Building Biobadges Into a Traditional Biology Program to Fulfill Workforce Needs and Support Program Equity

这个项目旨在满足国家对准备充分的生物技术劳动力的需求。为此，它将为生物学专业的每门课程开发基于行业公认技能的新实验模块。学生将能够获得徽章，证明他们掌握了每一项与工作相关的技能。徽章的积累将导致完成证书，这将提供关于学生熟练程度的简明信息。这种方法将技术教育纳入传统的生物学课程，目前的重点是为毕业生转入四年制大学做准备。通过扩大项目重点，包括为学生的技术职业生涯做准备，这种方法旨在解决旧金山湾区的重要劳动力需求。这一新的途径有望向更多的学生开放生物技术课程，并在学生积累关键的工作技能的同时促进整个生物专业序列的完成。由于该学院为大量拉丁裔学生提供服务，这种方法可能有助于扩大生物技术领域的参与。该项目有可能提供一种新的模式，可以被有兴趣满足当地生物技术人员劳动力需求的学术生物学项目复制。为了实现将相关技术人员教育纳入生物项目的目标，该项目将与当地生物技术行业合作伙伴合作开发实验室模块和徽章要求。根据咨询委员会和当地工业调查的意见，该项目确定了所需的技术技能。这些技能，如微移液，DNA和蛋白质的提取和纯化，酶联免疫测定，将是模块和徽章的基础。实验模块将成为每门课程的一部分，从而确保所有学生发展生物技术技能。虽然徽章不是必需的，但强烈建议他们，特别是那些考虑在当地劳动力中作为临时或长期技术人员工作的学生。通过在课程完成过程中提供增量和可实现的步骤，徽章将为许多学生提供支持。将徽章与课堂上的职业发展活动相结合，并提供行业实例（通过演讲系列和其他活动），将在现有的生物学专业中为生物技术提供一条新的、清晰的职业道路。除了开发实验室和徽章外，该项目还将通过在大学和当地高中进行有针对性的招聘，以及与雇主合作，确保带薪实习和工作安排，来支持技术人员级别的生物技术教育。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。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。

This project aims to serve the national need for a well-prepared biotechnology workforce. It will do so by developing new lab modules based on industry-recognized skills for each course in the biology major sequence. Students will be able to earn badges that certify their mastery of each workforce-relevant skill. Accumulation of badges will lead to Certificates of Completion, which will provide concise information about a student's proficiencies. This approach incorporates technician education into a traditional biology program that has a current focus on preparation of its graduates for transfer into four-year institutions. By expanding the program focus to include preparation of students for technical careers, this approach is intended to address an important workforce need in the San Francisco Bay Area. This new pathway is expected to open the biotechnology program to more students and to promote completion of the entire biology major sequence as students accumulate critical workforce skills. Because the college serves a large Latinx student population, this approach is likely to contribute to broadening participation in the biotechnology field. The project has the potential to provide a novel model that might be replicated by academic biology programs interested in meeting local workforce needs for biotechnology technicians. To achieve its goal of embedding relevant technician education into the biology program, the project will develop lab modules and badge requirements in collaboration with local biotechnology industry partners. With input from the advisory board and local industry surveys, the project has identified needed technical skills. These skills, such as micropipetting, DNA and protein extraction and purification, and enzyme-linked immunoassay, will be the foundation of the modules and badges. The lab modules will become part of each course, thereby ensuring that all students develop biotechnology skills. Although the badges will not be required, they will be strongly recommended, especially for students considering temporary or career-long work as technicians in the local workforce. Badging will support many students by providing a pathway of incremental and achievable steps embedded in course completion. Pairing badges with in-class career-development activities and providing industry examples (through speaker series and other events) will provide a new, clear career pathway into biotechnology within the existing biology major. In addition to developing the labs and badges, the project will support technician-level biotechnology education with targeted recruiting at the college and the local high schools, and by collaborating with employers to secure paid internships and job placements. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.