The Future of MOOCs and Turbocharged Technologies in STEM Education

项目描述该项目正在举办一次会议，探讨大规模开放式在线课程（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。该会议允许STEM教育工作者分享和获得有关MOOC实施的优势和局限性的知识，以帮助更好地了解MOOC的功能以及它们最适合STEM学习社区的地方。它将教师和技术促进者聚集在一起，为颠覆性学习技术的开放式战略讨论提供机会，并创造一个环境，使大学教师/工作人员/管理人员，MOOC提供商的代表以及对在线STEM学习感兴趣的其他成分之间能够进行开放式对话。该项目有助于进一步了解：1）MOOC在STEM领域现代学术界的作用，2）如何最好地将它们引入大学环境，以及3）它们如何补充传统和翻转的STEM课堂。该项目正在编制一份出版物，总结会议研讨会的讨论、成果和后续活动。更广泛的意义整个会议期间收集的信息正在与与会者分享，而与会者则将知识带回他们的机构，并利用它来改善他们STEM领域的教学。该项目有助于进一步了解如何以补充机构的方式将MOOC最好地应用于传统学术界，同时也为学生提供最大的利益。提供低成本、高质量STEM教育的知识和能力不仅有望产生直接效益，而且有助于产生更有效、更深远和更长期的国家STEM成果。参与者正在与他们特定的STEM领域和他们的机构的其他人分享会议信息，从而广泛传播MOOC导向的讨论和知识。所有会议成果和文件都在会议网站上公布，沿着公布的还有总体调查结果的摘要。与会者发表论文和贡献文章作为会议的结果;产生有关MOOC的有价值的信息，这些信息随时随地被任何有兴趣探索新的STEM学习环境的人在全国范围内使用。

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.