Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI): Creating a culture of change

美国社区学院协会报告称，估计有1280万学生在社区和技术学院注册。这些数字占美国本科生总数的45%，并突出表明社区大学对高等教育学生的影响越来越大。最近的几份报告建议，在学生的高等教育的头两年提供一个真正的本科研究经验的重要性。虽然关于需要完成什么工作的证据不断增加，但人们对如何实现所期望的改革知之甚少。所需要的是一种可以在全国范围内检验、评价、改进、有特色和传播的改革模式。社区学院本科生研究计划（CCURI）是一个由社区学院、四年制大学、政府机构和私人组织组成的全国性联盟，致力于开发、实施和评估将本科生研究经验整合到社区学院STEM项目中的可持续模式。该项目将支持CCURI网络的扩展，同时对该模型进行一些增强，并支持与CCURI模型对机构文化变革、教师教学实践和学生坚持STEM路径的影响相关的研究。两个主要问题将指导该项目的研究和评估工作。1)一个机构如何从“无研究”的文化转变为“以研究为规范”的文化，并将研究作为学生体验的一个组成部分？2)哪些因素促进或限制了文化从“无研究”到“以研究为规范”的转变？为回答这些问题而收集的数据将提高STEM本科企业对社区大学STEM项目头两年研究经验影响的理解。此外，CCURI网络的扩大将导致西南地区社区大学西班牙裔服务机构网络的建立。这一扩展为开展研究提供了机会，以了解cci模式对主要服务于代表性不足群体的机构的有效性。

The American Association of Community Colleges reports that an estimated 12.8 million students are enrolled at community and technical colleges. These numbers account for 45% of all U.S. undergraduates, and highlight the increasing impact that community colleges are having on the education of post-secondary students. Several recent reports have made recommendations on the importance of providing an authentic undergraduate research experience in the first two years of a student's post-secondary education. While evidence continues to mount regarding what needs to be accomplished, little is known about how to achieve the desired reform. What is needed is a model of reform that can be tested, evaluated, refined, characterized and disseminated nationally. The Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI) is a national consortium of community colleges, four-year institutions, government agencies, and private organizations dedicated to the development, implementation, and assessment of sustainable models for integrating an undergraduate research experience into community college STEM programs.This project will support an expansion of the CCURI network, along with the addition of several enhancements to the model, and support research related to the impact of the CCURI model on institutional culture change, faculty instructional practices, and student persistence in STEM pathways. Two main questions will guide the research and evaluation efforts of this project. 1) How does an institution move from a culture of "no research" to a culture of "research as the norm," with research as an integral part of the student experience? 2) What factors promote or constrain culture change from "no research" to "research as the norm?" Data gathered in response to these questions will improve the STEM undergraduate enterprise's understanding of the impact of a research experience during the first two years of a community college STEM program. In addition, the expansion of the CCURI network will lead to the creation of a southwest regional network of community college Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). This expansion provides opportunities for studies to be conducted with respect to the effectiveness of the CCURI model on institutions that serve predominantly underrepresented groups.