RCN-UBE: The Advancing Assessment Skills in BIOlogy Network (ASK BIO)--A Faculty Development Initiative for Under-resourced Institutions

这个研究协调网络是对生物学教育中两个问题的回应：1）生物学教师和其他STEM教师所陈述的课程目标与学生所做的评估之间往往存在明显的不匹配; 2）缺乏区域和地方机会阻止许多教师在资源不足的机构，这些机构为STEM中代表性不足的学生提供服务，从事专业发展。生物学技能评估网络（ASK BIO）将通过两种方式解决这些问题。首先，该网络将为资源不足的机构的教师设计和实施教师发展讲习班，介绍如何编写可机器分级的评估问题，这些问题具有高水平的认知挑战，并与“愿景和变革”报告启发的学习成果保持一致。第二，该网络将为参与者提供可持续参与的实践社区，使评估与学习目标相一致是良好课程设计的一个基本要素。在全国范围内的生物学入门课程中，考试问题-学生得到评分-和课程目标通常不匹配：那些接受“愿景与变革”报告中概述的统一概念框架和“培训未来医生”文件中基于能力的重点的教师经常给出考试，主要是测试回忆或低水平的概念理解。该项目的重点是经常被忽视的写作考试问题的技能，要求学生应用，分析，综合或解释信息，除了只是回忆它，并将开发实践的区域社区，以帮助教师的技能发展。ASK BIO将与霍华德休斯医学研究所（HHMI）的生物互动小组正在进行的努力协同作用，该小组正在开发一个免费访问的高水平，机器评分的入门生物学问题的在线数据库。该项目由生物科学理事会，生物基础设施司和教育和人力资源理事会共同资助，本科教育部作为他们努力解决的一部分，在“本科生物学教育的愿景和变化：行动呼吁”所提出的挑战（网址：//visionandchange/finalreport），并由刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）提供额外支持该奖项反映了NSF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进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

This Research Coordination Network is a response to two problems in biology education: 1) There are often glaring mismatches between what biology faculty and other STEM instructors state as their course goals and the assessments students take; and 2) The lack of regional and local opportunities prevent many faculty at under-resourced institutions, which disproportionally serve students underrepresented in STEM, from engaging in professional development. The Advancing assessment SKills in BIOlogy (ASK BIO) Network will address these issues in two ways. First, the network will design and implement faculty development workshops intended for faculty at under-resourced institutions on how to write machine-gradable assessment questions that present a high level of cognitive challenge and that are aligned with learning outcomes inspired by the "Vision and Change" report. Second, the network will provide communities of practice for participants with which they can remain engaged.Aligning assessments with learning objectives is a basic element of good course design. In introductory biology courses across the country, exam questions--what students get graded on--and course goals are commonly mismatched: instructors who embrace the unifying conceptual frameworks outlined in the "Vision and Change" report and the competencies-based focus of the "Training Future Physicians" document often give exams that predominantly test recall or low-level conceptual understanding. This project focuses on the often-neglected skill of writing exam questions that ask students to apply, analyze, synthesize, or interpret information in addition to just recalling it and will develop regional communities of practice to help faculty with skills development. ASK BIO will synergize with an ongoing effort by the BioInteractive group at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which is developing a freely accessible online database of high-level, machine-gradable questions for introductory biology.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) with additional support provided by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.