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The purpose of the current study is to assess Omani teachers’ performance on tasks related to the stages of engineering design. To achieve this, data from an engineering design test was used, and demographic variables that are correlated with this performance were identified.

This descriptive study employed a cross-sectional design and the collection of quantitative data. A sample of preservice science teachers from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) (n = 70) participated in this study.

Findings showed low and moderate levels of proficiency related to the stages of engineering design. Differences between males and females in terms of performance on engineering design tasks were found, with females scoring higher overall on the assessment. Biology preservice teachers scored higher than teachers from the other two majors (physics and chemistry) in two subscales. There were also differences between teachers studying in the Bachelor of Science (BSc) program and the teacher qualification diploma (TQD) program.

This study provides an overview, in an Arab setting, of preservice science teachers’ proficiency with engineering design process (EDP) tasks. It is hoped that the results may lead to improved instruction in science teacher training programs in similar contexts. Additionally, this research demonstrates how EDP competency relates to preservice teacher gender, major and preparation program. Findings from this study will contribute to the growing body of research investigating the strengths and shortcomings of teacher education programs in relation to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

This study investigates a novel educational strategy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching that integrates the engineering design process (EDP) as a framework. The strategy aims to help teachers explain STEM concepts in a simplified way. We employed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology to enable a systematic review that evaluated the effectiveness of this approach in improving both teaching and learning in STEM subjects.

In order to fulfill the objectives of the review, key data were extracted from each of the 400 articles that were reviewed from three databases: Scopus, ProQuest Central and EBSCO. Two types of analysis were conducted, namely descriptive analysis and literature classification.

This systematic review analyzed 44 articles on the EDP, focusing on 18 detailed studies mainly from ProQuest, SCOPUS and EBSCO. It revealed a limited focus on gender’s impact on EDP and a trend toward interdisciplinary use and integrated research approaches. The study underscores the need for further exploration of demographic influences and preparation programs in EDP across various disciplines, aiming to inform future research and educational policies.

The study’s value lies in its comprehensive assessment of engineering design (ED) research over the past decade, serving as a key reference point. It highlights progress in the field, consolidates findings and provides insights into the field’s evolution, guiding future research directions in ED.

The study aims to identify the key advantages/enablers and disadvantages/barriers of augmented reality (AR) implementation in education through existing reviews. It also examines whether these factors differ across educational domains.

This study conducted a systematic review of reviews to synthesize evidence on the barriers and enablers influencing AR adoption in education. Searches were performed across five databases, with 27 reviews meeting the inclusion criteria. Data extraction and quality assessment were completed. Content analysis was conducted using the AR adoption factor model and consolidated framework for implementation research.

The findings reveal several enablers such as pedagogical benefits, skill development and engagement. Equally, multiple barriers were identified, including high costs, technical issues, curriculum design challenges and negative attitudes. Interestingly, duality emerged, whereby some factors served as both barriers and enablers depending on the educational context.

This review contributes a novel synthesis of the complex individual, organizational and technological factors influencing AR adoption in education across diverse domains. The identification of duality factors provides nuanced understanding of the multifaceted dynamics shaping AR integration over time. The findings can assist educators in tailoring context-sensitive AR implementation strategies to maximize benefits and minimize drawbacks. Further research should explore duality factors and their interrelationships in AR adoption.

Over the years, at the international level, the social construction assumption according to which women would be less innovative than men and, consequently, also less prone to be involved in innovative fields, since their educational path decisions to career path decisions, has long prevailed. This has resulted in a widespread lack of representation of women in more innovative sectors, in comparison to their male counterparts. In recent years then, if the pandemic has had an impact, at least for some specific socio-economic contexts, especially on those that can be typically considered as ‘necessity entrepreneurs’, it has to be said that it has been able also to generate some virtuous dynamics crosswise related to innovative issues. In particular, this chapter aims to go in depth into these issues from the perspective of innovative women entrepreneurs in the attempt to answer to the following questions: how does the socio-economic environment affect innovative women entrepreneurs? And, what are the unique experiences, achievements and contributions of innovative women entrepreneurs in Italy? In order to answer to these specific research questions, an analysis based on direct interviews with a sample of Italian innovative women entrepreneurs has been conducted.

The job satisfaction of university graduates can serve as an indicator of success in their professional development. At the same time, it can be a measure of higher education systems’ effectiveness. The purpose is to assess the relationship of university graduates’ socio-demographic characteristics, aspects of their degree program, experiences in the labor market and current working conditions and their job satisfaction.

The data were collected from a survey conducted at 11 Chilean universities with 534 graduates. An ordinal logistic regression model was fit to calculate job satisfaction probabilities for different graduate profiles.

The results show that sex, field of study, gross salary and horizontal match are related to graduates’ job satisfaction. Men and graduates in education and humanities are more likely to report being satisfied with their current job. Those graduates receiving higher salaries and those who are horizontally well-matched report higher levels of job satisfaction.

This study contributes to expanding knowledge about the job satisfaction of university graduates. Specifically, based on the results obtained, it introduces the idea of aspiration fulfillment as a possible determinant of job satisfaction in different fields of study. This can serve as a starting point for research that delves into differentiated expectations for graduates from different disciplines.

This pan-Canadian study examines the information practices of STEM-trained immigrant women to Canada as they navigate workfinding and workplace integration. Our study focuses on a population of highly skilled immigrant women from across Canada and uses an information practice lens to examine their lived experiences of migration and labour market integration. As highly trained STEM professionals in pursuit of employment, our participants have specific needs and challenges, and as we explore these, we consider the intersection of their information practices with government policies, settlement services and the hiring practices of STEM employers.

