The Future of MOOCs and Turbocharged Technologies in STEM Education

该项目正在举办一次会议，探讨大规模在线公开课(MOOC)的使用，以及如何更有效地将其整合到STEM教学中。总体目标是探索MOOC和其他颠覆性教育技术在高等教育中的未来。这次会议使STEM教育工作者能够分享和获得有关MOOC实施的优势和局限性的知识，以帮助传播对MOOC如何运作以及它们最适合STEM学习社区的更好理解。它将教师和技术促进者聚集在一起，为颠覆性学习技术提供公开战略讨论的机会，并创造一个环境，使大学教职员工/教职员工/管理人员、MOOC提供商的代表以及其他对在线STEM学习感兴趣的人员之间能够进行公开对话。该项目有助于进一步理解：1)MOOC在现代学术界STEM领域的作用；2)如何最好地将其引入大学环境；3)它们如何补充传统的STEM课堂和翻转的STEM课堂。该项目正在制作一份出版物，总结会议研讨会产生的讨论、调查结果和后续活动。在整个会议期间获得的BROADER重要性信息正在与与会者分享，与会者反过来将这些知识带回他们的机构，并利用它来改进STEM领域的教和学。该项目有助于加深对如何在传统学术界最好地实施MOOC的理解，以一种补充机构的方式，同时也为学生提供最大利益。提供低成本、高质量的STEM教育的知识和能力不仅有望产生立竿见影的效益，而且有助于产生更有效、更深远和更长期的国家STEM成果。与会者正在与各自所在STEM领域和所在机构的其他人分享会议信息，从而广泛传播面向MOOC的讨论和知识。所有会议成果和文件都将在一个会议网站上公布，并附上总的调查结果摘要。作为会议的成果，与会者正在发表论文和投稿；制作关于MOOC的有价值的信息，任何对探索新的STEM学习环境感兴趣的人都可以随时随地在全国范围内使用这些信息。

PROJECT DESCRIPTION This project is conducting a conference to explore the use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and how to more effectively integrate them into STEM teaching. The overall goal is to explore the future of MOOCs and other disruptive educational technologies in higher education. The conference is allowing STEM educators to share and gain knowledge regarding the advantages and limitations of MOOC implementations to help propagate a better understanding of how MOOCs function and where they best fit into the STEM learning community. It is bringing faculty and technology facilitators together to provide an opportunity for open strategic discussions of disruptive learning technologies and creating an environment that enables and encourages open dialog between university faculty/staff/administrators, representatives from MOOC providers, and other constituents interested in online STEM learning. The project is helping to further an understanding of: 1) the role of MOOCs in modern academia in STEM fields, 2) how to best introduce them into a university setting, and 3) how they may supplement traditional and flipped STEM classrooms. The project is generating a publication that summarizes the discussions, findings and follow-on activities that result from the conference workshop.BROADER SIGNIFICANCE Information garnered throughout the conference is being shared with participants who, in turn, are taking the knowledge back to their institutions and utilizing it to improve teaching and learning in their STEM fields. The project is helping further the understanding of how to best implement MOOCs into traditional academia, in a way that complements institutions, while also providing maximum benefit to students. The knowledge and ability to provide lower cost, high quality STEM education promises not only to produce immediate benefits, but also to help produce more effective, far-reaching, and long-term national STEM results. The participants are sharing the conference information with others in their particular STEM fields and at their institutions, resulting in widespread propagation of MOOC-oriented discussions and knowledge. All conference results and documents are being published on a conference website, along with a summation of the overall findings. Participants are publishing papers and contributing articles as a result of the conference; producing valuable information regarding MOOCs that is being used nationwide on an anytime/anywhere basis by anyone who is interested in exploring new STEM learning environments.