Collaborative Research: HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Commitment to Learning Instilled by Mastery-Based Undergraduate Program

评级做法已被认为是股权差距持续存在的主要罪魁祸首之一。传统的评分方法可能不公平、无效，甚至对包括拉丁裔学生在内的第一代学生造成损害。为了解决这个问题，加州州立大学洛杉矶分校的一个教职员工团队将与东洛杉矶学院和帕萨迪纳城市学院的同事合作，努力改变学生在二年级工程课程中的学习和评估。该项目将开发和研究一项为期三年的专业发展计划，以支持基于掌握程度的评分的实施，掌握评分是一种以两个主要概念为中心的评分形式。首先，重要的是对材料的最终掌握，而不是一个学期中人为的检查站。第二，学生应该有多种机会展示自己的能力，而不会因为尝试失败而受到惩罚。将在上述学校(招收西语裔学生的三所非常高的学校)实施以掌握为基础的评分，目的是改善教与学，并促进关于让学生参与学习和工程特性发展的基础研究。这项研究工作将由亚利桑那州立大学项目团队的一部分领导。该项目将从课程重新设计阶段开始，在该阶段，教职员工将接受指导，通过课程重新设计过程重组课程，以进行掌握评分。然后，教员们将在下个学期试行重新设计的课程，以便对重新设计的课程进行额外的微调。更多的教师将被纳入重新设计的课程，在参与持续的、跨机构的教师学习社区的同时，接受了使用掌握评分的培训。一项深入的、以学生为中心的研究工作将调查参与以掌握为基础的学习环境是否会随着时间的推移改变第一代大学生的学习动机、心态和态度。这项研究将以三个目标为指导。首先是使用基于掌握程度的评分来重新设计课程，以提高二年级工程“入门”课程的转化率和课程完成率。第二是培养和衡量学生对学习的态度、作为学习者的信心和工程认同感的转变。第三，为教师创建一个可持续的、多机构的教师学习社区和专业发展计划，以利用基于掌握的评分。项目研究将促进对基于掌握程度的评分对后中级工程学生的影响的理解。它将促进对新的学习环境如何影响第一代大学工科学生的成就动机、情感状态、身份发展、关于学习能力的心态和坚持信念(即学业概况)的理解。成就目标理论是成就动机的一个重要理论框架，但在以少数族裔为主的学生群体中使用这一理论框架的研究还很少。该项目将通过实证研究第一代大学生的成就动机来填补这一空白，并加深对第一代大学生的成就动机如何支持他们的工程认同发展的理解。主要数据来源包括学生调查、学生和教职员工访谈，以及对学生在转型课程中的结果进行检查。除了通过会议报告和期刊出版物进行传播外，还将开发一种混合的教师发展课程，以便使用基于掌握程度的评分，并向项目教师提供，并进行传播，以促进更广泛的采用。改善本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)旨在加强本科生STEM教育，扩大对STEM的参与，并建设HSIS的能力。鉴于高等教育机构的不同性质和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法，以激励机构和社区的变革，并促进基础研究(I)关于学生参与式学习，(Ii)关于如何有效地多样化和增加对STEM的参与，以及(Iii)提高我们对如何建设高等教育机构能力的理解。HSI计划支持的项目也将从这些方法中获得如何实现这些目标的新知识。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。

Grading practices have been identified as one of the main culprits in the persistence of equity gaps. Traditional grading methods can be inequitable, ineffective, and even damaging to first-generation students, including Latinx students. To address this issue, a team of faculty from California State University, Los Angeles, in partnership with colleagues from East Los Angeles College and Pasadena City College, will work to transform student learning and assessment in second-year engineering courses. The project will develop and study a three-year professional development program to support the implementation of mastery-based grading, a form of grading that centers on two main concepts. First is that eventual mastery of the material is what counts, not artificial checkpoints during a term. Second is that multiple opportunities to show mastery should be available to students with no penalty for failed attempts. Mastery-based grading will be implemented at the aforementioned schools (three very-high enrolling Hispanic-serving institutions) with a goal of improving teaching and learning and promoting fundamental research on engaging student learning and engineering identity development. That research effort will be led by the portion of the project team at Arizona State University. The project will begin with a course redesign phase in which faculty will receive instruction in restructuring courses for mastery grading through a course redesign process. Faculty will then pilot the redesigned courses in the following semester, allowing for additional fine tuning of the redesign. Additional faculty will be brought into the redesigned courses, after being trained on the use of mastery-grading while engaged in an ongoing, cross-institutional faculty learning community. An embedded, student-centered research effort will investigate whether participation in a mastery-based learning environment shifts first-generation college students’ academic motivation, mindset, and attitudes over time.Three goals will guide this project. First is to redesign courses using mastery-based grading to improve rates of transfer and course completion for sophomore engineering “gateway” courses. Second is to foster and measure shifts in student attitudes towards learning, confidence as learners, and engineering identity. Third is to create a sustainable, multi-institutional faculty learning community and professional development program for faculty to utilize mastery-based grading. Project research will advance understanding of the effect that mastery-based grading has on post-secondary engineering students. It will advance understanding of how the new learning environment impacts first-generation college engineering students’ achievement motivation, affective state, identity development, mindsets about their abilities to learn, and persistence beliefs (i.e., academic profiles). Achievement goal theory is a prominent theoretical framework in achievement motivation, yet there is a dearth of research using this framework within the context of a predominantly minority student population. This project will fill this gap by empirically examining first-generation college students’ achievement motivation and advance understanding of how first-generation college students’ achievement motivations support the development of their engineering identity. Major data sources include student surveys, student and faculty interviews, and examination of student outcomes in the transformed courses. In addition to dissemination through conference presentations and journal publications, a hybrid faculty development course for using Mastery-Based Grading will be developed and made available to project faculty and disseminated to facilitate broader adoption. The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.