Integrative, Interdisciplinary Graduate Education: NewConcepts and Approaches for Assessment

创新的、跨学科的和综合的（或I3）研究生教育和培训项目在美国各地正在兴起。个别项目正在进行自我评估，组织承包商正在用传统的方式评估绩效。然而，到目前为止，这些努力还没有从项目过程和项目结果两方面对I3项目进行评估，因为它们与学生和教师学习、学术认同、职业轨迹和机构心态的变化和影响有关。为此，该项目本身是跨学科和综合性的，是对I3项目的组织、功能和性能的形成性和总结性评估。通过探索I3课程如何、为什么以及在什么背景下导致新的个人、专业和机构实践，本研究积累了有关特定I3课程如何在不同条件下发展、适应和执行的知识，并收集了有关此类课程的一般目的、内在价值和基本组成部分的信息。前者的知识将用于设计新的和/或改进现有的I3方案，而后者的信息将加强当前或未来的I3评估。鉴于(a)与更传统的研究生教育和培训计划相比，I3计划的独特目标和目的；(b)与I3计划过程相关的知识和信息的缺乏，更不用说结果了，进行实证研究是至关重要的，以便获得正确的知识和信息，从中发展适当的理论框架并设计评估I3计划的最佳实践方法。因此，本研究是一个两个阶段的评价——探索性评价研究（第一阶段）和评价实践设计与开发（第二阶段）。在第一阶段，该研究发展了一种理论上但基于经验的理解：(a)科学家和工程师在知识生产的新模式和科学就业的新职位中取得成功所需的技能、属性和态度；(b)能够成功培养这些技能、属性和态度的策略、结构和经验；(c)通过实施相关实践、流程和结果来衡量规划成功的指标。然后将该框架应用于30个I3项目（和60个非I3项目进行比较）的样本，以分析可能影响这些个体结果以及更广泛的专业和机构发展的条件和过程。在第一阶段，将定性和定量技术结合应用于I3和非I3项目的样本，将产生一套I3项目“成功”的定义、特征和指标，基于有效和相关的问题、变量和指标的评估框架将被开发和传播，供其他人在第二阶段的研究中使用。

Innovative, interdisciplinary and integrative (or I3) graduate education and training programs are on the rise throughout the U.S. Individual programs are conducting self-assessments and organizational contractors are evaluating performance in conventional ways. To date, however, these efforts have not assessed I3 programs in terms of both program processes and program outcomes as they relate to changes in and effects on student and faculty learning, academic identity, career trajectory, and institutional mentality. To this end, this project, which is itself interdisciplinary and integrative, is both a formative and a summative evaluation of the organization, functioning, and performance of I3 programs. By exploring how, why, and in what context I3 programs lead to new individual, professional, and institutional practices, this study accumulates knowledge about how specific I3 programs develop, adapt, and perform under varied conditions, as well as collects information about the generalizable purpose, the intrinsic value, and essential components of such programs. The former knowledge will be used to design new and/or improve existing I3 programs, whereas the latter information will enhance current or future I3 evaluations. Given (a) the unique goals and objectives of I3 programs as compared to more traditional graduate education and training programs and (b) the paucity of knowledge and information related to I3 program processes let alone outcomes, it is critical that the empirical research be conducted in order to acquire the right knowledge and information from which to develop the proper theoretical framework and design the best practical methods for evaluating I3 programs. Thus, this study is a two-stage evaluation - exploratory evaluation research (stage 1) followed by evaluation practice design and development (stage 2). In stage 1, the study develops a theoretically informed but empirically grounded understanding of: (a) the skills, attributes, and attitudes that scientists and engineers need to succeed in the new modes of knowledge production and the new positions of scientific employment; (b) the strategies, structures and experiences that could successfully develop these skills, attributes, and attitudes; and (c) indicators for measuring programmatic success with the implementation of relevant practices, processes and outcomes. This framework is then applied to a sample of 30 I3 programs (and 60 non-I3 programs for purposes of comparison) to analyze the conditions and processes likely to influence these individual outcomes as well as broader professional and institutional developments. The combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques applied to this sample of I3 and non-I3 programs during stage 1 will produce a set of definitions, features, and metrics of I3 program "success" from which an evaluation framework based on valid and relevant questions, variables, and indicators will be developed and disseminated for use by others in stage 2 of the study.