Curriculum Improvement in Practice-Oriented Biology and Computer Science Programs Using Student Portfolios

该项目将以实践为导向的科学教育的评估从间接的学生学习的直接措施。东北大学是一所主要的研究型大学，具有悠久的实践教育传统。通过其完善的合作教育计划，大多数学生交替全日制课程的工作与全职带薪就业期间相关的专业。即使在校园环境中，科学教育也已经超越了教师直接监督学生的传统课堂，包括新形式的实验室教学，合作研究项目和独立学习。合作教育模式和其他新的教学形式都提出了一些问题，即在每种环境下都学到了什么，如何评估所获得的技能，以及如何将这种学习纳入整个课程。东北大学计算机科学学院和艺术科学学院生物系对学生及其合作雇主进行了调查，以评估学生的技能，并确定他们是在哪里以及如何学习的。这两个单位已成为校园的领导者，在评估学习，以改善课程和教学。在此基础上，该项目开发的投资组合为学生展示和存档他们的工作。然后根据定义明确的规则来评估学生的学习情况，这些规则设定了可衡量的进度标准，以达到预期的学习目标。这些文件夹以数字形式存储在计算机服务器上（所谓的电子文件夹），以促进各种学习环境之间的交流。该项目的第一项主要任务是制定评价学生在不同环境中学习情况的标准。这一过程需要学术教师，合作教师，雇主主管和有经验的学生之间进行深入，便利的讨论。第二项任务是根据题目开发小组的建议，与外部数据库和网络前端设计人员合作，设计作品集系统原型。该投资组合在项目的第三年进行试点，使用200名学生在计算机科学合作社准备班，和200名生物学学生从他们的计划的所有五年。在每年的最后两个月，项目小组通过与课程委员会、雇主团体、学生团体和为此项目成立的咨询委员会协商，审查进展情况。在最后评估之后，评估结果将分发给大学界以及更广泛的科学家和教育工作者。量规开发和档案袋构建的过程可以用作模型，以了解不同设置对学生学习成果的相对贡献，并作为定期审查和改进课程的工具。该模型可用于各种设置与广泛的学生;例如，以帮助提高技能和明确的目标，为学生谁是第一个在他们的家庭上大学和学生的英语是他们的第二语言。

This project moves the assessment of practice-oriented science education from indirect to direct measures of student learning. Northeastern University is a major research university with a long tradition of practice-oriented education. Through its well-established cooperative education program, most students alternate periods of full time course work with periods of full time paid employment relevant to their major. Even in on-campus settings science education has moved beyond the traditional classroom, where instructors maintain direct oversight over students, to include new forms of lab instruction, collaborative research projects, and independent study. Both the cooperative education model and the other new forms of instruction raise questions about what is learned in each setting, how the acquired skills can be assessed, and how this learning can be integrated into the overall curriculum. The College of Computer Science and the Biology Department of the College of Arts &Sciences at Northeastern University have surveyed students and their co-op employers to evaluate student skills and determine where and how they were learned. The two units have become campus leaders in assessing learning to improve curricula and teaching. Building on this base, this project develops portfolios for students to showcase and archive their work. Student learning is then evaluated according to well-defined rubrics that set standards of measurable progress toward proficiency in desired learning goals. The portfolios are stored in digital form on computer servers (so-called electronic portfolios) to facilitate communication between the various learning environments. Development of rubrics to evaluate student learning in different settings is the first major task of the project. This process requires in-depth, facilitated discussions among academic faculty, co-op faculty, employer supervisors and experienced students. The second task is the designing of the portfolio system prototype following the recommendations of the rubric development teams and working with an outside database and web-front-end designer. The portfolio is piloted during the third year of the project, using 200 students in Computer Science co-op preparation classes, and 200 Biology students from all five years of their program. During the last two months of each year the project team reviews progress by consulting with curriculum committees, employer groups, student groups and an Advisory Committee formed for this project. After the final evaluation the results are disseminated to the University Community and to the wider audience of scientists and educators. The process of rubric development and portfolio construction can be used as a model to understand the relative contribution of different settings to desired student learning outcomes, and as a vehicle for regular review and improvement of curriculum. The model can be used in a variety of settings with a broad range of students; for instance to help improve skills and clarify goals for students who are the first in their family to attend college and students for whom English is their second language.