Institution-Wide Reform of Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology

在许多高等教育机构中，学生们的本科课程（尤其是入门课程）是在非交互式的基于讲座的模块中教授的，这种模块允许很少的师生互动和很少的学生积极参与。通常这种教学模式的基本原理是任何其他方式的高成本。我们希望用互动的、动手的、以学生为中心的环境取代许多被动的以讲座为基础的课程。伦斯勒的工作室课程（数学，物理，化学，生物，工程等）已经开发出来，可以取代传统的科学，数学和工程的讲座/背诵/实验课程，以保证更高质量的课程，更大的教育效果和成本控制。要做到这一点，我们必须打破高成本/高质量课程作为低成本/低质量课程的替代方案的旧模式。我们想要高质量/价格合理的课程。虽然传统的大规模招生讲座式课程可能成本较低，但有充分证据表明，从有效性、学生出勤率和学生满意度来看，它们通常质量较低。该项目由各学科的教师共同领导，共同创造这些新环境。所有的学校、所有的院系、所有的课程都在同时进行改革。课程改革由课程改革实施小组（CRIT）根据教务委员会的授权进行管理。所有更改都由教务院课程委员会审查和批准。最终的结果是为我们的学生提供一个更好的学习场所，为我们的教师提供一个更好的教学场所。

Students at many institutions of higher education are taught their undergraduate courses (especially the introductory courses) in non-interactive lecture based modules that allow for little faculty student interaction and little active student involvement. Often the rationale for this mode of instruction is the high cost of doing it any other way. We wish to replace many of the passive lecture based courses with interactive, hands-on, student-centered environments. The Studio Courses at Rensselaer (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and others) have been developed to allow the replacement of the traditional lecture/recitation/laboratory courses in science, mathematics, and engineering with an alternative that promises a far higher quality course, greater educational effectiveness, and cost containment. To do this we had to break the old paradigm of high-cost/high quality courses as alternatives to low-cost/low quality courses. We wanted high-quality/reasonable cost courses. While traditional large enrolment lecture based courses can be low-cost, there is ample evidence that they are usually low-quality as measured by effectiveness, student attendance, and student satisfaction. This project is led by faculty from each discipline working together to create these new environments. Reform is taking place in all schools, all departments, and in numerous courses at the same time. The curriculum reform is managed by the Curriculum Reform Implementation Team (CRIT) under a mandate from the Faculty Senate. All changes are reviewed and approved by the Faculty Senate curriculum Committee. The end result is a better place for our students to learn and a better place for our faculty to teach.