EAGER: Reducing the Digital Divide: Researching the Impacts and Opportunities of Rapid Transition to Online and Distance Learning for STEM Programming in a Tribal College Setting

部落学院和大学方案的一个目标是提高为全国土著学生服务的特定高等教育机构的科学、技术、工程和数学教学和研究能力。扩大这些机构的研究能力，扩大了学生在STEM领域追求具有挑战性和回报的职业的机会，为可能与当地相关的领域提供了研究，并鼓励教师社区超越传统课堂寻求智力和专业成长。该项目直接与这一目标相一致，而且将以现有文献为基础，这些文献涉及数字鸿沟的影响以及相关STEM课程的提供对美洲印第安学生在高等教育中的坚持和成功的影响。 2020年冠状病毒大流行带来的时间和在线教学要求迫切需要在其他影响结果之前捕获数据。西北印度学院建议收集关于以最新模式和足够计算能力在线提供的文化相关STEM教学对TCU学生学业成功影响的基线比较信息。 该方法将包括通过记录大流行前年份和最初大流行年份的数据，评估突然过渡到在线教学的影响;继续过渡到文化相关的在线STEM教学;并为参与研究的学生提供学术和IT支持。 这项工作在这个时候在这个地方的权宜之计是比较的干预措施对学生成绩和参与的影响与最近的结果对学生的成功 * 没有 * 这些干预措施的能力。这个奖项反映了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。

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education that serve the Nation's indigenous students. Expanding the research capacity at these institutions expands the opportunities for students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in areas that may be locally relevant, and encourages a faculty community to look beyond the traditional classroom for intellectual and professional growth. This project aligns directly with that goal, and moreover will build on the existing literature related to the impact of the digital divide and delivery of relevant STEM curricula on American Indian students’ persistence and success in higher education. The timing and on-line instructional requirements brought on by the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 create an urgency to capture data before other influences cloud the outcomes.Northwest Indian College proposes to gather baseline comparative information about the impact on TCU students’ academic success of culturally relevant STEM instruction delivered on-line in an up-to-date modality and with sufficient computing power. The methodology will include assessing the impact of the sudden transition to on-line instruction by documenting data from pre-pandemic years and the initial pandemic year; continuing the transition to culturally relevant, on-line-accessible STEM instruction; and providing academic and IT support to students engaged in the study. The expediency of this work at this time in this place is the ability to compare the impact of the interventions on student achievement and engagement with the recent results on student success *without* these interventions.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.