RCN-UBE: Sustainable, Transformative Engagement across a Multi-Institution and Multidisciplinary STEM Network

本项目旨在为教师提供改革本科生物教育的新机会，以服务于国家利益。纽约长岛的一组机构（“网络”）试图表明，通过两年制和四年制院校的生物、化学和数学教师之间的合作，可以实现多层次的转变。首先，该网络将重点放在本科生物学教育的前两年，这将使生物学学位更容易获得。其次，多学科方法将项目影响扩展到其他STEM学科。第三，多机构合作支持学生从两年制大学转到四年制大学。预计学生的学业成绩和保留率将会增加，这反过来将有助于满足对更大、更多样化的STEM劳动力的需求。该网络将重点关注教师在重组本科生物学教育中发挥的重要和关键作用。可持续的，变革性的，跨多机构和多学科STEM （STEM）网络的参与以三个理论框架为基础，以发展教师作为变革推动者：转型社区，组织变革的系统设计和STEM创新扩散的紧急结果。该网络的结构化小组方法（即跨学科和机构间工作组、机构小组和整个网络）和跨多个层面的工作（个体课堂行为、跨学科和机构的课程层面合作以及创新的制度化）为影响本科生物学教育和推进有关促进机构转型的过程和结构的知识创造了巨大的潜力。该网络将使用定量和定性度量来了解该网络的关键要素，并提供一个迭代反馈和调整循环。该项目使教师能够改变当前的课堂和制度结构，创造更加公平、包容的STEM学习体验，从而造福社会。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，作为其应对《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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by providing new opportunities for faculty members to transform undergraduate biology education. A group of institutions (the “Network”) on New York’s Long Island seeks to show that multiple levels of transformation can occur through collaborations among biology, chemistry, and math faculty at two- and four-year institutions. First, the Network’s focus on the first two years of undergraduate biology education will make a biology degree more attainable. Second, the multidisciplinary approach extends the of the project impacts to other STEM disciplines. And third, the multi-institution collaborations support student transfer from two- to four-year institutions. It is anticipated that student academic success and retention will increase which, in turn, will help meet the need for a larger and more diverse STEM workforce. The Network will focus on the important and pivotal role faculty members play in restructuring undergraduate biology education.The Sustainable, Transformative, Engagement across a Multi-Institution and Multi-disciplinary STEM (STEM) Network is grounded in three theoretical frameworks to develop faculty as change agents: Communities of Transformation, Systems Design for Organizational Change, and Emergent Outcomes for the Diffusion of STEM Innovations. The Network’s structured group approach (i.e., interdisciplinary, and interinstitutional working groups, institutional groups, and whole Network) and work across multiple levels (individual classroom behaviors, curricular-level collaboration across disciplines and institutions, and institutionalization of innovations) create high potential to impact undergraduate biology education and advance knowledge about processes and structures that promote institutional transformation. The Network will be using quantitative and qualitative metrics to understand the critical elements of the Network and provide an iterative feedback and adjustment loop. The project benefits society by empowering faculty to transform current classroom and institutional structures to create a more equitable, inclusive STEM learning experience. 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/).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.