Extending the EvaluateUR Method to Expand the Community of Users

全国各地的行业和企业已经确定了他们认为在当今工作场所必不可少的技术和专业能力和技能。这些技能包括沟通、解决问题、时间管理和团队合作。最重要的是，行业和企业希望员工能够识别和思考问题，并找出解决问题的方法。如果学生想成为成功的雇员（或企业家），他们需要掌握这些和相关的技能，了解他们知道什么和不知道什么，并了解如何最好地克服他们在知识和技能上的差距。本科生研究和实习，这两种高影响力的实践，已经被证明可以帮助学生在发展和应用解决问题的技能时掌握自己的学习。许多社区大学的技术教育项目也为学生提供了在当地企业和工业实习的机会。事实上，社区大学在培养学生在职场取得成功方面发挥着至关重要的作用。为了衡量广泛的理想结果，包括在工作场所至关重要的内容知识和技能，该项目将使用一种名为EvaluateUR的循证方法，在这种方法中，学生与教师或研究导师一对一地工作。该方法还为学生提供元认知技能，提高他们解决问题的能力。EvaluateUR方法帮助社区大学技术教育和其他项目的学生识别他们从研究中获得的知识和技能，清楚地看到他们需要改进的领域，并在进入劳动力市场时将这些知识用于他们的优势。该项目的总体目标是增加本科生在进行研究或实习时使用EvaluateUR方法的人数。该项目将克服在所有教育机构实施EvaluateUR方法的障碍，但重点是社区和技术学院。为此，该项目将追求四个目标。首先是为社区大学学生进行研究开发一个仅限学生评分的EvaluateUR方法，适用于多个实习场所，包括政府、商业或行业实习。第二是创建一个版本的EvaluateUR（称为EvaluateUR-CURE），用于较短时间的研究经历，如基于课程的本科研究经历（CURE）。第三是开发EvaluateUR方法的免费版本，让教师在夏季或学年研究中指导3名或更少的学生。第四，也是最后一点，是为EvaluateUR用户社区举办一个在线论坛，让他们提出问题并分享最佳实践。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。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。

Industries and businesses across the country have identified technical and professional competencies and skills they consider to be essential in today’s workplace. These skills include communication, problem solving, time management, and teamwork. Above all, industries and businesses want employees who can identify and think through problems and figure out how to solve them. If students are to succeed as employees (or as entrepreneurs) they will need to master these and related skills, be aware of what they know and don’t know, and understand how best to overcome any gaps in their knowledge and skills. Undergraduate research and internships, two high impact practices, have been shown to help students take ownership of their learning as they develop and apply problem-solving skills. Many technician education programs at community colleges also include internship opportunities for students at area businesses and industries. Indeed, community colleges play a vital role in preparing students to succeed in the workplace. To measure a broad range of desirable outcomes that include both content knowledge and skills that are critically important in the workplace, this project will use an evidence-based method called EvaluateUR in which students work one-on-one with faculty or research mentors. The approach also provides students with metacognitive skills that improve their problem-solving abilities. The EvaluateUR method helps community college students in technician education and other programs identify the knowledge and skills they gain from conducting research, to see clearly the areas where they need to improve, and to use this knowledge to their advantage as they enter the workforce. The overall goal of this project is to increase the number of undergraduate students who utilize the EvaluateUR method when they conduct research or serve in internships. This project will overcome barriers to implementation of the EvaluateUR method at all educational institutions, but with a focus on Community and Technical Colleges. Towards this end the project will pursue four objectives. First is to develop a student-only scored version of the EvaluateUR method for community college students conducting research applicable to multiple internship venues including government, business or industry internships. Second is to create a version of EvaluateUR (called EvaluateUR-CURE) for shorter duration research experiences such as those in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE). Third is to develop a no-cost version of the EvaluateUR method for faculty mentoring three or fewer students in summer or academic year research. Fourth, and finally, is to host an online forum for the community of EvaluateUR users to pose questions and share best practices. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education Program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.