RCN-UBE: Midwest and Great Plains PULSE Network - Building Institutional Capacity for Inclusive Excellence in Undergraduate Biology Education

本科生生命科学教育伙伴关系(PULSE)是由国家科学基金会(NSF)、霍华德·休斯医学研究所(HHMI)和国家普通医学科学研究所(NIGMS/NIH)于2012年发起的一项倡议，旨在鼓励生命科学系进行《愿景与变革报告》中建议的变革性变革。来自两年制学院、文科学院、综合性大学和研究型大学的系领导被选为PULSE领导研究员。所有类型的本科院校生物学教学方式的这些改进，预计将增强学生对生命科学核心概念的理解，提高生命科学学生的保留率，并为所有学生成为更具好奇心和科学素养的公民做好准备。该项目将在大平原和中西部的12个州建立一个教育网络，专注于刺激组织和部门层面的变革，以加强本科生生命科学课程与《愿景与变革》中概述的循证实践的一致性。通过这样做，该网络将增加配备科学和技术技能的人的数量，以满足国家对技术熟练劳动力的需求。该项目的智力价值取决于大平原和中西部PULSE网络的两个目标：1)扩大网络成员，以接触到足够多的有效的变革领导者，他们能够激励和指导所在机构的同事进行课程、教学和组织变革；以及2)协调、标准化和综合评估工作，以询问由网络成员发起和领导的变革过程是否支持部门采用循证实践和愿景与变革中的建议。主要活动将包括举办讲习班，以支持实践社区的发展。其他活动包括对网络进行形成性和总结性评估，并进行系统分析，以了解STEM高等教育复杂系统内的变化结构和动态。通过这些活动，该网络将：(I)增强教师在建设本科教育包容性卓越的机构能力的过程中的能力；(Ii)加深参与者对领导组织变革的战略的理解，并在整个网络中提供信息、合作机会和相互支持；以及(Iii)促进关于促进本科STEM教育组织变革的有效方法的知识。网络活动将覆盖大约100个机构，每年为大约70000名生物入门课程的学生提供服务。该项目直接影响到社区大学，因为美国近50%的本科生就读于两年制学位授予机构。该项目由生物科学局和教育与人力资源局、本科教育司联合资助，以支持应对《本科生物教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》中提出的挑战的努力。http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/.

The Partnership for Undergraduate Life Science Education (PULSE) originated as an initiative launched in 2012 by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS/NIH) as an effort to stimulate life science departments to undertake the type of transformative changes recommended in the Vision and Change report. Department leaders from two-year colleges, liberal arts colleges, comprehensive universities and research universities were selected as PULSE Leadership Fellows. Such improvements in how biology is taught at all types of undergraduate institutions are expected to enhance students' understanding of core concepts in the life sciences, increase retention rates for students in the life sciences, and improve preparation for all students to be more curious and scientifically literate citizens. This project will establish an educational network across twelve states in the Great Plains and Midwest focused on spurring the organizational, department-level change needed for heightening alignment of undergraduate life sciences programs with evidence-based practices outlined in Vision and Change. In so doing, the network will increase the number of persons equipped with the scientific and technical skills to meet the nation's need for a technically skilled workforce.The intellectual merit of this projects rests on two aims of the Great Plains and Midwest PULSE network to: 1) expand the network membership to reach a critical mass of effective change leaders who can motivate and guide colleagues at their home institutions toward curricular, pedagogical, and organizational transformation; and 2) coordinate, standardize, and synthesize evaluation efforts that ask whether the change processes initiated and led by network members support departmental adoption of evidence-based practices and the recommendations in Vision and Change. The major activities will involve workshops to support the growth of communities of practice. Additional activities include formative and summative evaluation of the network, coupled with systems analysis to comprehend the structure and dynamics of change within the complex systems of STEM higher education. Through these activities, the network will: (i) empower faculty members in the process of building institutional capacity for inclusive excellence in undergraduate education; (ii) deepen participants' understanding of strategies for leading organizational change and provide information, opportunities for collaboration, and mutual support across the network; and (iii) contribute to knowledge on effective ways to promote organizational change in undergraduate STEM education. Network activities will reach approximately 100 institutions, serving approximately 70,000 students annually in introductory biology courses. This project directly impacts community colleges as almost 50% of the undergraduate students in the U.S. attend two-year degree granting institutions.This project is funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Directorate of Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education in support of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/.