Investigating Whether Online Course Offerings Support STEM Degree Progress

该研究项目将调查在线课程是否提供了更多获得大学和STEM学位的机会，特别是对于在STEM领域代表性不足的学生。每年，美国有28%到36%的大学生至少选修一门在线课程。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了鲜明对比。因此，持续的在线课程增长将对学位进展和成就产生越来越大的影响。网络课程在社区大学中被广泛采用，社区大学中有大量的第一代大学生、低收入学生、女学生、有色人种学生和非传统学生。因此，社区大学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完成学位产生不成比例的影响。为了支持创新和富有成效的国家STEM劳动力，必须向整个多样化的美国人才库提供STEM职业。本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，特别是那些来自代表性不足群体的学生。认为在线课程可以让那些有工作和家庭责任的非传统学生选修更多课程的假设从未得到过严格的检验。该项目将：1)探索在线课程可用性与学术势头（学生注册的学分数量）和STEM持久性之间的关系，特别关注“非传统”学生；2)探索学生时间匮乏（即大学可用时间的数量和质量）在这些模式中的中介作用；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名纽约城市大学（CUNY）学生的数据，并将通过以下方式进行因果推论：1)模拟课程注册系统，创建学科内实验设计；2)学生在课程候补名单上的位置进行回归不连续设计。纽约市立大学的学生人数反映了传统上在STEM中代表性不足的群体：主要是非白人、女性和低收入群体，以及很大一部分非英语母语和第一代大学生。该项目旨在为从业者和政策制定者提供关键信息，帮助他们了解在提供在线课程时如何平衡获取和保留的双重问题。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

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.