Florida Information Technology Graduation Attainment Pathways

该项目将通过支持佛罗里达国际大学（FIU），中央佛罗里达大学（UCF）和南佛罗里达大学（USF）的高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，为国家对受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。该项目为期5年，将为150名攻读计算机科学、信息技术、计算机工程和网络安全学位的学生提供奖学金。本科生将获得长达两年的奖学金支持，研究生将获得长达两年的奖学金支持。该项目的重点是（1）创建一个跨越三个机构的混合（物理-虚拟）学习社区，以及（2）为每位学者提供专业途径经验（研究，实习，创业），反映学者的兴趣毕业后继续研究生学习，为行业/政府工作，或为小公司工作/创业。该项目将为提高低收入学生在计算机领域的持久性和毕业提供信息，解决国家优先事项，并为每位学者提供专业途径机会，为他们提供全面的教育经验，帮助他们确定（或验证）他们毕业后可以追求的理想专业途径。该项目有三个研究目标。首先是调查影响低收入和代表性不足的学生对未来途径（包括研究生院）的价值和成本的看法的因素。其次是研究Flit-GAP混合学习社区和计划编程对学生归属感、持久性和路径的影响。三是确定混合学习共同体的制定性质，以促进形成性改进并转化为其他情境。知识生成部分将涉及三个平行的定性和定量部分，用于混合方法收敛和整体三角设计，主要和补充方法强调背景的普遍性和真实性。首先，主要是定性访谈研究调查的Flit-GAP学生的体验式学习经验和未来的途径的看法。其次，主要是定量的纵向队列研究调查配对的Flit-GAP和non-Flit-GAP的学生，寻找持久性，毕业和未来的路径感知的显着差异。第三，主要是民族志研究观察了许多计划在混合虚拟/面对面的跨机构学习社区的互动，并检查了支持Flit-GAP成果的细微差别。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Florida International University (FIU), University of Central Florida (UCF) and the University of South Florida (USF). Over its 5-year duration, this project will provide scholarships to 150 students who are pursuing degrees in Computer Science, Information Technology, Computer Engineering, and Cybersecurity. Undergraduate students will receive up to two-years of scholarship support and graduate students will receive up to two-years of scholarship support. The project’s focus is on (1) creating a hybrid (physical-virtual) learning community that spans the three institutions, and (2) offering professional pathway experiences (research, internship, entrepreneurship) to each of its scholars, reflecting the scholar’s interest to pursue graduate studies, work for industry/government, or work for a small company/start own business, upon graduation. The project will inform efforts to increase persistence and graduation of low-income students in the computing fields, addressing a national priority, and offering professional pathway opportunities to each scholar that will provide them with comprehensive educational experiences that will help them to identify (or verify) the desired professional pathway that they can pursue upon graduation. The project has three research goals. First is to investigate the factors that impact low-income and underrepresented students’ perception of the value and cost of future pathways including graduate school. Second is to study the impact of the Flit-GAP hybrid learning community and planned programming on students’ belonging, persistence, and pathways. Third is to determine the enacted nature of the hybrid learning community for formative improvement and translating to other contexts. The knowledge generation component will involve three qualitative and quantitative components in parallel for a mixed methods convergent and holistic triangulation design, with primary and complementary methods to emphasize both generalizability and authenticity of context. First, a primarily qualitative interview study investigates Flit-GAP students' experiential learning experiences and perceptions of future pathways. Second, a primarily quantitative longitudinal cohort study investigates paired Flit-GAP and non-Flit-GAP students to look for significant differences in persistence, graduation, and future pathway perceptions. Third, a primarily ethnographic study observes the many planned interactions in the hybrid virtual/in-person cross institutional learning community and examines the nuanced context that supports the Flit-GAP outcomes.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.