RCN-UBE Incubator: Transforming Assessment and Feedback in Undergraduate Biology Education

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The Nation needs more STEM graduates in order to meet workforce needs and address societal challenges such as climate change and new infectious diseases. It is very common for students to begin study in these fields only to abruptly leave after a few courses, and this attrition disproportionately affects already underrepresented students such as women and students of color. One possible explanation is that undergraduate biology education largely relies on high-stakes quizzes and exams that students find demotivating, creating an intimidating “weed out” culture. This is dismaying but at the same time, these students must master a high degree of content to successfully transition from community colleges to four-year programs and then to post-baccalaureate science programs or careers. This Research Coordination Network will advance undergraduate biology education by creating a network of scholars not only from biology but also from the field of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) to identify and facilitate educator use of more effective, nontraditional approaches to assessment, grading, and feedback that nonetheless respect the constraints presented by a comprehensive biology education. The goal of this project is to improve assessment and feedback in undergraduate biology education such that we expand and diversify students studying in these fields while not sacrificing standards of excellence. A diverse network representing institutions ranging from community colleges to primarily undergraduate liberal arts colleges to HBCUs to large research-focused universities will pursue the following aims: establish the research network; use quantitative and qualitative designs within these diverse range of institutions to identify sources of problematic assessments and feedback, use of novel approaches, and barriers to implementation of innovations; present at several leading biology and teaching conferences the insights on current barriers and challenges to undergraduate biology assessment and feedback; and use data gathered to formulate a full proposal that will implement and test effectiveness of novel approaches. The purpose of the current incubator is to clarify the current state in undergraduate biology education—the traditional methods still being used, new methods being attempted and their relative successes and failures, and the constraints and barriers particular to the study of biology that should be kept in mind in the development of any new tools. The results will form the basis for a larger study which will develop and test the effectiveness of new tools for assessment and feedback that encourage rather than discourage wide participation in the study of biology, thereby improving student learning and performance and producing a better prepared and more diverse STEM workforce.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.