Scaling Implementation of Stem Cell Technical Education: A Collaborative Project

干细胞和干细胞技术提供了巨大的希望，彻底改变我们对疾病如何发生的理解，它们可以用来引导研究人员找到新的有效方法来治疗心脏病，糖尿病，关节炎等医学疾病。此外，再生医学领域有可能为需要移植的患者生长组织来治疗烧伤患者和器官。这些新兴的研究和开发领域正在创造对具有专业技能和能力的合格技术员工的需求，以推进干细胞技术。该项目是麦迪逊地区技术学院（MATC）和弗朗西斯科城市学院（CCSF）之间的合作奋进，将在更广泛的生物技术背景下改善和扩大干细胞技术和再生医学的技术教育。除了与行业合作伙伴合作，提供相关的现代大学课程和计划，以教育和培养干细胞技术专业人员外，该项目还将为大学预科教育工作者提供科学和技术课程的引人入胜的材料，以构建从中学教育到高等教育的职业道路，最终，这个合作项目将利用成功的发展和经验教训，从个别的努力，在MATC和CCSF与先前的NSF支持进行。目前的奋进是战略性的设计，以建立在动力和网络，这些早期的项目产生（1）完善现有的材料，为扩大组的学术观众;（2）开发额外的教学模块，为大学水平的计划;（3）创建和传播干细胞生物学课程的等级8-12;以及（4）为教育工作者提供专业发展讲习班，作为传播材料的有效手段，以便教育工作者能够适应和实施这些材料。作为传播工作的一部分，该项目的影响将通过培养高中，社区学院和大学教育工作者的网络学习社区而成倍增加，他们将拥有作为该倡议的一部分创建的产品，并在全国范围内进一步发展和传播干细胞教育。该项目的成功及其影响将通过对主要参与者（包括学生、教育工作者和行业合作伙伴）的调查和访谈进行评估。调查将包括通过采用课程、学生入学率、完成和就业人数以及雇主对课程内容的批准和对进入劳动力市场的课程毕业生的满意度而受到影响的机构数量。

Stem cells and stem cell technology offer tremendous promise to revolutionize our understanding of how diseases occur, and they can be utilized to lead researchers to new and effective methods to treat medical disorders from heart disease, to diabetes, to arthritis and many more. Further, the field of regenerative medicine has the potential to grow tissue to treat burn victims and organs for patients in need of transplants. These burgeoning areas of research and development are creating a demand for well-qualified technical employees with specialized skills and competencies to advance stem cell technology. This project, a collaborative endeavor between Madison Area Technical College (MATC) and the City College of San Francisco (CCSF), will improve and expand technical education in stem cell technology and regenerative medicine within the broader context of biotechnology. In addition to collaborating with industry partners to provide relevant, modern college curricula and programs to educate and prepare stem cell technology professionals, the project will provide pre-college educators with engaging materials for science and technology courses to construct career pathways that lead from secondary education, to higher education and, ultimately, into the high technology workforce.This collaborative project will leverage successful developments and lessons learned from individual efforts undertaken at MATC and CCSF with prior NSF support. The current endeavor is strategically designed to build on the momentum and networks that these earlier projects generated by (1) refining existing materials for an expanded group of academic audiences; (2) developing additional instructional modules for college-level programs; (3) creating and disseminating stem cell biology curriculum for grades 8-12; and (4) providing professional development workshops for educators as an effective means to disseminate materials so that educators are equipped to adapt and implement them. As part of the dissemination efforts, the project impact will be multiplied by fostering a web-enabled learning community of high school, community college, and university educators who will take ownership of the products created as part of this initiative and further develop and disseminate stem cell education throughout the nation. Success of the project and its impact will be evaluated using surveys and interviews with key participants, including students, educators and industry partners. Metrics will include numbers of institutions affected via adoption of curricula, student enrollments, completion and employment figures and employer approval of curricular content and satisfaction with program graduates who enter the workforce.