Abstract:

Context:
During recent times, several changes have occurred in our workforce and educational programs due to the COVID pandemic, and the broad spectrum of social distancing measures all over the world. Such social distancing and travel restriction elements also created a huge challenge in education and career development in the workplace. The wide-reaching effects were felt in all levels of education, from child-care to grad-school programs and beyond.
In our case, when dealing with publication of international standards, and more specifically, the development of educational programs, the challenge was real and impromptu; switching from face-to-face to remote learning was needed on the flip of a coin, and even though, there were eLearnings before the pandemic, those educational programs were meant to supplement other activities and face-to-face experiences.

Purpose or goal:
This paper provides some eLearning and mobile applications developed or improved during COVID pandemic times related to curriculum content programs based on IEEE Standards, and perhaps codes and standards from other organizations as well; and how this content adds value to undergraduate, graduate, and continuing educational programs. This paper will highlight some of the lessons learned from the pandemic, what have we learned, unlearned and relearned. Other relevant content includes detailed information regarding the standards development processes, and how value-added content can boost the career development of those in many engineering and technical fields. It is important to highlight that standards and the content in this paper could be useful to STEM and other innovation fields such as patents, intellectual property, legal, and more. Therefore, not only engineers, but other professionals could benefit from this proposal.

Approach:
Our initial case scenarios focus on the applicability of educational programs directly related to technical standards content. Multiple examples will be presented, and various web-based tools and digital libraries will be used, an open discussion forum can be explored during the paper’s presentation. Several links to supportive tools, libraries, global engagement, etc., will be provided.

Actual or anticipated outcomes:
The project seeks to review some of the options we have experienced and developed during the pandemic and discuss some of the curriculum design elements and technology venues that seem to be working on the mid and long term. The intent is also identify which other elements could play a role in the future of remote learning.

Conclusions/Recommendations/Summary:
This paper is a simple attempt to raise awareness of standards content and how educational programs have been evolving during covid pandemic times. The recommendation to include this content and its applications in current activities in educational programs is simply an attempt to provide general guidance, not to intervene in local educational programs, existing engineering communities and/or their curricula.

References:
[1] National Electrical Safety Code® (NESC®), NESC Mobile App, IEEE Learning Network (ILN), IEEE Standards Association Operations Manual, IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual.

Keywords:

e-learning, curriculum development, Draft Standards, IEEE Standards, IEEE Xplore, Specifications, Standards Development Organization (SDO), STEM.