IGE: Adaptive Professional Training (APT) in STEM Graduate Education

在过去的几十年里，科学和技术在我们社会的显著扩张，为受过科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）训练的学生创造了一个令人兴奋的就业机会。在此期间，STEM研究生教育继续在很大程度上依赖于传统的学习模式。这些学习模式历来没有强调专业技能的发展和职业探索，而这些现在被认为是STEM领域长期职业成功的关键。许多学校鼓励学生通过可选的课外机会来满足职业和专业发展的需要。这些机会的零星性质使得学生和教师很难了解项目并利用它们进行有效的学习。此外，当专业发展和职业探索没有被有意地纳入研究生培训的弧线并评估其有效性时，研究生项目就会面临资源使用不当和培训体验不一致的风险。这项授予密歇根大学的国家科学基金会研究生教育创新（IGE）奖将开发一个适应性专业培训（APT）系统，该系统将在整个机构中从不同层面（例如部门、学院、大学、外部）收集机会到一个系统中。从系统中获得的数据和知识将有助于指导研究生的技能发展。该项目将测试这样一种理念，即提供一个结构化的学习框架，以形成性导师反馈和人工智能指导的建议为指导，为专业发展提供更有效的专业技能培养和学生的职业成功。拟议的平台，即适应性专业培训（APT）学习管理系统（LMS），将整合以下主要创新：(1)建立一个用户友好的在线学习机会列表，将整个机构内外的学习机会列表与核心专业技能能力联系起来；(2)根据导师和学员的输入，为个人需求和兴趣量身定制适应性和迭代学习建议；(3)建立投资组合；(4)项目评估能力，以实现循证教育政策和资源优化。APT LMS代表了一种新的灵活学习模式，通过这种模式，多种专业培训机会可以有意地融入STEM研究生教育。我们将测试测试学生群体使用APT LMS，与对照学生群体相比，是否会促进更多有意的专业发展时间投入，并更统一地提高定义能力，如科学传播和提高对学习资源的认识。我们预测，这种创新的教育方法将整合学生和导师的投入，以系统的方式实现规划、记录和参与，从而更有效地获得与学生职业成功相关的专业技能。研究生教育创新（IGE）项目专注于研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试点、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛的社区所需的知识。该奖项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知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The remarkable expansion of science and technology into our society over the last several decades have created an exciting landscape of career opportunities for students trained in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). During this time, STEM graduate education has continued to rely largely on traditional learning models. These learning models historically have not emphasized professional skills development and career exploration, now recognized as key to long-term career success in STEM fields. Many institutions encourage students to address career and professional development needs through optional extra-curricular opportunities. The sporadic nature of these opportunities makes it difficult for students and faculty to learn about programs and to use them for effective learning. Moreover, when professional development and career exploration are not intentionally built into the arc of graduate training and assessed for effectiveness, graduate programs risk poor use of resources and an inconsistent training experience. This National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award to the University of Michigan will develop an adaptive professional training (APT) system that will gather opportunities across the institution from different levels (e.g. department, college, university, external) into a single system. The data and knowledge gained from the system will help to guide skill development for graduate students.This project will test the idea that providing a structured learning framework for professional development guided by formative mentor feedback and artificial intelligence-directed recommendations will enable more effective professional skill-building and student career success. The proposed platform, the Adaptive Professional Training (APT) learning management system (LMS) will integrate the following key innovations: (1) a user-friendly online hub of learning opportunity listings across the institution and beyond linked with defined by core professional skill competencies, (2) adaptive and iterative learning recommendations tailored to individual needs and interests based on both mentor and trainee input, (3) portfolio building, and (4) program assessment capabilities to enable evidence-based educational policy and resource optimization. This APT LMS represents a new flexible learning paradigm by which diverse professional training opportunities can be intentionally integrated into STEM graduate education. We will test whether use of the APT LMS by a test student cohort, compared to a control student cohort, will promote more intentional time investment in professional development and more uniform improvement in defined competencies, like science communication and increased awareness of learning resources. We predict that this innovative educational approach will integrate student and mentor input, enabling planning, documentation, and engagement in a systematic manner, leading to more effective acquisition of the professional skills associated with student career success. The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.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.