ESE: IM Extension Services in Engineering: Improving Instruction and Mentoring to Retain Undergraduate Women

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The Stevens Institute of Technology along with WEPAN and other partners will deliver an Extension Service project that will include training, materials, technical assistance, and mini-grants to improve instruction in engineering and faculty mentoring skills, using research-based strategies to enhance retention of undergraduate women of all races and ethnicities. The project will serve 30 engineering colleges over a five year period. Intellectual Merit. Using a train-the-trainer model, the project brings together a team of nationally recognized, expert trainers who developed and tested the research-based strategies being used in this project, including: ? Using relevant and engaging applications in engineering and STEM gateway courses ? Using activities to improve student spatial visualization skills ? Building faculty knowledge and skill to mentor students. Experts will train three-five person, university-based teams to serve as Extension Agents. Agents will train and work with Practitioners?faculty who teach 1st and 2nd year engineering and STEM Gateway Courses?to use new knowledge and practices. The overarching goal is to increase the capacity of engineering colleges to retain undergraduate women in engineering. Selected strategies and activities will be implemented in support of the overall goal. Desired project outcomes are: ? All 30 participating universities will conduct training in the three research-based strategies. ? All 30 participating universities will integrate relevant applications in their courses. ? At least 95% of the participating universities will integrate spatial visualization skills into their curriculum. ? More than 50% of the faculty in 1st and 2nd year engineering courses and STEM Gateway courses will participate in mentor training. ? More than 50% of the faculty in 1st and 2nd year engineering courses and STEM Gateway courses will integrate relevant applications in their courses. Broader Impact. The project will directly impact up to 150 Agents at 30 US engineering schools. These Agents will then impact the behavior of engineering faculty at their institutions, improving students' instructional experience. The resources of the project including an on-line manual, archived webinars and tools developed under the Virtual Learning Community will be widely available on the project website and through links from engineering education and women in science websites. With these resources, interested faculty can change their own classes. Information about the project, its resources, strategies and effectiveness will be widely communicated using traditional methods but also using methods most likely to reach those interested young faculty including establishing groups on Facebook and posting on science and engineering education blogs.