Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research to Advance Systemic Change and Equity at Washington Community Colleges

该项目旨在通过为华盛顿州的社区大学学生提供一个民主化获得本科生研究的机会的模式来服务于国家利益。该项目的目标是扩大华盛顿社区与技术学院S的集体能力，以提供本科生研究经验，作为促进教育公平、扩大STEM的参与和留住的高影响力实践。这个项目将寻求回答这样一个问题：“CTC如何创建所需的集体结构、流程、能力和资源，以便在整个华盛顿州CTC系统中提供扩大和持续的本科生研究机会，以改善STEM教育并公平地为CTC学生服务？”该项目团队将组成一个由华盛顿CTC教职员工和管理人员组成的全州实践社区(COP)。这个COP将调查、盘点和制定战略，如何组成一个全州范围的联盟，以公平地获得本科生研究(UGR)，为华盛顿州所有34个CTC的学生和教职员工服务。让社区技术中心参与系统的STEM教育改革，对于扩大STEM的参与度和改善不同STEM学生的教育成果至关重要。该项目的目标是1)发展一个分布式的领导结构，其功能将作为领导COP来管理和促进这一能力建设过程，2)调查系统性障碍、挑战和机会，以扩大UGR经验，以及在机构层面和全州范围内的教育公平，3)为本科生研究联盟的未来状况制定共同的愿景和战略计划，4)形成全州范围的教学COP，以建设教师发展和实施基于课程的本科生研究经验的教学能力，以及5)建立机构和全州范围的行政领导支持，以形成和制度化本科生研究联盟。只有在大规模部署(跨学科和院校)，并在服务于大多数本科生，特别是来自代表性不足的群体的社区学院发生系统性变化时，才能利用本科生研究的公平影响。除非重新审视和改变制约部门、机构和跨机构规模创新的环境和结构，否则不可能进行系统性改革。华盛顿州现有的协作CTC结构和开展本科生研究的大量CTC已准备好研究并开始实施这一系统性变革。这一能力建设项目有可能揭开系统性变革进程中固有的挑战和机遇的神秘面纱，以改善STEM教育和教育公平。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型轨道，该计划支持高等教育机构和学科社区转变和改进STEM教育的努力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 a model for democratizing access to undergraduate research for community college students across the state of Washington. The project goal is to expand the collective capacity of Washington Community and Technical Colleges (CTC)s to provide undergraduate research experiences as a high-impact practice for educational equity and broadening participation and retention in STEM. This project will seek to answer the question, “How can CTCs create the collective structures, processes, capacities, and resources needed to provide expanded and sustained undergraduate research opportunities across the Washington State CTC system to improve STEM education and equitably serve CTC students?” The project team will form a statewide community of practice (COP) of Washington CTC faculty and administrators. This COP will investigate, inventory, and strategize how to form a statewide consortium for equitable access to undergraduate research (UGR) that serves students and faculty of all 34 of Washington State’s CTCs. Engaging CTCs in systemic STEM education reform is vital to the success of broadening participation in STEM and improving educational outcomes for diverse STEM students. The goals of this project are to 1) develop a distributed leadership structure that will function as a Leadership COP to manage and facilitate this capacity building process, 2) investigate systemic barriers, challenges, and opportunities for expanding UGR experiences, and educational equity at the institutional level and state-wide, 3) develop a shared vision and strategic plan for the future state of the undergraduate research consortium, 4) form a statewide pedagogical COP to build instructional capacity for faculty to develop and implement course-based undergraduate research experiences, and 5) build institutional and statewide executive leadership support for the formation and institutionalization of an undergraduate research consortium. The equity impact of undergraduate research can only be harnessed when deployed at scale (across disciplines and institutions), and when systemic change occurs at community colleges that serve the majority of undergraduates, especially those from underrepresented groups. Systemic change is not possible unless the environments and structures that constrain innovation at departmental, institutional, and cross-institutional scales are re-examined and changed. The state of Washington, with its existing collaborative CTC structure and critical mass of CTCs conducting undergraduate research, is poised to study and initiate the implementation of this systemic change. This capacity building project has potential to demystify the challenges and opportunities inherent in systemic change processes to improve STEM education and educational equity. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.