RCN-UBE Incubator: Network for an Open and Accessible Biology Education: The promise of equity and the challenge of sustainability

这个RCN-UBE-孵化器网络考察了本科生生物教育中开放教育资源(OER)的现状和未来的增长。可供学生和教职员工在课堂上自由使用和修改的教学资源提供了通过改善获取信息和高质量课程资源的机会来加强教育并使其民主化的机会。在过去的十年里，在课堂上获取和实施OER资源的数字工具有了显著的改进。然而，要使OER在本科生物学教育中得到普及和可持续发展，仍然存在许多挑战。这些问题包括技术基础设施、出版的资金和发展利益相关者社区。该网络将审查数字资源和开放式教育资源出版面临的独特挑战，并制定一个框架，以提高开放式教育资源项目的可持续性。开放的教育理念对于实现美国科学促进会(AAAS)在《生物学本科教育改革行动号召》中概述的目标和解决教育资源获取不平等问题至关重要。这项工作有助于缩小边缘化和有资源的学生群体之间的教育差距。该项目使用研究协调网络方法来构建协作框架，以开发本科生物学教育中开放教育研究(OER)的创新解决方案。这一网络将在当前的OER社区和利益相关者之间建立关系。指导委员会代表了从信息科学和计算到私营和公共机构的生物学的广泛学科集，具有广泛的国家地理分布。这些成员将利用他们的地理和学科网络来建立一个多样化的网络参与者社区。与会者将通过审查技术企业的网络基础设施和商业模式；社会基础设施的组织领导力和最佳做法；以及与图书馆和基金会建立伙伴关系以建立机构支持，具体讨论开放式教育资源的可持续性问题。该网络将通过召集对话来实现这些目标，以便在利益攸关方之间分享最佳做法、创造性的解决方案和资源。工作组将报告这些成果，并确定今后支持扩大工作组对话和项目的来源。这一新的网络将促进用于生物学教学的OER资源的额外增长，并进一步建立更广泛的社区，解决教育的多样性、包容性和公平性问题。该项目由生物科学局生物基础设施司和教育与人力资源局本科教育司共同资助，作为他们应对《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》中提出的挑战的努力的一部分(http://visionandchange/finalreport/).This奖反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估被认为值得支持。

This RCN-UBE-Incubator network examines the current landscape and future growth of open educational resources (OER) in undergraduate biology education. Instructional resources that are freely accessible to students and faculty to use and modify in the classroom present the opportunity to enhance and democratize education by improving access to information and high-quality curriculum resources. The digital tools for accessing and implementing OER resources in the classroom have improved dramatically in the last decade. However, many challenges remain for making OER widespread and sustainable for undergraduate biology education. These include technological infrastructure, the finances of publishing, and developing stakeholder communities. This network will examine the unique challenges for digital resources and OER publishing and develop a framework for increasing the sustainability of OER projects. The open education philosophy is critical for meeting the goals outlined by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in the Call to Action for Transforming Undergraduate Education in Biology and addressing inequity access to educational resources. This work contributes to closing the gap in educational disparities between marginalized and resourced communities of students. This project uses a research coordination network approach to build a collaborative framework to develop innovative solutions for Open Education Research (OER) in undergraduate biology education. This network will build relationships across current OER communities and stakeholders. The steering committee represents a broad set of disciplines from information science and computing to biology at private and public institutions, with a broad national geographic spread. These members will leverage their geographic and disciplinary networks to build a diverse community of network participants. The participants will specifically address issues in OER sustainability by examining, cyberinfrastructure and business models for technological enterprises; organizational leadership and best practices for social infrastructure; and partnerships with libraries and foundations to build institutional support. The network will approach these goals through convened conversations to share best practices, creative solutions, and resources among stakeholders. Working groups will report on these outcomes and identify future sources of support for broadening the conversations and projects of the group. This new network will catalyze additional growth of OER resources for teaching biology and further build the broader community addressing diversity, inclusion, and equity in education. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.