Engineering in a pandemic: the impact of remote working and learning on quality of work produced

CONTEXT COVID-19 has shocked the globe since December 2019, with unprecedented international and domestic travel restrictions and self-isolation policies enacted by governments around the world. With lockdown policies in place in hopes of preventing further spread of this disease, there has been a widespread transition into learning and working from home - causing a paradigm shift in traditional working and learning cultures. PURPOSE OR GOAL This study aims to investigate the effects of transitioning into remote learning and working on the quality of work produced, specifically by electrical and electronic engineers in Australia. The objective is to identify factors relating to an individual's ability to produce self-defined quality work and identify any emerging themes due to the change in learning and working environments. APPROACH OR METHODOLOGY/METHODS A total of six participants, consisting of five students and one senior engineer, was recruited and interviewed. Each brought their own unique perspective on the matter via semi-structured interviews where they were asked questions regarding their learning/working experience before and during remote learning/working. Defining quality working through the epistemology of practice, cooperative work and self-efficacy, and connectivity, the researchers investigated how the ability to produce quality work has been affected due to the change in learning/working environment. OUTCOMES The representative data indicated that feedback, open collaboration, and team rapport were the three key contributing factors to quality work during this transition to learning/working remotely. Feedback and collaboration contributed positively to quality work and a strong team rapport further augmented the individual's ability to produce quality work. CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS/SUMMARY This study provides an initial impression on the topic and invites further study to establish a deeper understanding behind the contributing factors towards quality work. Further studies into different engineering disciplines or a larger sample size to establish a larger data set is recommended to extract richer conclusions. Copyright © Tan, Marinelli, Male & Hassan, 2021.

Creating inclusive engineering and computer science classes - The impact of COVID-19 on student experiences and perceptions of gender inclusivity

The global COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a rapid shift by universities to online and remote education. This paper contributes to understanding of gender inclusive learning in face to face and virtual educational environments, specifically in the context of teamwork within engineering and computer science classes. Students' experiences and perceptions of gender inclusive teamwork before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were collected using an online survey (N = 217). A principal component analysis revealed five components in students' reported experiences: Psychological Safety, Perceptions of the Facilitator, Confidence, Respect for Diversity, and Perceived Fairness. A multivariate analysis of covariance with gender and semester (before or during COVID-19) as the independent variables and age as the covariance found main effects only. Students' perceived psychological safety and confidence were higher in the online teamwork during COVID-19 than in the previous semester of face-to-face teamwork. The result is reassuring, as it indicates, consistent with other literature, that inclusion in student teamwork is likely to be improved when online elements are introduced. © 2021 IEEE.

Emergency healthcare facilities: managing design in a post COVID-19 world

During the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused an unprecedented health and economic crisis around the globe, several countries, like China and the UK, developed makeshift hospitals by converting public venues of other intended use to medical facilities, aiming to achieve in very little time a substantial upgrade of the health system's capacity. This paper utilizes the available experience from these makeshift hospitals with the aim to shed light on the critical design parameters and delivery paradigm for effectively futureproofing design development in the context of emergency healthcare needs. IEEE