The Effect of Geographic Locale on Work-Related Experiential Learning Opportunities

该项目调查了学生与工作相关的体验式活动(WREA)可能会如何受到他们所在机构靠近主要经济和劳动力中心的影响。WREA包括实习、合作社、实习、跟踪工作和其他类似的机会，使学生能够在真实的环境中应用知识，并导致成功和富有成效的就业。这项研究将通过实证记录当地环境对实习和类似专业发展机会的影响，填补一个知识空白。这项研究是由邻近性研究和机会结构的概念指导的，这些研究隐含在关键的人文地理中，可以通过社会-空间关系的维度进行考察，机会结构的概念是学生可以获得的各种机会，用于组织他们的教育和未来的发展轨迹。这项研究将提供对就业能力话语的深思熟虑的见解，并证明地理位置的语境细微差别的重要性。这项研究预计将提供有关地理环境对学生职业发展机会的影响的信息，并有助于加强STEM从教育到劳动力的渠道，特别是对于那些可能与主要劳动力中心联系较少的学生。在邻近研究的指导下，研究人员将采用混合方法设计来回答以下研究问题：(1)地理环境如何影响STEM学生参与与工作相关的实验活动？(2)学生、大学职业官员、和/或新员工对获得或受益于WREA的看法因学校的地理位置不同而有所不同？(3)与当地环境交叉的结构性机会是否有其他方面进一步影响学生获得WREA或对WREA的看法？(4)参加WREA是否会影响获得学位的时间和/或学位完成和提供工作之间的时间？(5)对于尚未找到工作的应届毕业生来说，他们所在的地区是否导致失业，他们参与WREA的情况与已获得工作的同龄人是否不同？以及(6)参加WREA的员工是否比没有参加WREA的同龄人获得更高的工资待遇？调查数据将分多个阶段从被录取的学生、雇主和最近从佐治亚州五所公立大学招聘的校友员工那里收集，地理空间分析将直观地定位学生在研究、机构和地区的位置。地理空间分析将考虑到工作场所的物理和功能距离以及整体便利设施等因素。对定性数据的分析将提供雇主和最近聘用的员工所感知的具体WREA活动的细微差别信息，而定量分析将提供学生的态度和行为，显示WREA活动与学生成功之间的联系。这项研究将使学生更好地了解哪些体验式活动最有利于学生就业。这一发现可以为学生和随后的就业之间的有效匹配提供信息，并使雇主能够量化他们的投资回报。该项目由教育和人力资源核心研究局(ECR)计划资助，该计划支持以STEM学习和学习环境、扩大对STEM的参与和STEM专业劳动力发展为重点的基础研究。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。

The project examines how students’ work-related experiential activities (WREAs) may be affected by their institution’s geographic proximity to major economic and workforce hubs. WREAs include internships, co-ops, practicums, job shadowing, and other similar opportunities that enable students to apply knowledge in an authentic setting and that lead to successful and productive employment. The research will fill a knowledge gap by empirically documenting the influence of locale on internships and similar professional development opportunities for students. The research is guided by proximity research, constructs implicit in critical human geography that can be examined through dimensions of socio-spatial relations, and the notion of opportunity structures, defined as the full range of opportunities available to students that organize their education and future trajectories. The study will offer thoughtful insight into the employability discourse and demonstrate the importance of the contextual nuance of geographic locale. The study is expected to produce information about the impact of geographic locale on professional development opportunities for students and help strengthen the STEM pipeline from education to the workforce, particularly for students who may be less connected to major workforce hubs.Guided by proximity research, the researchers will employ a mixed methods design to answer the following research questions: (1) How and to what extent does geographic locale affect STEM students’ access to work-related experimental activities? (2) Do students, university career officials, and/or new employees perceive access to or benefit from WREAs differently based on their institution’s geographic locale? (3) Are there other facets of structural opportunities that intersect with locale that further affect students’ access to or perceptions of WREAs? (4) Does WREA participation affect time to degree and/or time between degree completion and job offer? (5) For recent graduates, who have not secured employment, does their locale contribute to the reason for unemployment, and was their participation in WREAs different from that of peers who have acquired employment? And (6) Do employees who participate in WREAs receive higher salary offers than peers who do not participate in WREAs? Survey data will be collected in multiple phases from enrolled students, employers, and recently hired alumni employees who recruit from five public universities in Georgia, and geospatial analyses will visually situate students in the study, institutions, and WREA locations. Geospatial analyses will consider factors such as physical and functional distances to workplaces and overall amenities. Analysis of qualitative data will provide nuanced information about specific WREA activities as perceived by employers and recently hired employees, while quantitative analysis will provide students’ attitudes and behaviors that show connections between WREA activities and student success. The study will provide a better understanding of the experiential activities that best position students for employment. The findings can inform effective matching between students and subsequent employment and enable employers to quantify their return on investment. The project is funded by the Directorate for Education and Human Resources Core Research (ECR)program that supports fundamental research that focuses on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM professional workforce development.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.