National Dissemination Project for Improving Undergraduate Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) Education

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This project is exploring the effectiveness of designing faculty and administrator development workshops to improve undergraduate education around a coherent reform agenda for undergraduate education in SMET, rather than focusing on single topics such as the teaching of an introductory science. Workshops and supporting materials are being designed to cover four themes of the reform movement in undergraduate SMET education: (1) ensuring that advances in science and technology are incorporated into undergraduate courses, (2) taking advantage of improvements in educational technology, (3) establishing strong K-16 connections, and (4) adapting undergraduate curricula to accommodate new workforce needs and the needs of an increasing diverse student body. Two one-week institutes titled "Keystone Summer Institutes" are planned. One institute will be an umbrella for two workshops focused on the reform of undergraduate SMET education from the departmental and disciplinary perspective. The second institute will deal with issues of reform from an institutional perspective. It plans to build on the themes addressed at the forthcoming Project Kaleidoscope 10th Anniversary Workshop in October, 1999. The institutes are designed to accommodate relatively large institutional teams and will be examined for effectiveness in supporting reform of undergraduate SMET education in large universities. This project is also examining the needs of faculty, departments, and institutions after completing participation in a reform workshop. In the past, workshop participants have largely been on their own after a workshop has ended, and further discussions of (and planning for) reform on a given campus have largely depended on the enthusiasm and energy of the faculty and administrator teams that attended. This project will produce a coherent set of print materials and electronic materials for use before, during, and after a workshop on institutional reform of undergraduate education. This is possible because experience has demonstrated that reform follows the same general path no matter what the specific education focus, fueled by similar perceptions of opportunities and value, and facing similar barriers.