Investigating Whether Online Course Offerings Support STEM Degree Progress

这项研究项目将调查在线课程是否提供了更多获得大学和STEM学位的机会，特别是对于通常在STEM领域代表性较低的学生。每年，美国28%至36%的大专学生至少注册一门在线课程。在线课程注册人数的增长与大学入学人数的整体下降形成了鲜明对比。因此，在线课程的持续增长将对学位进步和获得学位产生越来越大的影响。社区高校普遍采用网络选课的方式，这些高校拥有大量的第一代大学生、低收入学生、女学生、有色人种学生和非传统学生。因此，社区大学的在线课程可能会对STEM领域代表性不足的群体的学生完成学位产生不成比例的影响。为了支持一支富有创新精神和生产力的全国STEM劳动力队伍，必须向整个多元化的美国人才库提供进入STEM职业的机会。这项研究的目的是探索在线课程有限是否会阻碍STEM专业学生的学位进步，特别是那些来自代表性不足群体的学生。在线课程使有工作和家庭责任的非传统学生能够参加更多课程的假设从未得到过严格的考验。该项目将：1)探索在线课程可获得性与学术势头(学生注册的学分数量)和STEM持久性之间的关系，特别关注“非传统”学生；2)探索学生时间匮乏(即可供大学使用的时间的数量和质量)在调节这些模式中的作用；3)探索交替课程部分的稀缺性，作为解释这些模式的潜在调节变量。到目前为止，还没有大规模的研究探索在线课程的提供是否增加了获得大学或STEM学位的机会，或增加了进入STEM学位的势头。这个项目将收集纽约城市大学(CUNY)22,000名学生的数据，并将通过以下方式做出因果推断：1)模拟课程注册系统，以创建受试者内的实验设计；以及2)将学生放置在课程等待名单上，以进行回归不连续设计。纽约州立大学的学生人数反映了STEM传统上代表不足的群体：主要是非白人、女性和低收入群体，以及很大比例的非英语母语者和第一代大学生。该项目旨在为实践者和政策制定者提供有关在提供在线课程时如何平衡获取和保留的双重考虑的关键信息。该奖项反映了NSF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 research project will investigate whether online courses provide increased access to college and STEM degrees, particularly for students typically underrepresented in STEM fields. Annually, between 28% and 36% of all post-secondary students in the U.S. enroll in at least one online course. The growth in online course enrollment contrasts with an overall decline in college enrollment. Thus, continued online course growth will have an escalating impact on degree progression and attainment. Online course-taking is widely adopted at community colleges, which have large populations of first-generation college students, low-income students, female students, students of color and non-traditional students. As a result, online courses at community colleges may have disproportionate impacts on the degree completion of students from groups that have been underrepresented in STEM fields. To support an innovative and productive national STEM workforce, access to STEM careers must be available to the entire, diverse U.S. talent pool. The aim of this research is to explore whether limited access to online courses hinders degree progress for STEM majors, particularly those from underrepresented groups. The assumption that online courses enable non-traditional students with work and family responsibilities to enroll in more courses has never been rigorously tested. This project will: 1) explore the relationship between online course availability and academic momentum (the number of credits in which a student enrolls) and STEM persistence, with a particular focus on "non-traditional" students; 2) explore the role of student time poverty (i.e. quantity and quality of time available for college) in mediating these patterns; and 3) explore scarcity of alternate course sections as a potential moderating variable in explaining these patterns. No large-scale studies to date have explored whether the availability of online courses increases access to, or momentum through, college or STEM degrees. This project will collect data on 22,000 City University of New York (CUNY) students and will make causal inferences by using: 1) a simulated course registration system to create a within-subjects experimental design; and 2) student placement on course waitlists to conduct a regression discontinuity design. CUNY's student population mirrors the groups traditionally under-represented in STEM: largely non-white, female, and low income, as well as a large proportion who are non-native English speakers and first-generation college students. This project is designed to provide critical information to practitioners and policymakers about how to balance the dual concerns of access and retention when offering online courses.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.