EAGER: I-Corps for Learning (I-Corps-L): Curriculum Development and Implementation

该项目解决的问题是如何促进有效的教育创新，使其更广泛地传播，从而在学生和教育工作者中产生重大影响。主要研究人员正在开发一种创业方法，以帮助教育创新者团队制定战略，以便更成功地扩大他们由NSF资助的教育创新的规模。该项目名为国家科学基金会学习创新队(I-Corps-L)，是以成功的美国国家科学基金会创新公司(I-Corp)团队计划为蓝本的。目前的工作旨在提高i-Corps计划实现NSF资助的教育活动的广泛传播的能力。到目前为止，事实证明，采用教育创新的理想水平很难实现。这个项目的重点是重新设计专门用于教育创新的i-Corps计划材料。I-Corps-L的主要目标是在教育界培养一种创业心态，使其有潜力影响教育创新的设计和实施方式。这个项目的目的是制作持久的教学材料、策略和计划，以供I-Corps计划中未来的教师和团队使用。项目工作将针对几个特定的目标。为NSF I-Corps计划开发的材料将进行定制，以更好地反映教育网络中遇到的情况。将制定实例和案例研究，说明教育领域创新的成功扩大和持续。项目团队将开发一种教学方法，保持企业家心态的诚恳，但建立在教学设计的最佳实践和人们如何学习的当前知识的基础上。改进后的i-Corps-L课程将在24个团队中进行测试。除了使用新材料外，还将使用已建立的i-Corps应用和选择程序来开发该队列。该项目计划的依据是早先的调查结果，这些调查结果明确指出，i-Corps-L的课程材料和概念应该以教育企业、非营利组织或社会创业活动的例子来说明。这一定制将使参与者更好地了解教育生态系统的构成，并更有效地理解和应用创业概念。这项工作的一个重要成果是为教育环境量身定做的学习材料，可用于未来的队列和i-Corps节点和站点网络。结果还将包括一项全面评估，重点是I-Corps-L的形成性、总结性和前瞻性结果。特别令人感兴趣的成果包括确定i-Corps-L课程在多大程度上激励和准备团队有效地设计学习创新，使其具有可伸缩性和可持续性。评估还将调查i-Corps-L方法还需要采取哪些其他行动，以有效促进STEM教育的规模和持续学习创新以及促进转型。

This project addresses the problem of how to promote effective educational innovations so they become more widespread and therefore can have substantial impacts among students and educators. The principal investigators are developing an entrepreneurial approach to helping teams of educational innovators develop strategies to be more successful in scaling up their NSF-funded educational innovations. The project is called the NSF Innovation Corps for Learning (I-Corps-L) and is modeled after the successful NSF Innovation Corp (I-Corp) teams program. The current work seeks to improve the ability of the I-Corps program to accomplish widespread dissemination of NSF funded education activities. Thus far, desirable levels of adoption of educational innovations have proven difficult to achieve. This project is focused on redesigning the I-Corps program materials specifically for educational innovations. The principal goal of I-Corps-L is to foster an entrepreneurial mindset within the education community such that it has the potential to impact the way education innovations are designed and implemented. The intent of this project is to produce lasting instructional materials, strategies, and programs that can be used with future faculty and teams in the I-Corps program.The project work will be directed at several specific objectives. The materials developed for the NSF I-Corps program will be customized to better reflect the circumstances encountered within an education network. Examples and case studies will be developed illustrating the successful scale-up and sustaining of innovations in the educational domain. The project team will develop an instructional approach that maintains the earnestness of the entrepreneurial mindset, but builds on best practices in instructional design and current knowledge of how people learn. The enhanced I-Corps-L curriculum will be tested with a cohort of twenty-four teams. In addition to using new materials, the cohort will be developed using the established I-Corps application and selection process. The project plan is informed by earlier findings which made it clear that the I-Corps-L course materials and concepts should be illustrated with examples from educational enterprises, non-profits, or social entrepreneurial endeavors. This customization will allow participants to better understand what constitutes an educational ecosystem, and to more effectively understand and apply the entrepreneurial concepts. One significant output of this work is learning materials customized to the education environment that can be used for future cohorts and within the I-Corps network of nodes and sites. Outcomes will also include a comprehensive evaluation focused on formative, summative, and forward-looking outcomes of I-Corps-L. Outcomes of particular interest include a determination of the extent to which the I-Corps-L course motivates as well as prepares teams to effectively design learning innovations so they will be scalable and sustainable. Evaluation will also investigate what other actions are needed for the I-Corps-L approach to contribute effectively to scaling and sustaining learning innovations and promoting transformation in STEM education.