We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with 74 immigrant women across 13 Canadian provinces and territories to understand the nature of their engagement with employment-seeking in STEM sectors. This article reports the findings related to the settlement and information experiences of the immigrant women as they navigate new information landscapes.

As immigrants, as women and as STEM professionals, the experiences of the 74 participants reflect both marginality and privilege. The reality of their intersectional identities is that these women may not be well-served by broader settlement resources targeting newcomers, but neither are the specific conventions of networking and job-seeking in the STEM sectors in Canada fully apparent or accessible to them. The findings also point to the broader systemic and contextual factors that participants have to navigate and that shape in a major way their workfinding journeys.

The findings of this pan-Canadian study have theoretical and practical implications for policy and research. Through interviews with these STEM professionals, we highlight the barriers and challenges of an under-studied category of migrants (the highly skilled and “desirable” type of immigrants). We provide a critical discussion of their settlement experiences and expose the idiosyncrasies of a system that claims to value skilled talent while structurally making it very difficult to deliver on its promises to recruit and retain highly qualified personnel. Our findings point to specific aspects of these skilled professionals’ experiences, as well as the broader systemic and contextual factors that shape their workfinding journey.

This study explores the opportunities for a gender-inclusive architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, focussing on the gap between architectural education and practice. This study focusses on three research questions: (1) What factors influence women architects' career retention and advancement in the AEC industry? How can practice outcomes be linked with educational approaches for gender inclusion in the AEC industry? (3) What critical factors can enable structural changes in architecture education, including AEC-related subjects and practice/career pathways towards gender equity?

This paper is based on a systematic literature review (SLR). The established timeframe for selecting papers in this study considered the last 20 years, as various seminal studies in feminism and gender inclusion in architecture emerged in the early 2000s through the definition of keywords used in two prestigious databases. The academic articles selected were filtered through a process of inclusion and exclusion, following criteria for suitability and relevance using a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) diagram.

This study revealed key trends in the literature review consistent with the research questions, including (1) the disproportionate struggles women face at individual, interpersonal and organisational levels and the gender-based bias from entry and progression in the AEC industry that also requires multi-level interventions; (2) traditional architecture education affects female students and educators who find networking, social capital and leadership opportunities to challenge gender-based stereotypes and promote workplace equity, and finally, (3) observe enablers for fostering equity in architecture and education, which should not be limited to policy-driven interventions but structural transformations through transparency, mentorship, leadership, awareness raising and empowerment of women and men, promoting inclusivity and gender equity in the AEC industry.

This study considers a global understanding of gender equity in the AEC industry, regional and country-specific analysis needs to be considered in future studies. The study's focus is on women’s inclusion, acknowledging the limitations of conventional binary gender concepts; future studies need to include the experiences of LGBTI + communities and other underrepresented groups. The literature review considers only academic articles; future research should also consider industry reports, government initiatives and organisational documents for a broader understanding of diversity efforts in business.

This paper observes the issues for gender-inclusive architecture within the context of a male-dominant AEC industry through linking architectural education and practice. Studies rarely focus on this link and address workplace issues. This study highlights this link and extends the discussion through the critical literature review, providing a new ground for geographic-specific or intersectional studies.

Racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs and careers. Peer mentoring is one strategy that can support their participation. This study explores the experiences of Black women peer mentors in an online peer mentoring program at two historically Black institutions.

A qualitative case study approach was utilized to explore the impact of an online peer mentoring program on peer mentors' STEM self-efficacy, sense of community, STEM identity and intent to persist in STEM.

Analysis identified five themes relating to peer mentors' experiences in the program: (1) an “I can do this” approach: confidence and self-efficacy; (2) utility of like others; (3) “beacons of light”: intersecting and malleable identities; (4) skills development and (5) motivation and reciprocity. Further, challenges of the online relationship were shared.

The study contributes to the body of knowledge by demonstrating the utility of an online peer mentoring model among women mentors enrolled in STEM programs at two historically Black institutions. The findings support those who are historically marginalized in participating in and remaining in STEM.

The attention of scholars and policy makers towards the topic of innovation has consistently increased, especially in recent years. This is justified by the fact that innovation undoubtedly plays, today, a crucial role in driving a country’s economic growth, improving productivity and, more generally, enhancing overall societal well-being.

When the discourse around innovation focuses on its economic dimension, the strong intertwinement with entrepreneurship emerges. In line with this, focusing on research on innovation in organisations and, especially, innovation in relation to the figure of the entrepreneur is considered, plenty of studies have been carried on, over time, in many disciplines, analysing the role of the entrepreneur in relation to innovation from various different angles. However, especially when management studies are considered, we can notice a poor consideration of the role played by the gender of the entrepreneur. In line with this consideration, by means of a systematic literature review, this chapter aims to fill this literature gap focusing on the intertwinement that can be envisaged, in management studies, among the issues of entrepreneurship and innovation in the case of women-owned firms.

This paper aims first to describe the most prevalent teachers’ and students’ behaviors in synchronous online classes in emergency remote teaching; second, to discern behavior profiles and third, to investigate what features explain the observed behaviors.

An adapted COPUS observation protocol was employed to observe 292 online classes from 146 higher education teachers.

The most prevalent behaviors were: Presenting for teachers and Receiving for students, followed by Teachers Guiding and Students Talking to Class. Furthermore, cluster analysis showed two groups: Traditional and Interactive. The variables that better explained belonging to the Interactive lecture group were disciplinary area – social sciences and humanities –and teaching in technical institutions.

In a context where higher education institutions intend to project the lessons learned into post-pandemic learning experiences, this study provides observational evidence to realize the full potential expected from online and blended teaching and learning.

Despite the prevalence of synchronous online lectures during COVID-19, there is a paucity of observational studies on the actual behaviors that occurred in this context. Most research has been based on surveys and interviews. This study addresses this gap.