Heads and Chairs Workshop on Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education

得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校已获奖，将于2017年7月组织一场名为《本科生地球科学教育未来校长与教席研讨会》的研讨会。本次研讨会的目标是在以往进展的基础上，为改变不同类型院校的本科课程设计成功的战略和最佳实践。在这次研讨会上，与会者将1)讨论更广泛的地球科学学术界和雇主社区在上一次拨款中确定的概念、技能和能力，以及这些概念、技能和能力与各自系本科课程和计划的关系；2)彼此以及与出席2016年峰会的一些负责人和主席共同制定实施战略，他们已经花费了一年的时间来实施他们的计划的变化；以及3)为他们自己的部门制定个人行动计划。在讲习班之前，将要求2016年首长和主席会议的与会者提供各自部门行动计划的最新情况，包括已经完成的工作、成功或失败的工作以及今后的计划。将综合行动计划的最新情况，按机构类型、相似性进行分析，并确定哪些战略最有效、出现哪些障碍以及如何克服这些障碍。这一综合将为2017年研讨会上的讨论和行动计划的制定提供信息。成功转专业的部门将大大加强对本科生的教育，这些学生将为研究生和未来的就业做好准备。更广泛的地学学术界和就业界推荐的体验式学习也最有利于代表不足的群体的学习和他们未来的成功。这次研讨会的结果，与2016年本科地球科学教育未来校长和教席峰会的汇编和综合结果相结合，将为改变本科课程和课程的有效战略提供关键数据，并确定常见的障碍或障碍以及如何克服它们。在院系中创造变革，特别是在本科课程方面，是非常困难的，能够设计出成功的战略来改变不同类型机构的本科课程将是一个重大的进步。

The University of Texas at Austin has been granted an award to organize a workshop titled "Heads and Chairs Workshop on Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education" in July 2017. The objective of this workshop is to build on the previous progress and design successful strategies and best practices for changing undergraduate programs in different types of institutions. At this workshop, participants will 1) discuss the concepts, skills and competencies identified by the wider geoscience academic and employer community during the previous grant and how these relate to their individual department undergraduate curricula and program, 2) work on implementation strategies together with each other and with some heads and chairs that attended the 2016 Summit who have already spent a year working to implement changes in their programs, and 3) develop individual action plans for their own departments. Prior to the workshop, participants from the 2016 heads and chairs meeting will be asked to provide updates on their individual department action plans, including what has been accomplished, what was or was not successful, and future plans. The updates on action plans will be synthesized, analyzing them by institution type, similarity and determine which strategies work best, what obstacles occur and how to overcome them. This synthesis will inform discussions and development of actions plans at the 2017 workshop. The education of undergraduate students in departments that successfully change their programs will be greatly enhanced, and those students will be better prepared for graduate school and future employment. The experiential learning recommended by the wider geoscience academic and employment community is also most conducive to learning by underrepresented groups and to their future success.The results of this workshop, combined with compiled and synthesized results of the 2016 Heads and Chairs Summit on the Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education, will provide critical data on effective strategies for changing undergraduate curricula and programs and in identifying common obstacles or roadblocks and how they can be overcome. Creating change in departments, particularly with respect to undergraduate curricula, is very difficult and being able to design successful strategies for changing undergraduate programs in different types of institutions will be a significant advance.