Entrepreneurially-Minded Program Assessment During Emergency Situations: Using Photovoice to Understand Customer (Engineering Student) Needs

CONTEXT: Innovation, design, and entrepreneurship are economic drivers promoting competition and growth throughout the world, many of which would not exist without well-established continuous improvement and new product development processes. Continuous improvement and new product development processes, such as the lean start-up methodology and design thinking, are well known and thriving in the business world due to the vast amount of empirically-grounded research. Unfortunately, educational institutions and researchers, alike, are lagging when it comes to these processes. Although the quantity of new and transformative degree offerings has increased substantially over the past several decades, limited research has been conducted to document key procedures associated with continuous improvement and the creation of new programs. This problem is only exacerbated when considering the role of innovation during emergency situations. PURPOSE OR GOAL: The purpose of this study is to show one approach (using photovoice) to understand how student voices can be incorporated into the continuous improvement and new program development process, specifically during emergency situations. In contrast to traditional passive data collection methods, such as a survey or focus groups, photovoice is an active data collection method where students engage in the information sharing and interpretation process at a deeper level. Using photovoice, researchers and practitioners, alike, can gain greater insights into the who, what, and how of educational effectiveness. The guiding research question is as follows: What are the factors which can influence the discovery, evaluation, and exploitation of continuous improvement and new program development during emergency situations? APPROACH OR METHODOLOGY/METHODS: This approach uses participatory research, wherein students act as researchers and actively participate in the data collection and analysis process. Under the umbrella of participatory research, the study uses photovoice for collecting qualitative data. The study was implemented in a software engineering course at a university located in the United Kingdom. Students responded to the photovoice prompts by supplying both picture and narrative. The prompts target student perceptions (positive and negative) with respect to blended learning perceptions, technology integration, and career preparedness. The qualitative data was analyzed for themes using NVivo. ACTUAL OR ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES: Analysis of the qualitative data led the researchers to identify three core themes related to the blended learning approach implemented as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) Institution - macro level, (2) Instruction - mezzo level, and (3) Student - micro level. CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes with recommendations for various higher education benefactors of the user generated data including administration, faculty, marketing, recruitment, advisors, and the students, themselves. It is intended for the overall recommendations to have a direct impact on improving the student experience. Copyright © Lisa Bosman, Usman Naeem, Eranjan Padumadasa, 2021.

Second-Year Review of the NSF-DoD REU Site: HYPER

The challenges associated with achieving hypersonic flight, developing advanced propulsion systems, and designing reusable launch platforms are strongly interdisciplinary. Exposing undergraduate students to interdisciplinary research is recognized as a means to equip society's future engineers and scientists with the broad skillset necessary to contribute to these areas. The jointly funded NSF-DoD REU site Advanced Technologies for Hypersonic Propulsive, Energetic and Reusable Platforms (HYPER) unites multidisciplinary interests to study advanced structures and systems with application to hypersonics, space, propulsion, and energy. Over the course of two 10-week summer sessions (2019 and 2021), participants have gained hands-on training in contemporary challenges such as: (1) utilizing advanced manufacturing techniques for high-value components, (2) integrating in situ monitoring of stress-strain evolution, (3) developing novel methods for improved internal cooling and heat transfer effectiveness, (4) mitigating flutter through advanced rotor dynamic control, etc. Eleven research projects have been crafted to engage students in PhD-level topics. Many of these challenges rely on approaches that cut across disciplines and research techniques (e.g., experiments and computer simulation). The present reporting serves as a synopsis of challenges, advances, and lessons learned conducting the research thus far. The site HYPER has six core objectives that relate to: (1) preparing students for graduate school and/or research-oriented careers, (2) fostering technical skills in student participants, (3) improving participants' communication skills, (4) marketing to and recruiting a diverse group of participants, and more. Assessment of the program outcomes according to these objectives are reported here with data gathered after two years. Program outcomes were conducted with an external evaluator affiliated within the University of Central Florida's Program Evaluation and Educational Research Group (PEER). Results demonstrate a very effective site with strongly positive outcomes for all participants. Insights are provided so this research effort may be confirmed by other independent sites. It should be noted that the 2020 session was postponed out of an abundance of caution based on the uncertain and evolving conditions facilitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

Design and comparison of a hybrid to a traditional in-person point-of-care ultrasound course.

BACKGROUND: Traditional introductory point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) courses are resource intensive, typically requiring 2-3 days at a remote site, consisting of lectures and hands-on components. Social distancing requirements resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic led us to create a novel hybrid course curriculum consisting of virtual and in-person components. METHODS: Faculty, chief residents, fellows and advanced practice providers (APPs) in the Department of Medicine were invited to participate in the hybrid curriculum. The course structure included 4 modules of recorded lectures, quizzes, online image interpretation sessions, online case discussions, and hands-on sessions at the bedside of course participant's patients. The components of the course were delivered over approximately 8 months. Those participants who completed a minimum of 3 modules over the year were invited for final assessments. Results from the hybrid curriculum cohort were compared to the year-end data from a prior traditional in-person cohort. RESULTS: Participant knowledge scores were not different between traditional (n = 19) and hybrid (n = 24) groups (81% and 84%, respectively, P = 0.9). There was no change in POCUS skills as measured by the hands-on test from both groups at end-of-course (76% and 76%, respectively, P = 0.93). Confidence ratings were similar across groups from 2.73 traditional to 3.0 hybrid (out of possible 4, P = 0.46). Participants rated the course highly, with an average overall rating of 4.6 out 5. CONCLUSIONS: A hybrid virtual and in-person POCUS course was highly rated and as successful as a traditional course in improving learner knowledge, hands-on skill and confidence at 8 months after course initiation. These results support expanding virtual elements of POCUS educational curricula.

Sustainable Program Assessment Practices: A Review of the ABET and NCAAA Computer Information Systems Accreditation Process.

Program outcome assessment is a complex process that demands careful planning and resources in order to accurately assess higher-order thinking skills. A well-defined assessment approach provides detailed insights into program weaknesses and leads to continuous improvement. Whereas a poor assessment approach does not reflect the underlying weaknesses and may result in a useless effort. Furthermore, each accreditation body may have a different recommended outcome measurement approach. As a result, academic institutions may make adhoc choices just to satisfy accreditation requirements rather than designing a sustainable measurement approach. On the other hand, the magnitude of huge tasks for satisfying multiple accreditation bodies results in fatigue and mental stress for academic staff. ABET is a well-known international program accreditation body, and NCAAA is a local accreditation body for academic programs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this paper, we have documented that how a sustainable outcome measurement mechanism can be designed to satisfy both ABET and NCAAA requirements. The core contribution of this paper is relevant specifically for academic programs in the Kingdom striving to meet both ABET and NCAAA requirements and is also relevant for all education programs to design an appropriate program assessment approach to ensure a sustainable process to foster better learning among students.