Why are we here? Student perspectives on the goal of STEM higher education

Why are We Here? The Educational Value Model (EVM) as a Framework to Investigate the Role of Students’ Professional Identity Development

“…The central question to address in this investigation is: "Why are we here?" going back to earlier work by [1]. Furthermore, we reason about potential tensions between the different perspectives these players present.…”

“…The 'Why are we here?' framework [1] bases a theory for reasoning about the interplay between beliefs and motivations of different stakeholders in higher education, and its effect on students professional identity formation on the Reasoned Action Approach.…”

“…Drawing on examples from previous literature, we describe motivations for professional identity development in higher computing and IT education from different perspectives. We use the Educational Value Model (EVM) [1] as a structure and the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA) [43] to motivate that different players' beliefs underly their behaviors. That students' beliefs of motivations are important for their learning has previously been recognised [47], but in this work, we also acknowledge the importance of teacher and structural beliefs and discuss how these beliefs may affect the interactions between players.…”

Modelling competencies for computing education beyond 2020: a research based approach to defining competencies in the computing disciplines

“…Developing competencies is not an easy process, partly due to the fact that different stakeholder groups take different perspectives. Employers, students and academic staff all have their own unique view of the goals of education [66], and also the competencies needed to practice the various computing professions. In addition we can ask, what does society at large demand, and what constitutes professionalism and quality when we discuss competency frameworks [79]?…”

“…"Instructors face a dilemma: on the one hand they are uncomfortable with processes that can be seen to judge their students' worth, but on the other hand they are constrained to ensure the moral sensibility of their professional graduates" [31]. This tension is central to understanding the purpose(s) of computing education [65] and instructors' roles therein.…”