Improving Learning Outcomes and Equity in Blended Online and Face-to-Face Learning

该项目旨在通过在本科STEM课程中建立在线和面对面混合学习的最佳实践，为国家利益服务。混合课程教学是指在线和面对面教学模式的混合，是一个概括多种课程设计的广义术语。随着最近这种教学方法的扩散，STEM教育界迫切需要更深入地了解在这些环境中提高学生学习成果的实践。本项目旨在分离影响学习成果的混合课程的设计特征，并确定这些关系如何影响四个历史上被边缘化群体的学生。感兴趣的课程设计变量是地理灵活性、教师数量与技术中介教学的数量以及时间灵活性。此外，教师将参与专业发展，以促进他们在混合在线课程中的技术能力。该项目的成果有可能为改善混合STEM教育提出可行的建议，最终可能在提高STEM学科的参与度方面发挥重要作用。这个项目有两个主要目标。首先，确定混合课程设计组成部分与学生学习成果之间的关系。其次，通过分析不同学生群体的影响差异，探讨这些做法在多大程度上促进了公平。准实验研究设计将利用基于社区探究框架和改进的混合教学经验分类法的学生和教师的数据。该项目分离混合课程设计特点的新方法将提高对混合课程的哪些组成部分对学生学习成果影响最大的理解。学生调查结果将通过回归和多层模型进行分析，学生和教师访谈将通过主题内容分析进行分析。项目结果将通过学术会议（如美国教育研究协会年会）、学术期刊以及增强数字学习计划的网站进行传播。NSF IUSE: EDU项目支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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 serve the national interest by establishing best practices for blended online and face-to-face learning in undergraduate STEM courses. Blended course instruction refers to the mix of online and face-to-face instructional modalities and is a broad term that encapsulates multiple course designs. With the recent proliferation of this type of instructional approach, it is imperative that the STEM education community seek a deeper understanding of practices that improve student learning gains in these environments. This project aims to isolate the design features of blended courses that affect learning outcomes and determine how those relationships impact students from four historically marginalized groups. The course design variables of interest are geographical flexibility, amount of instructor versus technology-mediated instruction, and temporal flexibility. Additionally, instructors will participate in professional development to facilitate their technological competence in blended online courses. Outcomes of this project have the potential to create actionable recommendations for improving blended STEM education, which ultimately could play a significant role in increasing participation across STEM disciplines. This project has two primary goals. First, to determine the relationships between blended course design components and student learning outcomes. Second, to explore the extent to which these practices contribute to equity through an analysis of how impacts differ across student demographics. A quasi-experimental research design will be utilized with data from students and instructors based on the Community of Inquiry framework and a modified Mixed Instructional Experience taxonomy. The project’s novel approach to isolating blended course design features will improve understanding of which components of blended courses have the largest impact on student learning outcomes. Student survey responses will be analyzed by regression and multilevel models, and student and instructor interviews will be analyzed via thematic content analysis. Project results will be disseminated through academic conferences, such as the American Education Research Association annual meeting, academic journals, and through the Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative’s website. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.