Conference: Dream Catcher or Dream Killer: The Impact of Gateway Courses on Transfer Students in the Biological Sciences; U.C-Davis; Summer/Fall, 2017

为期两天的会议将启动来自社区学院和加州大学（UC）的教育利益相关者网络，以制定和实施支持和准备生物转学生的共同愿景。与大一新生相比，生物学转学生的表现和职业轨迹的差异是一个必须解决的关键问题，特别是考虑到参加加州社区学院的代表性不足和服务不足的学生比例很高。拟议的会议是该地区首次为这些机构的教育工作者和顾问举行会议，讨论课程和他们的课程和计划的期望，学生面临的挑战和潜在的解决方案。这对于生物学来说尤其重要，因为生物学的专业数量非常多，学生的多样性，以及发现和技术的变革和快速变化，与其他STEM领域有许多跨学科的联系。这项工作的结果有可能影响成千上万的转学生一年，并代表了初步的努力，以产生一个可扩展的，协作的，可持续的教学模式为加州和超越。会议将包括来自加州大学和社区学院的55-60名平等代表。加州大学戴维斯分校校园位于北方加州的中心位置，在100英里半径内有32所社区学院。每个机构的两到四名成员将被确定和邀请（包括教师，顾问，转让协调员，管理员），以确保从所有利益相关者的问题和买入的多方面观点。具体目标包括：1）在UCs和社区学院之间建立更有效的沟通渠道，以形成共同的愿景; 2）收集有关生物课程与先决条件之间不一致的信息; 3）开始努力更好地支持转学生的成功学习进展; 4）讨论研究和技术的快速变化如何影响课程和要求; 5）讨论教学干预和新的教学方法，这些方法可以打破困扰转学生多年的“下沉或游泳”教学模式。该项目由生物科学理事会和本科教育司教育和人力资源理事会共同资助，作为其努力解决本科生物学教育中的愿景和变革所带来的挑战的一部分：行动呼吁（http：//visionandchange/finalreport/）。

This two day conference will launch a network of educational stakeholders from community colleges and the University of California (UC) to develop and implement a shared vision for the support and preparation of biology transfer students. The disparity in performance and career trajectories of biology transfer students compared to freshman start students is a critical problem that must be addressed, particularly in light of the high percentage of underrepresented and underserved students attending California community colleges. The proposed conference is the first of its kind in the region for educators and advisors from these institutions to meet and discuss the curriculum and expectations of their courses and programs, challenges students face, and potential solutions. This is particularly important for biology given the very large number of majors, student diversity, and the transformative and fast pace of changes in discoveries and technology with numerous interdisciplinary ties to other STEM fields. The results of this effort have the potential to impact thousands of transfer students a year and represents an initial effort to generate a scalable, collaborative, and sustainable instructional model for California and beyond. The conference will include 55-60 individuals with equal representation from the UC and the community colleges. UC Davis campus is an ideal central location in Northern California with over 32 community colleges within a 100-mile radius. Two to four members from each institution will be identified and invited (including faculty, advisors, transfer coordinators, administrators) to insure a multifaceted view of the issues and buy-in from all stakeholders. The specific objectives include the following: 1) to establish more effective lines of communication between the UCs and community colleges in order to develop a shared vision; 2) to gather information about misalignments between the biology curriculum and prerequisites; 3) to initiate efforts toward better supporting successful learning progression for transfer students; 4) to discuss how the rapidly changing pace of research and technology is impacting curricula and requirements; and 5) to discuss instructional interventions and new teaching methods that could break the "sink or swim" instructional model that has plagued transfer students for many years. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).