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1. Big Brother Goes to School: Best Practices for Campus Surveillance Technologies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

   https://doi.org/10.5840/techne2021226135  

   Jenkins, Ryan; Rentz, Zachary I.; Abney, Keith (January 2021, Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology)

   null (Ed.)

   Few sectors are more affected by COVID-19 than higher education. There is growing recognition that reopening the densely populated communities of higher education will require surveillance technologies, but many of these technologies pose threats to the privacy of the very students, faculty, and staff they are meant to protect. The authors have a history of working with our institution’s governing bodies to provide ethical guidance on the use of technologies, especially including those with significant implications for privacy. Here, we draw on that experience to provide guidelines for using surveillance technologies to reopen college campuses safely and responsibly, even under the specter of covid. We aim to generalize our recommendations, so they are sensitive to the practical realities and constraints that universities face. 

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2. A Review of Competency‐Based Learning: Tools, Assessments, and Recommendations

   https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20180  

   Henri, Maria; Johnson, Michael D.; Nepal, Bimal (November 2017, Journal of Engineering Education)

   Abstract BackgroundOver the past decade, there has been a shift in science, technology, engineering and math education, especially in engineering, towards a competency‐based pedagogy. Competency‐based learning (CBL) is an outcome‐based, student‐centered form of instruction where students progress to more advanced work upon mastering the necessary prerequisite content and skills. Many articles have been published on the implementation of CBL in engineering higher education; however, the literature lacks a systematic review that summarizes prior work to inform both future research and practice. PurposeThe purpose of this review is to integrate previous literature as well as identify gaps in competency‐based engineering higher education research. It summarizes the different approaches for implementing CBL, the effects of the pedagogy on student outcomes, tools to enhance its effectiveness, and assessment strategies. In addition, suggestions and recommendations for future research are provided. MethodEngineering education articles were obtained from several EBSCO educational databases. The search was limited to articles published from 2005‐2015, and inclusion criteria consisted of peer‐reviewed journal articles that address the use of CBL in engineering higher education. Articles were then classified into several categories, summarized, and evaluated. ConclusionsTheoretical and applied perspectives are provided that address both the theoretical basis for the effectiveness of CBL and practical aspects of implementing successful CBL instruction in engineering education. There are gaps in the literature regarding how CBL programs should be structured and assessed. Future research directions include empirical quantitative evaluation of CBL's pedagogical effectiveness and the use of CBL for teaching professional skills. 

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3. A Validity Argument for a Brief Assessment of Mature Number Sense

   https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc-2022-0071  

   Kirkland, Patrick K.; Cheng, Ying; McNeil, Nicole M. (January 2024, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education)

   This Brief Report presents an example of assessment validation using an argument-based approach. The instrument we developed is a Brief Assessment of Students’ Mature Number Sense, which measures a central goal in mathematics education. We chose to develop this assessment to provide an efficient way to measure the effect of instructional practices designed to improve students’ number sense. Using an argument-based framework, we first identify our proposed interpretations and uses of student scores. We then outline our argument with three claims that provide evidence connecting students’ responses on the assessment with its intended uses. Finally, we highlight why using argument-based validation benefits measure developers as well as the broader mathematics education community. 

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4. Critical, Motivated, Hopeful: Empowering Students Through Sociotechnical Data Science Ethics Education

   https://doi.org/10.5840/tej202478152  

   Özkan, Desen S; Rabb, Nicholas (January 2024, Teaching Ethics)

   Ethics education and societal understandings are critical to an education in engineering. However, researchers have found that students do not always see ethics as a part of engineering. In this paper, we present a sociotechnical approach to teaching ethics around the topic of surveillance technology in an interdisciplinary, co-designed and co-taught course. We describe and reflect on our curricular and pedagogical approach that uplifts cross-disciplinary dialogue, social theoretical frameworks to guide ethical thinking, and highlighting collective action and resistance in our course content and praxis to inspire students. Through a reflexive thematic analysis of student reflection writing, we examine the ways students relate society and technology, generate ethical skills and questions, and are motivated to act. We find that, in fact, this approach resonates with student experience and desire for discipline-specific ethical analysis, and is highly motivating. 

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5. Assessing Emotional Balance in Higher Education: Lessons from an Engineering Department in the United States

   Appelhans, S; Thomas, R; Thomas, S; Thompson, M S; Cheville, RA (September 2024, Human Development and Capability Association)

   In the wake of COVID-19, student mental health has become a cause for concern in American universities, given rising rates of anxiety and depression amongst college-age youth. Faculty and administrators are beginning to take note of longstanding calls for a more holistic view of student life, acknowledging the impact that students’ emotional well-being has on their ability to learn. The capabilities approach is well suited to this challenge, offering a holistic account of opportunities and barriers students experience in college. Emotions are a prominent factor in many capabilities lists, including that of “emotional balance”, meaning the “ability to deal with challenges and stress”, or the “ability to be happy” (Walker et al. 2022:58). Education literature demonstrates that students’ ability to learn is significantly influenced by their emotional state (Immordino-Yang 2007, Phye et al. 2007). Positive emotions can stimulate students’ motivation to learn, while negative emotions such as anxiety or fear may cause students to withdraw. Emotional states are difficult to measure, which creates a need for assessment tools to evaluate students’ emotional capabilities in higher education. In this paper, we draw upon focus group outcomes and life-history interviews (n=24) with college seniors in an Electrical & Computer Engineering department in the United States to develop an assessment tool for emotional balance. We conducted a content analysis of the focus group and interview data, using qualitative codes that correspond with our capabilities list, material resources, and conversion factors. We then selected four case studies that demonstrate the importance of emotional balance, which were reviewed by the research team using consensus coding techniques (Stemler 2019, Harry et al. 2005). These case studies reveal the complex intersections between “emotional balance” and other higher education capabilities. Emotional imbalance may be exacerbated by a lack of structural support for emotional wellbeing on campus. However, in some cases, students may find more emotional support in campus environments than they find at home, making the university a place where emotional resilience is fostered. From this qualitative data, we generated an assessment tool that can be adapted for use by higher education administration. The assessment tool includes a survey element for collecting responses from students, along with a structural analysis to understand whether adequate support exists to help students navigate moments of emotional distress. This research will help operationalize the capabilities approach to make it more easily adaptable to other universities. 

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