Collaborative Proposal: Partnering to Improve Undergraduate STEM Education Conference

这是乔治亚州四所综合性大学：佐治亚南方大学、肯尼索州立大学、西佐治亚大学和瓦尔多斯塔州立大学的合作会议提案。会议研讨会提案的目标是将这四个机构聚集在一起讨论，计划和实施变革，以改善全州的本科STEM教育。本次会议将集中讨论四个方面：入门课程、教师教学与学习、教育研究和本科生研究。这四个主题对这些院校的学生和教师的成功至关重要。会议的主题之一是在这些院校的院系之间建立合作和伙伴关系，以便他们可以分享最佳做法，发起变革，并研究变革对招聘、留用和毕业率的影响。通过在佐治亚大学系统的指导下集中这四家机构的努力，研讨会的成果可能会影响到全州范围内广泛的STEM教师（以及学生），以解决从大学开始学习STEM专业的学生的低持久性问题。具体而言，研讨会会议将制定计划，以改善本科STEM教育，并为这些机构的本科生增加研究机会。参与者将计划如何评估这些努力的有效性，特别是在增加STEM专业学生毕业的持久性方面。专注于格鲁吉亚所有四所综合性大学的独特之处在于，这些机构渴望在更大程度上平衡研究、教学和服务期望，而不是研究和文科机构。人们普遍认为，格鲁吉亚的综合性大学应该共同努力，提高我们的STEM本科生的保留、进步和毕业，这次会议研讨会将有助于启动这项联合工作。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This is a collaborative conference proposal from the four comprehensive universities in the state of Georgia: Georgia Southern University, Kennesaw State University, University of West Georgia, and Valdosta State University. The goal of the conference workshop proposal is to bring these four institutions together to discuss, plan, and implement changes to improve undergraduate STEM education across the state. This conference will focus on four strands: gateway courses, faculty teaching and learning, education research, and undergraduate research. These four topics are critical to the success of students and their faculties at these institutions. A theme of the meeting is to establish collaboration and partnerships among the faculties of these institutions, so that they can share best practices, initiate change, and study the impact of change on recruitment, retention, and graduation rates. By focusing the efforts of these four institutions with guidance from the University System of Georgia, the workshop outcomes may reach a broad spectrum of STEM faculty (and thereby students) across the state, to address the low persistence of students who begin as STEM majors in college. Specifically, the workshop conference will establish plans to improve undergraduate STEM education and to increase research opportunities at these institutions for undergraduate students. Participants will plan how to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts, particularly in increasing the persistence of STEM majors to graduation. Focusing on all four of Georgia's comprehensive universities is unique in the sense that these institutions aspire to balance research, teaching, and service expectations to a greater degree than research and liberal arts institutions. There is widespread agreement that the comprehensive universities in Georgia should be working jointly to improve our undergraduate STEM retention, progression, and graduation and this conference workshop will serve to initiate this joint work.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.