RAPID: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Electrical and Computer Engineering Programs at Minority Serving Institutions Served by the Inclusive Engineering Consortium

包容性工程联盟（IEC）是一个新颖的合作，其中15个电气和计算机工程项目在历史上黑人学院和大学，两个在西班牙裔服务机构。参与机构包括亚拉巴马A M大学、Ana G. Mendez University at Gurabo，佛罗里达A M University，汉普顿University，霍华德University，杰克逊州立大学，Morgan州立大学，诺福克州立大学，北卡罗来纳州A T州立大学，Prairie View A M University，Southern University，Tennessee州立大学，Tuskegee University，University of马里兰州Eastern海岸，University of Texas at El Paso，University of哥伦比亚特区，and Virginia州立大学.成员学校是非洲裔美国人和西班牙裔工程毕业生的顶级生产者之一。这些学校一直致力于建立一个支持组织，使参与的教师，学生和工作人员能够通过多机构合作充分参与国家教育和研究事业。由于COVID-19大流行，校园运营转移到网上，带来前所未有的压力，需要捕捉成员社区的体验。随着各大学努力改善学生的学习体验，并继续应对这一大流行病造成的严重破坏，将在夏季和秋季吸取和应用经验教训。除了加强远程教育工作外，几乎每一种使用的工具和每一种应用的想法都将成为进一步建立支持基础设施、方案和程序的潜在候选者，使新生的IEC能够实现其使其合作伙伴能够作为一个虚拟的超级部门协调行动的愿景。目前的项目建立在由国家科学基金会资助的两个成功的IEC合作：实验中心教育学（ECP）项目和本科生研究经验（REU）/教师研究经验（RET）大型网站。ECP项目优先考虑在13个合作机构的电路和/或电子课程中进行动手实验。随着向在线学习的过渡，现在的做法是远程授课和学习，使能技术包括在线会议、论坛、家庭作业和测验工具以及其他与远程授课兼容的工具。为ECP开发的数据收集协议和工具将用于研究和改善学生在虚拟条件下的学习。大型网站作为一个国家模式，如何扩大参与工程成功实施多机构本科研究计划，其他人可以采用/适应和建立。现在是第二年，Mega Site将在2020年夏季作为缩减的在线计划提供，教师，教师和学生都有能力参与数据收集活动，以更好地了解对课堂外发生的关键劳动力发展计划的影响。大规模的远程教育实验正在席卷全国的学院和大学。组成包容性工程联盟的少数民族服务机构具有独特的优势，可以快速获取少数民族工程学生及其教师的经验。利用现有的网络合作者从十七所大学显着增加的潜力，成功地开发和测试一个模型的在线学习环境中的电气和计算机工程课程，可用于在times.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) is a novel collaboration among fifteen Electrical and Computer Engineering programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and two at Hispanic Serving Institutions. Participating institutions include Alabama A&M University, Ana G. Mendez University at Gurabo, Florida A&M University, Hampton University, Howard University, Jackson State University, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Prairie View A&M University, Southern University, Tennessee State University, Tuskegee University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, University of Texas at El Paso, University of the District of Columbia, and Virginia State University. Member schools are among the top producers of African American and Hispanic engineering graduates. These schools have been working to build a support organization to enable the participating faculty, students and staff to engage fully in the national education and research enterprise through multi-institutional collaboration. The unprecedented stress as campus operations moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic creates the need to capture the experiences of the member communities. Lessons will be learned and applied in the summer and fall as universities work to improve the learning experiences of their students and continue to respond to the extraordinary disruptions caused by the pandemic. In addition to enhancing distance education efforts, nearly every tool used and every idea applied will be a potential candidate to further build the support infrastructure, programs and processes that can make it possible for the nascent IEC to realize its vision of enabling its partners to act in concert as a virtual super department. The current project builds on two successful IEC collaborations funded by the National Science Foundation: the Experimental Centric Pedagogy (ECP) project and the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)/Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Mega Site. The ECP project prioritized hands-on experimentation in the circuits and/or electronics courses of thirteen collaborating institutions. With the transition to online learning, the treatment is now distance delivery and learning and the enabling technologies include tools for online meetings, forums, homework and quizzes and other distance delivery compatible tools. The data collection protocols and instruments developed for the ECP will be deployed to study and improve student learning under virtual conditions. The Mega Site serves as a national model for how to broaden participation in engineering by successfully implementing multi-institution undergraduate research programs, which others can adopt/adapt and build upon. Now in its second year, the Mega Site will be offered as a scaled back, online program in summer 2020 and faculty, teachers and students are well positioned to participate in data collection activities to better understand the impact on critical workforce development programs that take place outside of the classroom. The great distance learning experiment is sweeping the nation’s colleges and universities. The Minority Serving Institutions who make up the Inclusive Engineering Consortium are uniquely positioned to rapidly capture the experiences of minority engineering students and their instructors. Leveraging the existing network of collaborators from seventeen universities significantly increases the potential to successfully develop and test a model for online learning environments in electrical and computer engineering courses that can be used in times of crisis.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.