RCN-UBE: The Advancing Assessment Skills in BIOlogy Network (ASK BIO)--A Faculty Development Initiative for Under-resourced Institutions

这个研究协调网络是对生物学教育中两个问题的回应：1)生物学教师和其他STEM教师所陈述的课程目标与学生所接受的评估之间经常存在明显的不匹配；2)缺乏区域和本地机会阻碍了资源不足机构的许多教师从事专业发展，这些机构为STEM中代表性不足的学生提供不成比例的服务。生物高级评估技能（ASK BIO）网络将以两种方式解决这些问题。首先，该网络将设计和实施教师发展研讨会，旨在为资源不足的机构的教师提供如何编写机器可评分的评估问题，这些评估问题提出了高水平的认知挑战，并与“愿景与变革”报告启发的学习成果相一致。其次，该网络将为参与者提供实践社区，使他们能够保持参与。使评估与学习目标保持一致是良好课程设计的基本要素。在全国范围内的生物学入门课程中，考试题目（学生的评分标准）和课程目标通常是不匹配的：那些接受“愿景与变革”报告中概述的统一概念框架和“培训未来医生”文件中以能力为基础的重点的教师，通常会给出主要测试回忆或低水平概念理解的考试。该项目侧重于经常被忽视的写作技能，即要求学生应用、分析、综合或解释信息，而不仅仅是回忆信息，并将发展区域实践社区，以帮助教师提高技能。ASK BIO将与霍华德休斯医学研究所（HHMI）的生物互动小组正在进行的一项努力协同工作，该小组正在开发一个免费访问的在线数据库，其中包含入门生物学的高级机器可分级问题。该项目由生物基础设施司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，作为他们应对“本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁”（http://visionandchange/finalreport）中提出的挑战的努力的一部分，并得到了刺激竞争研究既定计划（EPSCoR）的额外支持。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 Coordination Network is a response to two problems in biology education: 1) There are often glaring mismatches between what biology faculty and other STEM instructors state as their course goals and the assessments students take; and 2) The lack of regional and local opportunities prevent many faculty at under-resourced institutions, which disproportionally serve students underrepresented in STEM, from engaging in professional development. The Advancing assessment SKills in BIOlogy (ASK BIO) Network will address these issues in two ways. First, the network will design and implement faculty development workshops intended for faculty at under-resourced institutions on how to write machine-gradable assessment questions that present a high level of cognitive challenge and that are aligned with learning outcomes inspired by the "Vision and Change" report. Second, the network will provide communities of practice for participants with which they can remain engaged.Aligning assessments with learning objectives is a basic element of good course design. In introductory biology courses across the country, exam questions--what students get graded on--and course goals are commonly mismatched: instructors who embrace the unifying conceptual frameworks outlined in the "Vision and Change" report and the competencies-based focus of the "Training Future Physicians" document often give exams that predominantly test recall or low-level conceptual understanding. This project focuses on the often-neglected skill of writing exam questions that ask students to apply, analyze, synthesize, or interpret information in addition to just recalling it and will develop regional communities of practice to help faculty with skills development. ASK BIO will synergize with an ongoing effort by the BioInteractive group at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which is developing a freely accessible online database of high-level, machine-gradable questions for introductory biology.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, 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) with additional support provided by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.