HSI Pilot Project: Promoting Virtual Experiential Learning to Support Part-time and Nontraditional Students

该项目旨在为帕洛阿尔托学院的非全日制和非传统学生创造虚拟体验式学习机会，这是一所位于圣安东尼奥地区的西班牙裔社区学院。项目团队关注这些特殊的学生有几个原因。实习和本科研究机会对于学生获得现实世界的经验和提高他们进入STEM劳动力的竞争力至关重要，同时也增加了学术参与度。然而，非传统和非全日制学生在追求这样的课外经历时往往会遇到重大挑战。此外，帮助学生为实习做准备的就业服务通常是优化的，以支持传统的全日制学生。该项目将试点使用虚拟格式提供高质量的职业准备，以改善非全日制和非传统学生群体获得专业经验的机会和质量。该项目的研究人员的一个关键驱动因素是利用雇主最近采用的远程工作和虚拟实习作为应对COVID-19的一部分。远程和虚拟实习可能更容易获得兼职和非传统学生，他们可能无法每天上下班到办公楼或实验室。该项目将与STEM雇主和四年制大学建立合作伙伴关系，以建立虚拟实习和本科生研究机会。面向非全日制和非传统学生的新职业支持服务将包括来自行业演讲者的流媒体演讲、获得同行导师/嵌入式导师的机会，以及培养基本专业技能的在线平台。三个目标指导这个项目。首先是增加实习和本科生研究的参与。第二是增加专业网络和高参与度活动的机会。第三是增加兼职和非传统学生的虚拟辅导/辅导的可用性。该项目的研究将产生关于有效方法的新知识，这些方法将提高在hsi和两年制学院攻读STEM领域学位的本科生的保留率和毕业率。项目成果将通过会议、提交给同行评审的期刊以及与现有的NSF-HSI项目共享，在区域、全州和全国范围内传播。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM参与，并在HSI进行能力建设。考虑到hsi的多样性和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区转型，并促进基础研究(1)关于参与式学生学习，(2)关于如何有效地使STEM多样化和增加参与，以及(3)提高我们对如何在hsi建立机构能力的理解。HSI计划支持的项目也将借鉴这些方法，为如何实现这些目标提供新的知识。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 create virtual experiential learning opportunities that are specifically aimed at part-time and non-traditional students attending Palo Alto College, an Hispanic-serving community college in the greater San Antonio area. The project team is focusing on these particular students for several reasons. Internships and undergraduate research opportunities are essential for students to gain real-world experience and improve their competitiveness upon entering the STEM workforce, while also increasing academic engagement. However, non-traditional and part time students often encounter significant challenges when they are pursuing such co-curricular experiences. Moreover, career services that assist in preparing students for internships are typically optimized to support traditional full-time students. This project will pilot the provision of quality career preparation using a virtual format to improve both access to, and the quality of, professional experiences for part-time and non-traditional student populations.A key driver of the project's investigators is to capitalize on employers’ recent adoption of remote working and virtual internships as part of their response to COVID-19. Remote and virtual internships may be more accessible to part-time and non-traditional students that may be unable to make a daily commute to an office building or lab. The project will create partnerships with STEM employers and 4-year universities to establish virtual internships and undergraduate research opportunities. New Career Support Services for part-time and non-traditional students will include streaming presentations from industry speakers, access to peer mentors/embedded tutors, and online platforms for building essential professional skills. Three goals guide the project. First is to increase participation in internships and undergraduate research. Second is to improve access to professional networking and high-engagement activities. Third is to increase the availability of virtual mentoring/tutoring for part-time and non-traditional students. Research from this project will generate new knowledge about effective approaches that will increase retention and graduation rates of undergraduate students pursuing degrees in STEM fields at HSIs and two-year colleges. Project outcomes will be disseminated regionally, statewide, and nationally, through conferences, submissions to peer-reviewed journals, and sharing with existing NSF-HSI projects. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.