RCN-UBE: A Network for Facilitating Online Content for Experiential Learning of Tropical Systems

生命科学专业的学生必须准备好解决“棘手”的问题，即没有明确解决方案的复杂问题。这些问题需要更高层次的思考尺度和学科之间的联系，以及在全球范围内的联系。热带生态学为研究这种复杂性提供了机会，从高度多样化的群落中生物的相互作用到指导热带物种和生态系统的过程和保护的社会和经济考虑网络。尽管如此，大多数核心的本科生物学课程仍然以温带为主要视角，对全球生态系统和文化多样性的接触有限。与此同时，迫切需要在线开放教育资源（OERs），这些资源包含现实世界的例子，并且学生和教师都可以轻松访问和使用。该网络汇集了热带生物学研究、主动学习教学法、软件开发和多媒体内容创作方面的不同专家社区。网络活动将支持教师参与者创建和改编基于实地和研究的开放式教育资源。这些在线模块将托管在响应式设计、开源和开放访问的平台Gala上。热带系统体验式学习在线内容网络的目标是：通过创建热带生态学OERs实现本科生物学课程的国际化；在Gala等平台内加强和创新，以促进OERs内部量化要素的整合；并通过吸引代表性不足的群体、hbcu和社区大学的参与者来扩大生物界的参与。活动将包括：创建作者指南和工具包的初步讲习班；开发新的开放式教育资源的“孵化器”研讨会；调整现有OERs的教师指导网络；与专业协会和其他网络合作，扩大和维持这个新网络。对于每个模块，交互和定量元素的设计和开发将与Gala平台、中西部大数据中心和定量本科生物学教育与综合的开发人员合作进行。随着这个新网络创建OER的敏捷过程的完善，它将为OER开发提供一个新的框架，有助于推动热带生态学以外领域的STEM教育。该项目由生物基础设施司生物科学理事会资助，作为应对《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》（http://visionandchange/finalreport/）所提出的挑战的努力的一部分。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。

Life science students must be prepared for solving ‘wicked’ problems, i.e., complex ones without clear solutions. These problems require higher-level thinking about the connections across scales and disciplines, and within a global context. Tropical ecology provides opportunities for studying this kind of complexity, from the interactions of organisms in highly diverse communities to the web of social and economic considerations that guide the processes and conservation of tropical species and ecosystems. Despite this, most core undergraduate biology curricula retain a primarily temperate-zone lens and limited exposure to the global diversity of ecosystems and cultures. At the same time, there is a critical need for online open educational resources (OERs) that incorporate real-world examples and are easy for both students and instructors to access and use. This network brings together a diverse community of experts with backgrounds in tropical biology research, active-learning pedagogy, software development, and multimedia content creation. The network activities will support faculty participants in the creation and adaptation of field- and research-based OERs. These online modules will be hosted on a responsively designed, open-source and open-access platform, Gala.The goals of the Online Content for Experiential Learning of Tropical Systems network are to: internationalize the undergraduate biology curriculum through the creation of OERs in tropical ecology; enhance and innovate within platforms such as Gala to facilitate the integration of quantitative elements within OERs; and broaden participation within the biology community by engaging participants from under-represented groups, HBCUs and community colleges. Activities will include: initial workshops to create author guidelines and toolkits; 'Incubator' workshops to develop new OERs; Faculty Mentoring Networks for adapting existing OERs; and engagement with professional societies and other networks to expand and sustain this new network. For each module, design and development of interactive and quantitative elements will be undertaken in collaboration with the developers of the Gala platform, the Midwest Big Data Hub, and Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis. As this new network’s agile process for creating OERs is refined, it will provide a novel framework for OER development that can help propel STEM education in fields beyond tropical ecology. This project is being funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure as part of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).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.