A Broadening Participation in Engineering Workshop for Distance Learning Programs in STEM: Experiences, Challenges, and Solutions

在全国范围内，STEM劳动力短缺增加了增加工程工人数量的需求。这种劳动力需求正在发生，而代表性不足和非传统学生的数量和百分比迅速扩大。为了保持国家的技术竞争优势，越来越多的大学被要求创建创新的工程和其他STEM相关课程，利用远程学习来扩大这些领域的参与，使不断增长的技术劳动力多样化。最近的技术进步有可能使更多的学生，特别是代表性不足的群体和非传统的学生能够进行远距离学习。虽然通过远程学习提供的工程课程正在增加，但这些课程并不像人文和社会科学那样广泛使用。一个主要原因是，材料的逻辑，分析和数学性质以及相关的动手组件需要面对面的讨论和解释。对于拟议的项目，调查人员概述了一个研讨会，将鼓励教师考虑他们的课程的哪些方面可以完全在线模式提供或与传统的教学方法相结合。该项目旨在为教师，特别是那些从公共少数民族服务机构（MSIs），了解迁移工程课程的远程学习模式的手段提供一个论坛。与会者将有机会与远程学习专家进行互动。研讨会的参与者将有机会设计符合当前教育期望的远程学习课程和计划。总的来说，拟议的研讨会旨在激发教师开发远程学习计划的兴趣，以有效地适应课程和学生的需求，以实现学生的学习成果的目标。互动研讨会使教师能够与专家合作，以解决与在线交付模式的考虑。研讨会的成果包括：1）一份详细的研讨会报告，其中包括每次会议的总结和结论; 2）一个鼓励教师更广泛参与在线工程和科学课程的模型; 3）一份关于研讨会有效性的报告。

Nationally, STEM workforce shortages have increased the need to grow the number of engineering workers. This workforce demand is happening while the numbers and percentages of underrepresented and non-traditional students rapidly expands. To maintain the nation's technological competitive edge, universities are increasingly called upon to create innovative engineering and other STEM-related curricula, using distance learning to encompass broader participation in these fields, to diversify the growing technical workforce. Recent technological advances have the potential to allow the implementation of distance learning to reach larger numbers of students, especially those from underrepresented groups and non-traditional students. While the offerings of engineering programs through distance learning is increasing, these programs are not as widely used as in the humanities and social sciences. One primary reason is that the logical, analytical and mathematical nature of the material and the associated hands-on components require face-to-face discussion and explanation. For the proposed project, the investigators outline a workshop that will encourage faculty to consider which aspects of their curriculum can be offered in an entirely online mode or blended with traditional pedagogies. This project intends to provide a forum for faculty, particularly those from public Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), to understand the means for migrating engineering courses to a distance learning mode. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with distance learning experts. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to design distance learning courses and programs that meet current educational expectations. Generally speaking, the proposed workshop aims to spur faculty interest in developing distance learning programs to effectively to fit the needs of the curriculum and students, with the goal of achieving student learning outcomes. The interactive workshop enables faculty to work with experts to address considerations with online delivery modes. The outcomes of the workshop include: 1) a detailed workshop report with summaries and conclusions from each session; 2) a model for encouraging broader participation by faculty in online engineering and science courses; and 3) a report on workshop effectiveness.