As demand for research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) grows, institutions face challenges in scaling access while maintaining quality and impact. This study explores two models for delivering REUs: (1) online research experiences offered part-time during the academic year, and (2) traditional in-person summer research programs in which students reside on campus and work full-time. By comparing these approaches across metrics such as student engagement, skill development, mentorship quality, and long-term academic trajectories, we examine the trade-offs between flexibility and immersion. Preliminary findings suggest that online academic-year experiences can reach a broader and more diverse population of students, particularly those constrained by geographic, financial, or personal obligations. However, the in-person summer model continues to offer intensive community-building and hands-on collaboration that can deepen disciplinary identity and persistence in research careers. This work highlights how learning at scale (enabled by online platforms) can complement but not wholly replace the immersive benefits of residential programs. We propose the online model as a promising strategy to equitably expand access to high-impact research experiences.

In today's higher education landscape, governments expect higher education institutions to offer learners ‘value’ in ensuring they successfully complete their degree programmes and secure graduate employment. However, a significant challenge is that learners often fail to see the connections between what they learn and what prospective employers require. In addition, learners can struggle to self-reflect on their skills, leading to underselling themselves in job applications. In response, the work in this paper presents the ‘mySkills’ framework, which not only enables learners to see connections between core skills and prospective employment opportunities but can also equip them with a professional identity and a record of accomplishments and experiences that they can showcase to potential employers. One of the aims of ‘mySkills' is to support learners in establishing their personal brand and taking ownership of their career development. In this paper, we report our findings of the second year (2022/23) of this framework, where the ‘mySkills’ tasks are now summative assessments in anchor modules. We compare the engagement levels of two cohorts who have been enrolled in the programmes at the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London. Our findings show that this framework can incentivise learners towards active engagement in employability initiatives. There is certainly potential for institutions to leverage the ‘mySkills’ framework as a mechanism to promote career readiness among their learners.

Computer Science (CS) programmes in higher education institutions worldwide have seen unprecedented growth in learners, which has presented educators with several challenges. These include teaching large classes while simultaneously measuring learner engagement. CS programmes tend to have large first-year programming classes, as this is a core subject for all learners, which can lead to an environment where learners start to disengage due to feeling anonymous and lacking support. As we enter the post-pandemic era, institutions have started to adopt a hybrid approach to teaching and learning, which paves the way for educators to analyse data from learning management systems and on-campus learning activities (lectures, seminars, labs) to measure learner engagement and identify learners who are struggling and require further support. The work in this paper describes the adaptation of an online pedagogic framework during the hybrid delivery of a first-year web programming module, which includes a hybrid practical lab coordination system to conduct learner engagement analytics to support learners.

Learner retention and employability are important metrics within the higher education sector, which places an onus on higher education institutions to ensure learners not only complete their degree programmes but also get employed in graduate-level roles after graduation. Given the competency nature of Computer Science (CS) and Electronic Engineering (EE) programmes, it is easier for these CS/EE learners (in comparison to other majors throughout the university) to demonstrate the skills required by employers within the digital sector. However, a challenge exists in that it can be difficult for learners to see the connections between the core skills taught in their modules and occupational areas. The work in this paper describes ‘mySkills’, which is a reflective framework that allows learners to track and reflect on their skills-level progression throughout their degree programme. This framework was introduced in the academic year 2021/22 as a pilot within the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science.

Over the last decade, there has been a gradual increase in the number of learners on Computer Science-based programmes, which in turn has led to a situation where educators have been teaching large classes. This is a challenge, as it can be difficult for educators to provide personalised support for each learner. The pandemic has only exasperated this further, given the online delivery of courses. The work in this paper describes the implementation of a pedagogic framework that was deployed during the delivery of a flrst-year web programming module. The motivation behind the development of this framework was driven by the need to facilitate an online learning environment for a large class, which adapted existing pedagogic approaches such as problem and project-based learning with the view to enabling learners to develop their problem-solving skills. In addition to this, an online lab co-ordination system was formulated to measure engagement and provide support to the learners.

The entrepreneurial mindset is defined as the inclination to discover, evaluate, and exploit opportunities. One approach to developing the entrepreneurial mindset is through evidence-based decision-making, which has the potential to lower costs, improve quality of life, and even save lives by understanding learning patterns and trends related to data, in general, and big data, specifically. As a result, data science solutions are being increasingly deployed in the business world, and the growth of publicly accessible data provides a significant opportunity to transform educational efforts related to data science. This is of particular importance to the engineering and computer science fields given the increasing focus on big data and evidence-based decicision making. As such, the purpose of this study is to report on one approach to developing the entrepreneurial mindset through integrating evidence-based decision making into the engineering and technology classroom using Microsoft Power BI Desktop, a freely available tool released by Microsoft in September 2013. The study was assessed using a mixed methods approach, including a rubric to measure demonstration of the entrepreneurial mindset and metacognitive reflection to better understand student awareness of learning. The findings were categorized into two key themes related to each high performing and low performing groups. The high performers (1) expressed more concerns related to the "big picture" and "critical thinking" based challenges primarily focused on the research and solution, and (2) articulated coping habits and methods used to overcome stress. The low performers (1) highlighted challenges related to time management and procrastination and (2) confusion about project requirements and how to do the required tasks (which is believed to be attributed to missing classes). Lessons learned and recommendations are provided.