I-Corps L: A Scalable Online Education Model for STEM Teacher Training

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Online education has recently made significant advances with several university teams and start-ups delivering interactive online content and assessment to web-enabled students. One untapped market that has huge commercial potential is web based offering of tiered introductory engineering education to middle and high school students as preparatory courses (and, potentially advanced credit) for college. However, for this method to be effective, school teachers need to be adept at understanding online material and guide and assess the students using the same online resources. The goal of the proposed work is to promote advanced engineering education amongst K-12 students using scalable and economically viable online models that focus on training high school STEM teachers. The proposed project represents a unique and scalable approach to engineering education among K-12 students. It seeks to address two important limitations of most online education approaches: (a) Scalable online education tends to eliminate in-class type interaction, mentoring and feedback; and (b) Online education does not include true hands-on experience that is essential in engineering disciplines. The goal of this project is to develop a tiered approach to K-12 engineering education that involves the following components: Nanotech content, Scalable STEM teachers' training, and scalable hands-on experience for students. The proposed program should lead to significant traction with middle and high schools in a variety of ways including creation of signature courses and/or electives; advanced placement high school courses that can receive college credits; and content incorporated into existing math and science courses.