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Investigating Whether Online Course Offerings Support STEM Degree Progress

调查在线课程是否支持 STEM 学位进步

基本信息

批准号：
1920599
负责人：
Claire Wladis
金额：
$ 246.64万
依托单位：
CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-10-01 至 2024-09-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1920599&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Investigating Whether Online Course Offerings

项目摘要

This research project will investigate whether online courses provide increased access to college and STEM degrees, particularly for students typically underrepresented in STEM fields. Annually, between 28% and 36% of all post-secondary students in the U.S. enroll in at least one online course. The growth in online course enrollment contrasts with an overall decline in college enrollment. Thus, continued online course growth will have an escalating impact on degree progression and attainment. Online course-taking is widely adopted at community colleges, which have large populations of first-generation college students, low-income students, female students, students of color and non-traditional students. As a result, online courses at community colleges may have disproportionate impacts on the degree completion of students from groups that have been underrepresented in STEM fields. To support an innovative and productive national STEM workforce, access to STEM careers must be available to the entire, diverse U.S. talent pool. The aim of this research is to explore whether limited access to online courses hinders degree progress for STEM majors, particularly those from underrepresented groups. The assumption that online courses enable non-traditional students with work and family responsibilities to enroll in more courses has never been rigorously tested. This project will: 1) explore the relationship between online course availability and academic momentum (the number of credits in which a student enrolls) and STEM persistence, with a particular focus on "non-traditional" students; 2) explore the role of student time poverty (i.e. quantity and quality of time available for college) in mediating these patterns; and 3) explore scarcity of alternate course sections as a potential moderating variable in explaining these patterns. No large-scale studies to date have explored whether the availability of online courses increases access to, or momentum through, college or STEM degrees. This project will collect data on 22,000 City University of New York (CUNY) students and will make causal inferences by using: 1) a simulated course registration system to create a within-subjects experimental design; and 2) student placement on course waitlists to conduct a regression discontinuity design. CUNY's student population mirrors the groups traditionally under-represented in STEM: largely non-white, female, and low income, as well as a large proportion who are non-native English speakers and first-generation college students. This project is designed to provide critical information to practitioners and policymakers about how to balance the dual concerns of access and retention when offering online courses.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.

该研究项目将调查在线课程是否提供更多获得大学和STEM学位的机会，特别是对于通常在STEM领域代表性不足的学生。每年，美国28%至36%的高等教育学生至少注册一门在线课程。在线课程入学人数的增长与大学入学人数的总体下降形成鲜明对比。因此，持续的在线课程增长将对学位的进展和获得产生越来越大的影响。在线课程在社区大学被广泛采用，社区大学有大量的第一代大学生、低收入家庭的学生、女性学生、有色人种学生和非传统学生。因此，社区学院的在线课程可能会对来自STEM领域代表性不足的群体的学生的学位完成产生不成比例的影响。为了支持创新和生产力的国家STEM劳动力，必须向整个多元化的美国人才库提供STEM职业。这项研究的目的是探讨有限的在线课程是否会阻碍STEM专业的学位进步，特别是那些代表性不足的群体。在线课程使有工作和家庭责任的非传统学生能够报名参加更多课程的假设从未经过严格的检验。该项目将：1）探索在线课程可用性和学术动力之间的关系（学生注册的学分数）和STEM坚持性，特别关注“非传统”学生; 2）探索学生时间贫困的作用（即大学可用时间的数量和质量）在调解这些模式;以及3）探索替代课程部分的稀缺性作为解释这些模式的潜在调节变量。到目前为止，还没有大规模的研究探讨在线课程的可用性是否增加了获得大学或STEM学位的机会或动力。该项目将收集22，000名纽约（CUNY）学生的数据，并通过以下方法进行因果推断：1）模拟课程注册系统，以创建受试者内实验设计; 2）学生在课程候补名单上的位置，以进行回归不连续设计。纽约市立大学的学生人口反映了传统上在STEM中代表性不足的群体：主要是非白人，女性和低收入，以及很大一部分是非英语母语的人和第一代大学生。该项目旨在为从业者和政策制定者提供关键信息，说明在提供在线课程时如何平衡访问和保留的双重关注。该奖项反映了NSF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。