Geotechnical Engineering Faculty Teaching Strategies and Resources Workshop; Minneapolis, Minnesota; 25 February 2020

这一奖项将资助在明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯举行的2020年地质大会期间为岩土工程教师举办的教学策略和资源研讨会。研讨会的重点将集中在岩土工程教育和大多数岩土工程教师教授的课程上。其目的是帮助岩土工程系成为更有成效和效率的教育工作者，最终目标是改善学生的学习。最近的研究表明，在课堂上实施积极的(或以学生为中心的)学习技术可以提高学生的动机、学生的成绩和对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)课程学习体验的总体满意度，并可能导致学生留住更多的学生，特别是女性和代表性不足的少数族裔。由于土木工程是一门集科学、数学、沟通和领导力于一身的多学科交叉学科，因此教育成果既包括基础知识，也包括专业(“软”或“强”)技能。在课堂上使用积极的学习技巧可以提高学生在技术技能方面的学习成果，同时培养批判性思维和专业技能，如领导力、团队合作和有效沟通。积极学习的课堂还可以鼓励协作和包容的环境，使学生能够建立社会支持。岩土工程是土木工程大领域中的一个小领域。教师在岩土工程课程中实施以学生为中心的学习技术的一个明显障碍是开发新材料所需的时间和努力。作为一门高度具体的学科，很难找到活跃的学习资源来整合到现有的课程中。本研讨会将向教师介绍现有的以岩土技术为重点的积极学习材料和资源。该项目通过更好地培养下一代岩土工程师，符合国家利益。此外，它还将通过向岩土工程学院传播循证教学实践，推动工程教育领域的发展。将这些实践应用到岩土工程中，有可能提高岩土工程教育的整体质量，从而增加对该领域的参与。教学策略与资源工作坊的目标是帮助岩土工程教师在各个阶段成为更有成效和效率的教师，使他们能够成为更好的教育者，在保持高研究生产率的同时，改善学生的学习。许多教职员工对采用新的教学策略犹豫不决，因为他们认为实施这些策略需要付出很大的努力。研讨会的目标是通过将现有的循证教学材料和资源整合到他们的课堂上，帮助教师更好地授课，教得更聪明。研讨会的大部分内容将集中于提供具体的例子、开发新的教学材料、共享岩土资源、建立网络，并讨论岩土教育特有的挑战。材料和演示文稿将是“拿了就走”的，因此参与者离开研讨会时会带着范例和有用材料的复印件。此外，这个工作坊将帮助教员更好地制定和实施研究计划中的外展和教育计划。讲习班的这一方面支持为终身综合贡献研究和教育奠定基础的目标。工作坊的学术价值是为岩土工程学院提供资源，使他们成为更好、更有效的教育工作者，最终目标是改善学生的学习。此外，讲习班将提供战略，为可能提高学生兴趣和改善实地学习的研究提案制定有意义和可实现的外联和教育计划。研讨会有几个更广泛的影响。最重要的是，将循证教学技术应用到岩土工程中，有可能提高岩土工程教育的整体质量，从而增加该领域的参与度。其次，学员将带着已准备好并可在现有课程中使用的材料示例离开研讨会。拥有这些材料将使教员能够立即实施新的活动，而几乎不需要额外的准备。最后，将开发一个考试数据库并提供给研讨会参与者。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award will fund a Teaching Strategies and Resources Workshop for geotechnical engineering faculty to be held in conjunction with the 2020 Geo-Congress in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The focus of the workshop will be specific to geotechnical engineering education and the courses that most geotechnical engineering faculty teach. The purpose is to help geotechnical faculty become more effective and efficient educators, with the ultimate goal of improving student learning. Recent research has shown that implementing active (or student-centered) learning techniques in the classroom increases student motivation, student achievement, and overall satisfaction with the learning experience in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses and may lead to increased retention of students, particularly women and underrepresented minorities. As civil engineering is a multidisciplinary subject at the intersection of science, math, communication, and leadership, educational outcomes include fundamental knowledge as well as professional ("soft" or "power") skills. Using active learning techniques in the classroom can enhance students' learning outcomes for technical skills while fostering critical thinking and professional skills such as leadership, teamwork, and effective communication. Active learning classrooms may also encourage collaborative and inclusive environments that enable students to build social support. Geotechnical engineering is a small subfield within the larger field of civil engineering. A perceived barrier for faculty to implement student-centered learning techniques in geotechnical courses is the time and effort required to develop new materials. As a highly specific discipline, it can be difficult to find active learning resources to incorporate into existing courses. This workshop will introduce faculty to existing geotechnically-focused active learning materials and resources. This project serves the national interest by better preparing the next generation of geotechnical engineers. In addition, it will advance the field of engineering education by disseminating evidence-based teaching practices to geotechnical engineering faculty. Implementing these practices into geotechnical engineering has the potential to improve the overall quality of geotechnical engineering education and thereby increase participation in the field.The goal of the Teaching Strategies and Resources Workshop is to help geotechnical faculty at all stages become more effective and efficient teachers, so they can become better educators and improve student learning while maintaining high research productivity. Many faculty members hesitate to employ new teaching strategies due to the perceived effort required to implement them. The targeted outcome of the workshop is to help faculty teach better and teach "smarter" by incorporating existing evidence-based teaching materials and resources into their classes. The bulk of this workshop will concentrate on providing specific examples, developing new instructional materials, sharing geotechnical resources, networking, and discussing challenges unique to geotechnical education. Materials and presentations will be "take and go" so participants leave the workshop with examples and copies of usable materials. In addition, this workshop will help faculty better develop and implement outreach and education plans in research proposals. This aspect of the workshop supports the goal of building a foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research and education. The intellectual merit of the workshop is to provide resources for geotechnical engineering faculty to become better, more effective educators with the ultimate goal of improving student learning. Additionally, the workshop will provide strategies for creating meaningful and achievable outreach and education plans for research proposals that have the potential to increase interest and improve student learning in the field. There are several broader impacts of the workshop. Most importantly, implementing evidence-based teaching techniques into geotechnical engineering has the potential to improve the overall quality of geotechnical engineering education and thereby increase participation in the field. Second, participants will leave the workshop with examples of materials that have already been prepared and are available for use in existing classes. Having these materials will enable faculty to immediately implement new activities with little additional preparation. Finally, an exam database will be developed and made available to workshop participants.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.