A Broadening Participation in Engineering Workshop for Distance Learning Programs in STEM: Experiences, Challenges, and Solutions

扩大对 STEM 远程学习项目工程研讨会的参与：经验、挑战和解决方案

• 批准号: 1723404
• 负责人: Mohamed Trabia
• 金额: $ 4.99万
• 依托单位: University of Nevada Las Vegas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-10-01 至 2018-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1723404&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Broadening; Participation; Engineering; Workshop; Distance

Nationally, STEM workforce shortages have increased the need to grow the number of engineering workers. This workforce demand is happening while the numbers and percentages of underrepresented and non-traditional students rapidly expands. To maintain the nation's technological competitive edge, universities are increasingly called upon to create innovative engineering and other STEM-related curricula, using distance learning to encompass broader participation in these fields, to diversify the growing technical workforce. Recent technological advances have the potential to allow the implementation of distance learning to reach larger numbers of students, especially those from underrepresented groups and non-traditional students. While the offerings of engineering programs through distance learning is increasing, these programs are not as widely used as in the humanities and social sciences. One primary reason is that the logical, analytical and mathematical nature of the material and the associated hands-on components require face-to-face discussion and explanation. For the proposed project, the investigators outline a workshop that will encourage faculty to consider which aspects of their curriculum can be offered in an entirely online mode or blended with traditional pedagogies. This project intends to provide a forum for faculty, particularly those from public Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), to understand the means for migrating engineering courses to a distance learning mode. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with distance learning experts. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to design distance learning courses and programs that meet current educational expectations. Generally speaking, the proposed workshop aims to spur faculty interest in developing distance learning programs to effectively to fit the needs of the curriculum and students, with the goal of achieving student learning outcomes. The interactive workshop enables faculty to work with experts to address considerations with online delivery modes. The outcomes of the workshop include: 1) a detailed workshop report with summaries and conclusions from each session; 2) a model for encouraging broader participation by faculty in online engineering and science courses; and 3) a report on workshop effectiveness.

在全国范围内，STEM劳动力短缺增加了增加工程工人数量的需要。这种劳动力需求正在发生，与此同时，人数不足和非传统学生的数量和比例迅速扩大。为了保持国家的技术竞争优势，越来越多的大学被要求创建创新的工程学和其他与STEM相关的课程，利用远程学习涵盖这些领域的更广泛参与，以使日益增长的技术劳动力多样化。最近的技术进步有可能使远程教育的实施惠及更多的学生，特别是来自代表性不足群体和非传统学生的学生。虽然通过远程学习提供的工程课程越来越多，但这些课程并没有像在人文和社会科学中那样广泛使用。一个主要原因是，材料的逻辑、分析和数学性质以及相关的动手组件需要面对面的讨论和解释。在拟议的项目中，研究人员概述了一个研讨会，该研讨会将鼓励教师考虑他们课程的哪些方面可以完全在线模式提供，或者与传统教学相融合。该项目旨在为教师，特别是那些来自公共少数民族服务机构(MSI)的教师提供一个论坛，以了解将工程学课程迁移到远程学习模式的方法。参与者将有机会与远程学习专家互动。研讨会参与者将有机会设计符合当前教育期望的远程学习课程和计划。总的来说，拟议的工作坊旨在激发教员开发远程学习计划的兴趣，以有效地适应课程和学生的需求，以实现学生的学习成果。交互式研讨会使教师能够与专家合作，解决在线教学模式的考虑因素。研讨会的成果包括：1)一份详细的研讨会报告，其中包括每届会议的总结和结论；2)一份鼓励教师更广泛地参与在线工程和科学课程的模式；以及3)一份关于研讨会成效的报告。