Heads and Chairs Workshop on Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education

德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校被授予在2017年7月组织一个名为“本科生地球科学教育的未来”的研讨会的奖项。本次研讨会的目的是在以往进展的基础上，设计成功的策略和最佳实践，以改变不同类型院校的本科课程。在本次研讨会上，参与者将1)讨论之前资助期间更广泛的地球科学学术界和雇主社区确定的概念、技能和能力，以及这些概念、技能和能力如何与他们各自部门的本科课程和项目相关联；2)相互合作制定实施战略，并与参加2016年峰会的一些负责人和主席一起制定实施战略，这些负责人和主席已经花了一年时间在他们的项目中实施变革。3)为各自部门制定个人行动计划。在研讨会之前，2016年负责人和主席会议的参与者将被要求提供他们各自部门行动计划的最新情况，包括已经完成的工作，成功或不成功的工作以及未来的计划。将综合行动计划的最新情况，按机构类型、相似性对其进行分析，并确定哪些战略最有效、出现了哪些障碍以及如何克服这些障碍。这一综合将为2017年讲习班的讨论和行动计划的制定提供信息。成功转系的本科学生的教育将大大加强，这些学生将为研究生学习和未来就业做好更好的准备。更广泛的地球科学学术和就业社区推荐的体验式学习也最有利于代表性不足的群体的学习和他们未来的成功。本次研讨会的结果，结合2016年本科地球科学教育未来校长和主席峰会的汇编和综合结果，将为改变本科课程和项目、确定常见障碍或路障以及如何克服这些障碍提供有效策略的关键数据。在院系进行改革，尤其是在本科课程方面，是非常困难的，能够设计出成功的策略来改变不同类型院校的本科课程将是一个重大的进步。

The University of Texas at Austin has been granted an award to organize a workshop titled "Heads and Chairs Workshop on Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education" in July 2017. The objective of this workshop is to build on the previous progress and design successful strategies and best practices for changing undergraduate programs in different types of institutions. At this workshop, participants will 1) discuss the concepts, skills and competencies identified by the wider geoscience academic and employer community during the previous grant and how these relate to their individual department undergraduate curricula and program, 2) work on implementation strategies together with each other and with some heads and chairs that attended the 2016 Summit who have already spent a year working to implement changes in their programs, and 3) develop individual action plans for their own departments. Prior to the workshop, participants from the 2016 heads and chairs meeting will be asked to provide updates on their individual department action plans, including what has been accomplished, what was or was not successful, and future plans. The updates on action plans will be synthesized, analyzing them by institution type, similarity and determine which strategies work best, what obstacles occur and how to overcome them. This synthesis will inform discussions and development of actions plans at the 2017 workshop. The education of undergraduate students in departments that successfully change their programs will be greatly enhanced, and those students will be better prepared for graduate school and future employment. The experiential learning recommended by the wider geoscience academic and employment community is also most conducive to learning by underrepresented groups and to their future success.The results of this workshop, combined with compiled and synthesized results of the 2016 Heads and Chairs Summit on the Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education, will provide critical data on effective strategies for changing undergraduate curricula and programs and in identifying common obstacles or roadblocks and how they can be overcome. Creating change in departments, particularly with respect to undergraduate curricula, is very difficult and being able to design successful strategies for changing undergraduate programs in different types of institutions will be a significant advance.