenous, and peer researchers were concerned about over-rigid application of guidance. Discussion: We propose caution applying frameworks for peer support. Values must remain flexible and peer-led, evolving in new contexts such as COVID-19. Evaluators have a responsibility to consider any potentially negative consequences of their work and mitigate them. This means ensuring research outputs are useful to the peer support community, and knowledge production is based upon methodologies, such as peer research, that complement and are consistent with the values of peer support itself.