Promoting Access and Equity in STEM Work-Based Learning

在“改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）”的支持下，该项目旨在增加信息技术（IT）职业道路上以工作为基础的学习机会，这些学生来自参与IT职业的代表性不足的群体。拟议的项目活动建立并扩展了先前的研究，以创造公平的方法和系统，使学生在STEM专业中蓬勃发展并坚持下去。拟议的项目旨在通过协调、以研究为基础的跨部门方法，扩大获得基于工作的学习机会，提高少数族裔学生在信息技术STEM领域的参与度、持久性和完成度。本研究将从三个方面探讨工作学习实施的问题：1)“工作学习准备量表”的效度；2)虚拟实习的有效性与公平性；3)学生早期参与工作学习的结果。这三个方面都是基于工作的学习经验的新方面或新兴方面，很少有与学生成绩相关的研究。利用社会认知职业生涯理论，对40名参与项目工作学习经历的学生进行一小时的访谈，以了解学生参与工作学习面临的挑战。评估策略的有效性，包括基于工作的学习预导向、雇主和教师合作、学习成果一致性的持续改进，以及通过虚拟和基于项目的基于工作的学习提供灵活性，可以支持开发和实施更有效和包容的基于工作的学习计划。通过理解和识别有效的基于工作的学习的挑战和机遇，其他两年制大学可以借鉴关键发现，整合基于工作的学习，以改善STEM中代表性不足群体的接触和参与，改善所有学生的STEM教育和职业成果，并加强大学与雇主的合作伙伴关系。广泛传播诸如学生和雇主以工作为基础的学习准备评估、以工作为基础的学习队列模型、虚拟以工作为基础的学习模块以及项目开发的其他材料等产品，有可能在区域和国家范围内改善高等教育机构的技术教育。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM参与，并在HSI建立转型变革的能力。考虑到HSI企业的多样化性质和背景，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：(i)参与学生学习，（ii）有效地多样化和增加STEM参与所需的条件，以及（iii）提高该领域对如何在HSI建立可持续变革的机构能力的理解。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。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project aims to increase access to work-based learning opportunities in Information Technology (IT) career paths for undergraduate students who are from groups underrepresented in their participation in IT careers. The proposed project activities build on and extend prior research to create equitable approaches and systems for students to flourish and persist in STEM majors in general. The proposed project is designed to increase participation, persistence, and completion in the STEM field of Information Technology for minoritized students through a coordinated, research-based, cross-sector approach to expanding access to work-based learning opportunities. The research conducted in this project will investigate three aspects of the work-based learning implementation: 1) validity of the “Work-based Learning Readiness Scale”; 2) efficacy and equity in virtual internships; and 3) outcomes of early student participation in work-based learning. All three are new or emerging aspects of work-based-learning experiences for which there is little research related to student outcomes. One-hour interviews with 40 students participating in project work-based learning experiences will be conducted using social cognitive career theory to elicit information about student challenges to participating in work-based learning. Evaluation of the effectiveness of strategies including work-based learning pre-orientations, employer and faculty collaboration, continuous improvement in alignment of learning outcomes, and offering flexibility through virtual and project-based work-based learning, can support development and implementation of more effective and inclusive work-based learning programs. By understanding and identifying challenges and opportunities for effective work-based learning, other two-year colleges can draw on key findings to integrate work-based learning to improve access and engagement for underrepresented groups in STEM, improve STEM education and career outcomes for all students, as well as strengthen collaborative college-employer partnerships. Broad dissemination of products such as student and employer work-based learning readiness assessments, the work-based learning cohort model, virtual work-based learning modules, and other materials developed by the project have the potential to improve technical education at postsecondary institutions on a regional and national scale. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity for transformational change at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSI enterprise, 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 the field's understanding of how to build institutional capacity for sustainable change at HSIs writ large.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.