ABSTRACT
Women are underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). There are many initiatives which have been implemented in efforts to change this imbalance, including in primary, secondary and third-level institutions. Some are supported by governments, for example, by Science Foundation Ireland in Ireland, by professional bodies, such as IEEE, and by companies. Initiatives are targeted at STEM in general, and at subsets of the discipline. In fact, there are many STEM intervention programmes worldwide from which we in software engineering can learn. The logistics around planning and implementing a STEM intervention programme are many. This is compounded when a programme must quickly pivot and change how it is provided due to external factors. While this paper presents our experience on one STEM intervention, the University of Limerick-Lero/Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D (Women in STEM, Manufacturing and Design) programme, it also discusses and describes the challenges and the opportunities that became apparent when it had to completely change how it was deployed and implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CCS CONCEPTS • Social and Professional Topics • Professional Topics • Computing Education ACM Reference format: Marie Travers, Ita Richardson and Linda Higgins. 2021. Challenges and Opportunities when Deploying a Gender STEM Intervention During a Pandemic. In Proceedings of GE@ICSE conference (GE@ICSE'22). GE@ICSE, Pittsburgh. USA, 8 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3524501.3527596 © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 crisis emphasizes the importance of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), one of today’s most valuable skills, with which learners set their learning goals, monitor and control their cognition, motivation, and behavior, and reflect upon them. In the current experimental study, an intervention program based on short online interactive videos was developed to promote SRL skills. This paper presents the impact of the intervention on students’ use of SRL skills and grades. It also explores four key pedagogical processes (teacher-student relationships, collaboration, autonomy, and feedback) as mediators for SRL strategies use and grades. The experimental and control groups were randomly assigned (N = 290 students, 18 classes, grades 7–12). Each teacher taught the same subject in two classes for a month, an amount of time that allows intervention to take effect. One of the classes participated in the video-based intervention program (experimental group), whereas the other performed all activities but did not have access to the videos (control group). Data was collected through an SRL and pedagogies usage questionnaire, SRL video prompts, and knowledge tests and was analyzed using the quantitative method. In addition to the theoretical contribution, a practical tool has been developed for educators who wish to employ online SRL training. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges for people’s daily life, including family caregivers of older adults with dementia. In addition to the multiple difficulties for daily life and health management, in-person services and support programs for cognitive impairment patients and their caregivers have been called a halt due to frequent quarantine requirements. This pilot study examined a Tele-Savvy Caregiver Program (TSCP) provided by six pairs of undergraduate social work students for 36 informal caregivers of dementia patients. In-depth interviews were used to identify the outcome and feedback from both service recipients and service providers of the online intervention program. Results showed that the program significantly reduced the caregivers’ emotional burden by increasing their disease literacy, reflecting caregiver roles, obtaining stress relief techniques, gaining strengths perspective, establishing social support networks, and reducing stigma. The online intervention experience also improved the social work students as service providers’ disease literacy, practice skills, critical thinking, self-esteem and professional confidence, and sense of social responsibility. This study illustrated that social service and support could be delivered online for caregivers of dementia patients during this challenging pandemic time. Meanwhile, the online intervention program could contribute to a meaningful learning experiences for undergraduate social work students. Therefore, the expanding of this online intervention program in larger population might benefit more needy groups. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has driven the significant and fastest changes to Basic Education in almost all parts of the world, compelled by physical distancing measures preventing face-to-face teaching and learning. This has led to an urgent transition to online distance learning by Basic Education institutions. In response to this, SMCM@HOME: Heightening Opportunities through Marian Education, and its main arm, the SMCM Instructional Delivery Package was designed, developed, implemented, and evaluated. With the result of the evaluation and interviews conducted with stakeholders, an intervention program was developed to address the challenges encountered. The major purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the HOME package and elicit stakeholders' perceptions on how to further improve its implementation. Parents, students, and teachers (N=652) from different levels were the research participants. A descriptive research design using the mixed method was utilized in this study. Quantitative data were extracted from the survey questionnaire while qualitative data were gathered from interviews. Findings revealed that parents, students, and teachers considered accessibility to technology, synchronous time, and level of activities as their common concerns. While both for students and teachers, module content and teacher training were considered as challenges encountered. Additionally, the majority of the parents suggested strengthening the feed backing mechanism to ensure that home-school partnership is given importance. Ultimately, having an intervention program as a key determinant to address concerns in online education may lead to improved satisfaction, learning, and teaching of SMCM parents, students, and teachers. © 2022 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The study aimed to determine the mental health condition of engineering students of Pamantasan ng Cabuyao (PnC) during COVID-19 pandemic and create an intervention program to mitigate the impact of pandemic on mental health condition. The DMADV (Define-Measure-Analyze-Design-Verify) methodology was utilized to clearly discuss the data gathered. The online survey and PHQ (Patient Health Questionnaire)-9 questionnaire were used to determine the mental health condition of the students. The researchers found out that before pandemic there is only a mild experience of negative emotions and feelings. During the pandemic, the score increased which indicated the moderate experience. The three main factors that affects the mental health condition such as personal, social and academic life were also considered. Based on the findings, the pandemic affected the mental health condition of the engineering students. The intervention program was proposed that helped the students coped up with any related mental health issues arising. © 2021 IEEE.