RAPID: Collaborative Proposal: Effects of Institutional Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic on Undergraduate Faculty and Students Across STEM Disciplines

新型冠状病毒病2019年(新冠肺炎)大流行导致了前所未有的、全国范围的学术机构混乱。因此，迫切需要了解这种干扰对美国本科生STEM教育的严重影响。这个项目将审查教职员工和学生因新冠肺炎疫情和随后的制度变化而产生的经验。该项目是在不确定时期启动的，将：(1)在实现国家复苏里程碑之前捕捉本科教育经历的短暂性质；(2)为在危机期间调整本科STEM教育的努力提供信息。该项目团队将收集有关机构特征和危机沟通信息的数据，以及个别教职员工和学生的经验。这些数据将被分析，以确定新冠肺炎大流行通过哪些途径影响了本科STEM教育中的教和学。该项目的成果将用于为高等教育机构制定可行的建议，包括危机传播战略、危机时期的教学指导方针和资源清单。由于STEM劳动力在正常和灾难情况下对美国的经济健康起着至关重要的作用，这种迅速收集数据并从这种情况中学习的努力将有助于社会的安全和福祉。预计结果还将支持更具弹性、更具全球竞争力的下一代STEM工人。该项目的具体目标是：(1)检查本科教职员工和学生在应对新冠肺炎疫情时的教学经验；(2)检查教职员工和学生的反应对本科生STEM教与学的影响；以及(3)利用研究结果为高校制定可行的建议，以最好地准备和保护他们的教职员工和学生以及本科STEM教育的完整性。这些活动的目标是回答关键的研究问题：院校的新冠肺炎政策如何影响教职员工和学生与STEM教与学相关的态度、看法和行为？对于本科生STEM教职员工和学生来说，哪些教学资源最重要？随着时间的推移，这些对本科生STEM教育的影响是如何发展的？鉴于形势的迅速变化，回答研究问题所需的个人层面的数据本质上是短暂的。教师和学生后来不太可能准确地回忆起他们在多大程度上能够适应变化，在多大程度上变化造成了痛苦，以及他们是如何应对事件的。利用综合中学后教育数据系统，将从代表性机构的分层随机抽样中招募教职员工和学生参加在线调查和半结构化访谈，这些调查和访谈跨越三个时间点进行。该项目以危机传播、组织科学和灾难管理的研究文献为基础，解决了本科STEM教育研究中与教职员工和学生对颠覆性情境的反应、使他们对颠覆性情境具有弹性的机构特征以及从颠覆性情境中进行的机构学习相关的空白。调查结果将分发给各高等教育机构，并通过一个公共网站传播，该网站介绍了培养教职员工适应中断的教育环境时的复原力最关键的资源。此外，参与机构和个人将收到定制的报告和资源。通过评估新冠肺炎的直接影响，该项目旨在加强本科教育基础设施，改善中断期间和中断后STEM教育的交付，并帮助保护共同经历这场危机的教职员工和学生的福祉。这一快速奖项是由本科教育部门(教育和人力资源局)的改善本科STEM教育项目，使用冠状病毒援助、救济和经济安全(CARE)法案的资金颁发的。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 novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in unprecedented, nation-wide disruption of academic institutions. As a result, there is an urgent need to understand the acute effects of this disruption on undergraduate STEM education in the U.S. This project will examine experiences of faculty and students resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent institutional changes. Initiated during a time of uncertainty, this project will: (1) capture the ephemeral nature of undergraduate education experiences before national recovery milestones are achieved; and (2) inform efforts to adapt undergraduate STEM education during crises. The project team will collect data about institutional characteristics and crisis communication messages, as well as about experiences of individual faculty and students. These data will be analyzed to identify pathways through which the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced teaching and learning within undergraduate STEM education. The findings of this project will be used to develop actionable recommendations for institutions of higher education, including crisis communication strategies, guidelines for pedagogy in times of crisis, and checklists of resources. As the STEM workforce plays a critical role in the economic health of the U.S. in normal and disaster situations, this effort to rapidly collect data and learn from this situation will contribute to the security and well-being of society. It is expected that the results will also support a more resilient, globally competitive next generation of STEM workers. The project’s specific aims are to: (1) examine teaching and learning experiences of undergraduate faculty and students in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) examine the effects of faculty and student reactions on undergraduate STEM teaching and learning; and (3) leverage findings to develop actionable recommendations for colleges and universities to best prepare and protect their faculty, staff, and students and the integrity of undergraduate STEM education. The goal of these activities is to answer key research questions: How do institutions’ COVID-19 policies influence faculty and student attitudes, perceptions, and behavior related to STEM teaching and learning? What teaching and learning resources were most important for undergraduate STEM faculty and students? How do these effects on undergraduate STEM education develop over time? Given the rapidly changing nature of the situation, individual-level data that are needed to answer the research questions are inherently ephemeral. Faculty and students are unlikely to accurately later recall the extent to which they were able to adapt to changes, the extent to which changes created distress, and how they coped with events. Using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, faculty and students from a stratified random sample of representative institutions will be recruited to participate in an online survey and semi-structured interviews conducted across three time points. Grounded in the research literatures of crisis communication, organizational science, and disaster management, this project addresses gaps in undergraduate STEM education research related to faculty and student reactions to disruptive contexts, characteristics of institutions that make them resilient toward disruptive contexts, and institutional learning from disruptive contexts. The findings will be disseminated to institutions of higher education and through a public web site relating to the resources most critical for fostering resilience among faculty and staff when adapting to a disrupted educational context. In addition, participating institutions and individuals will receive customized reports and resources. By evaluating the immediate impact of COVID-19, this project aims to enhance the undergraduate education infrastructure, improve the delivery of STEM education during and after disruptions, and help to protect the well-being of faculty and students collectively experiencing this crisis. This RAPID award is made by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program in the Division of Undergraduate Education (Education and Human Resources Directorate), using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.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.