EAGER: Reducing the Digital Divide: Researching the Impacts and Opportunities of Rapid Transition to Online and Distance Learning for STEM Programming in a Tribal College Setting

部落学院和大学计划（TCUP）的一个目标是提高为美国土著学生服务的特定高等教育机构的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教学和研究能力。扩大这些机构的研究能力，可以扩大学生在STEM领域追求具有挑战性、回报丰厚的职业的机会，为当地相关领域的研究提供机会，并鼓励教师群体超越传统课堂，寻求智力和专业发展。该项目与这一目标直接一致，而且将以现有文献为基础，研究数字鸿沟和相关STEM课程的实施对美国印第安学生在高等教育中的坚持和成功的影响。2020年冠状病毒大流行带来的时间和在线教学要求，迫切需要在其他影响影响结果之前获取数据。西北印度学院建议收集基线比较信息，以最新的方式和足够的计算能力在线提供与文化相关的STEM教学，以了解对TCU学生学业成功的影响。该方法将包括通过记录大流行前年份和大流行最初年份的数据，评估突然过渡到联机教学的影响；继续向与文化相关、可在线获取的STEM教学过渡；并为参与研究的学生提供学术及资讯科技支援。此时此地，这项工作的权宜之计是能够比较干预对学生成绩和参与的影响，以及*没有*这些干预对学生成功的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education that serve the Nation's indigenous students. Expanding the research capacity at these institutions expands the opportunities for students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in areas that may be locally relevant, and encourages a faculty community to look beyond the traditional classroom for intellectual and professional growth. This project aligns directly with that goal, and moreover will build on the existing literature related to the impact of the digital divide and delivery of relevant STEM curricula on American Indian students’ persistence and success in higher education. The timing and on-line instructional requirements brought on by the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 create an urgency to capture data before other influences cloud the outcomes.Northwest Indian College proposes to gather baseline comparative information about the impact on TCU students’ academic success of culturally relevant STEM instruction delivered on-line in an up-to-date modality and with sufficient computing power. The methodology will include assessing the impact of the sudden transition to on-line instruction by documenting data from pre-pandemic years and the initial pandemic year; continuing the transition to culturally relevant, on-line-accessible STEM instruction; and providing academic and IT support to students engaged in the study. The expediency of this work at this time in this place is the ability to compare the impact of the interventions on student achievement and engagement with the recent results on student success *without* these interventions.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.