A space-time model for analyzing contagious people based on geolocation data using inverse graphs

Mobile devices provide us with an important source of data that capture spatial movements of individuals and allow us to derive general mobility patterns for a population over time. In this article, we present a mathematical foundation that allows us to harmonize mobile geolocation data using differential geometry and graph theory to identify spatial behavior patterns. In particular, we focus on models programmed using Computer Algebra Systems and based on a space-time model that allows for describing the patterns of contagion through spatial movement patterns. In addition, we show how the approach can be used to develop algorithms for finding ”patient zero” or, respectively, for identifying the selection of candidates that are most likely to be contagious. The approach can be applied by information systems to evaluate data on complex population movements, such as those captured by mobile geolocation data, in a way that analytically identifies, e.g., critical spatial areas, critical temporal segments, and potentially vulnerable individuals with respect to contact events. © 2023 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press.

Perceptions of Engineering Faculty Members of Online Teaching Due to COVID-19

The global pandemic situation posed the challenge of modifying teaching at all educational levels. Higher education also had to transform its face-to-face learning, to distance teaching. This paper focuses on the faculty members' perception about the sudden change that they had to make to maintain a high-quality teaching in the context of a Spanish technical university. An ad-hoc survey was responded by 577 faculty members. It analyzed the effort and time spent compared to their previous teaching, the use of different ICTs, the difficulties perceived and their preferences of future teaching and training modalities. The faculty show that it has been much costlier than usual, regardless of their age or seniority. There has been progress in ICT knowledge and use, especially for faculty members who have not received prior training, and 57% of faculty members intend to incorporate modifications in their future teaching, such as new resources and materials, after-class questionnaires and distance mentoring. In any case, the older and with higher category faculty are inclined towards the face-to-face format for future teaching, while the younger ones and from initial professional categories bet on digitization to some extent. The online assessment stands out as a great difficulty. Also, the students' low participation, the greater workload and time spent and the inability to receive feedback from students due to lack of eye or personal contact have been pointed out as the difficulties to carry out adequate monitoring. In short, the digital divide in university teaching has found in the emergency remote teaching an opportunity to promote the improvement of learning, facilitating the revision of pedagogical approaches, updating methodologies and evaluation strategies that will promote the digital transformation of university education.

Training STEAM educators in the COVID-19 emergency situation: Redesigning teaching

With the irruption of the COVID-19, the Institute for Educational Sciences (ICE) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), specialized in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) educators’ training, had to redesign its programs. This abrupt adaptation was conducted relying on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) that faculty and students had not all previously handled. A comparison of students’ opinions comparing pre-COVID face-to-face teaching and COVID distance teaching was carried out. Analyses show that eLearning during COVID has, in general, affected objectives, contents and pedagogical performance. Although participants value the efforts of the professors to adapt their teaching to a new situation, all indicators decreased, except in one program. Consequently, the ICE’s programs need to be re-designed to meet their students’ demands, as it is not enough to literally apply face-to-face teaching to a virtual distance environment. It is necessary to transform the educational practice, including diverse learning activities for competences´ achievement. Furthermore, the ICE, as a center specialized in teacher training, has a huge responsibility in helping UPM faculty to move forward, providing training in all the areas needed for a transition from face-to-face and blended Learning (b-Learning) teaching to its combination with bimodal synchronous teaching (d-Learning), as future generations will demand these multiple modalities. © 2020 IEEE.