Transforming Ethics Education: Connecting STEM Faculty, Research Administrators, and Ethics Education Resources through the Online Ethics Center

STEM伦理教育是促进伦理科学和防止研究不端行为的努力的一个组成部分。在线伦理中心是美国首屈一指的在线平台，用于存储、管理和讨论有关教学研究伦理、负责任的研究行为和培养科学和工程领域的伦理文化的最新信息。该项目的目标是更新和改进在线道德中心(OEC)。调查人员将通过更好地吸引刚接触伦理学教学的教职员工和管理人员，并与用户社区开展一系列研讨会，使他们能够收集多种类型的社会科学数据，并系统地评估OEC如何更好地满足其选民的需求。赠款资金还将用于定期网站维护和聘请一名专家外部评估员，以正式评估东加勒比国家组织的活动，并协助调查人员改进网站可用性和更新他们提供的资源收集。这些努力将有助于提高STEM伦理教育的质量，并鼓励和装备美国研究人员从事伦理科学实践。该项目的主要目标是更新和改进在线伦理中心(OEC)。为此，调查人员将对OEC及其用户社区进行系统的社会科学评估。这将使他们能够了解如何对网站进行修改，以更好地满足其用户的需求，并向其用户社区提供更多和更高质量的资源。他们将首先在他们将组织的STEM道德教育研讨会上收集数据，并通过采访和调查其用户社区的成员来做到这一点。其次，调查人员将征集、开发和策划新的和增强的资源，以促进STEM道德教育。第三，调查人员将为正在进行的网站维护提供资金，同时显著改善其功能。最后，调查人员将聘请一名兼职顾问担任专家评估员，以正式评估：(1)网站可用性；(2)用户人口统计；(3)访问者访问网站的目的以及他们是否能够找到他们正在寻找的东西；(4)访问者将网站资源放在哪里；(5)OEC用户认为最有帮助和最不有用的方面；以及(6)如何改进资源收集。这一奖项反映了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。

STEM ethics education is an integral element of the effort to facilitate ethical science and protect against research misconduct. The Online Ethics Center is the nation's premier online platform for storing, curating, and discussing state-of-the-art information about teaching research ethics, Responsible Conduct of Research, and fostering ethical cultures within science and engineering. The goal of this project is to update and improve the Online Ethics Center (OEC). The investigators will do so by better engaging faculty and administrators who are new to teaching ethics, and by conducting a series of workshops with the user community that will enable them to gather multiple types of social science data and systematically assess how the OEC can better meet the needs of its constituents. Grant funds will also be used for regular site maintenance and to hire an expert external evaluator to formally assess OEC's activities and aid the investigators in improving site usability and updating the resource collection that they provide. Together, these efforts will help improve the quality of STEM ethics education and encourage and equip U.S. researchers to engage in ethical scientific practice.The main goal of this project is to update and improve the Online Ethics Center (OEC). To do so, the investigators will engage in a systematic social scientific assessment of the OEC and its user community. This will enable them to understand how the site can be modified to better meet the needs of its constituents and to provide more and higher quality resources to its user community. They will do so first by gathering data at the STEM ethics education workshops that they will organize, and through interviewing and surveying members of their user communities. Second, the investigators would solicit, develop, and curate new and enhanced resources for advancing STEM ethics education. Third, the investigators will fund ongoing site maintenance while significantly improving its functionality. Finally, the investigators will hire a part-time consultant to act as an expert evaluator to formally assess: (1) site usability; (2) user demographics; (3) visitors' purposes for coming to the site and whether they were able to find what they were looking for; (4) the uses to which visitors put site resources; (5) which aspects of the OEC users find most and least helpful; and (6) how the resource collection might be improved.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.