Building Biobadges Into a Traditional Biology Program to Fulfill Workforce Needs and Support Program Equity

该项目旨在满足国家对准备充分的生物技术工作人员的需求。它将通过为生物专业序列中的每门课程开发基于行业公认的技能的新实验模块来做到这一点。学生将能够获得徽章，证明他们掌握了每一项与劳动力相关的技能。徽章的积累将导致结业证书，这将提供有关学生的熟练程度的简明信息。这一方法将技术人员教育纳入了传统的生物课程，目前的重点是为毕业生进入四年制院校做准备。通过将计划重点扩大到包括为学生的技术职业做准备，这种方法旨在满足旧金山湾区的一个重要的劳动力需求。这一新途径预计将向更多的学生开放生物技术项目，并随着学生积累关键的劳动力技能，促进整个生物专业序列的完成。由于该学院服务于大量的拉丁裔学生，这种方法很可能有助于扩大生物技术领域的参与度。该项目有可能提供一种新的模式，可以被对满足当地对生物技术技术人员的劳动力需求感兴趣的学术生物学项目所复制。为了实现将相关技术人员教育嵌入生物项目的目标，该项目将与当地生物技术行业合作伙伴合作开发实验室模块和徽章要求。在咨询委员会和当地行业调查的帮助下，该项目确定了所需的技术技能。这些技能，如微吸管、DNA和蛋白质提取和纯化，以及酶联免疫分析，将成为模块和徽章的基础。实验模块将成为每门课程的一部分，从而确保所有学生都能发展生物技术技能。虽然不需要徽章，但强烈建议学生佩戴徽章，特别是对于考虑在当地劳动力中作为临时或长期技术人员工作的学生。徽章将通过提供一条嵌入到课程完成中的增量和可实现步骤的途径来支持许多学生。将徽章与课堂上的职业发展活动相结合，并提供行业范例(通过演讲系列和其他活动)，将为现有生物专业的生物技术提供一条新的、明确的职业道路。除了开发实验室和徽章，该项目还将支持技术员级别的生物技术教育，在大学和当地高中进行有针对性的招聘，并与雇主合作，确保获得带薪实习和就业机会。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了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 project aims to serve the national need for a well-prepared biotechnology workforce. It will do so by developing new lab modules based on industry-recognized skills for each course in the biology major sequence. Students will be able to earn badges that certify their mastery of each workforce-relevant skill. Accumulation of badges will lead to Certificates of Completion, which will provide concise information about a student's proficiencies. This approach incorporates technician education into a traditional biology program that has a current focus on preparation of its graduates for transfer into four-year institutions. By expanding the program focus to include preparation of students for technical careers, this approach is intended to address an important workforce need in the San Francisco Bay Area. This new pathway is expected to open the biotechnology program to more students and to promote completion of the entire biology major sequence as students accumulate critical workforce skills. Because the college serves a large Latinx student population, this approach is likely to contribute to broadening participation in the biotechnology field. The project has the potential to provide a novel model that might be replicated by academic biology programs interested in meeting local workforce needs for biotechnology technicians. To achieve its goal of embedding relevant technician education into the biology program, the project will develop lab modules and badge requirements in collaboration with local biotechnology industry partners. With input from the advisory board and local industry surveys, the project has identified needed technical skills. These skills, such as micropipetting, DNA and protein extraction and purification, and enzyme-linked immunoassay, will be the foundation of the modules and badges. The lab modules will become part of each course, thereby ensuring that all students develop biotechnology skills. Although the badges will not be required, they will be strongly recommended, especially for students considering temporary or career-long work as technicians in the local workforce. Badging will support many students by providing a pathway of incremental and achievable steps embedded in course completion. Pairing badges with in-class career-development activities and providing industry examples (through speaker series and other events) will provide a new, clear career pathway into biotechnology within the existing biology major. In addition to developing the labs and badges, the project will support technician-level biotechnology education with targeted recruiting at the college and the local high schools, and by collaborating with employers to secure paid internships and job placements. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.