Broadening Participation in Experiential Learning Opportunities to Enhance Learner Engagement and Develop In-Demand Professional Skills

毕业生的技能与STEM雇主的需求之间的不匹配会产生经济和社会成本。 学生可以通过参加传统的合作教育（合作社）实习或实习获得所需的技能，从而提高他们的工作场所准备。然而，合作/实习机会对于在学校全职或兼职工作的成年非传统学生来说是不切实际的。该项目将通过探索这一挑战的潜在解决方案来服务于国家利益：将雇主提供的项目纳入大学课程。这些项目的设计是灵活的，以便它们可以用于不同类型的课程和不同的机构。 他们还被设计为学生谁传统的合作社安置和实习是不可行的。综合体验式学习机会将包括个人和团队的经验。该项目的目标是为非传统的成年学生提供获得专业技能的机会。 许多目标学生来自低收入或代表性不足的少数群体。学生将通过参与雇主提交给体验网络的项目来获得专业技能。 这个在线平台包含500多个雇主提供的项目，旨在提供灵活，可访问的体验式学习机会，可以在课程中实施。该项目将支持教师将体验式网络项目融入他们的课程。它将研究这种整合对多个机构的学生和教师的影响，包括大学学士学位课程和五所社区学院。体验网络平台将得到加强，以连接学生，雇主和教师，以支持项目工作，团队协作，教师和雇主赞助商的反馈，以及反思。这项基于设计的研究将从教师和学生的角度记录将体验式学习机会融入本科STEM教学的好处和挑战。这项研究也将有助于理解学生的自我导向学习和技能发展。它将鼓励采用和调整用于STEM学习的创新工具和做法。将通过制定成功的跨机构伙伴关系战略，支持这一办法的可持续性。积极的伙伴关系将促进全州和全国的广泛传播。

The mismatch between graduates' skills and the needs of STEM employers has economic and societal costs. Students can gain the needed skills by participating in traditional cooperative education (co-op) placements or internships, thus increasing their workplace readiness. However, co-op/internship opportunities are impractical for adult, non-traditional students who are working full- or part-time while in school. This project will serve the national interest by exploring a potential solution to this challenge: integrating employer-provided projects into college curricula. These projects are designed to be flexible, so that they can be used in different kinds of courses and at different institutions. They are also designed to be accessible to students for whom traditional co-op placements and internships are not feasible. The integrated experiential learning opportunities will include both individual and team experiences. The goal of this project is to provide opportunities for non-traditional, adult students to gain professional skills. Many of the targeted students are from low-income or underrepresented minority populations. Students will gain professional skills by working on projects submitted by employers to the Experiential Network. This online platform contains over 500 employer-provided projects designed to provide flexible, accessible experiential learning opportunities that can be implemented in courses. This project will support faculty integrating Experiential Network projects into their courses. It will study the impacts of this integration on students and faculty across multiple institutions, including university bachelor completion programs and five community colleges. The Experiential Network platform will be enhanced to connect students, employers, and faculty, to support project work, team collaboration, feedback from both faculty and employer sponsors, and reflection. The design-based research study will document the benefits and challenges of integrating experiential learning opportunities into undergraduate STEM instruction, from both faculty and student points of view. The research will also contribute to understanding student self-directed learning and skill development. It will encourage the adoption and adaptation of innovative tools and practices for STEM learning. Sustainability of this approach will be supported through enactment of strategies for successful cross-institutional partnerships. Active partnerships will facilitate broad dissemination both statewide and nationally.