Preparing Central Oregon Community College Students for Careers in Information Systems

该项目将通过支持中俄勒冈社区学院有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，来促进全国对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。该项目为期六年，将为15名攻读计算机信息系统(CIS)或地理信息系统(GIS)副学士学位的全日制或非全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得最多三年的奖学金。该项目侧重于在学位课程期间发展技术技能和软技能。技术学习将通过来自教师和同行的重点指导以及从一年级课程序列开始的队列建设来加强。软职业技能与沟通和协作有关，并将通过职业顾问和与当地雇主的研讨会得到加强。作为项目活动的结果，该项目将增加在这些领域毕业并进入信息技术劳动力大军的低收入和目前在信息技术职业中代表性不足的群体的学生人数。此外，该项目还将调查帮助这些群体中有学术天赋的学生在大学取得成功并过渡到劳动力市场的最佳实践。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成率。该项目的主要目标是帮助低收入家庭的学生完成其在地理信息系统或地理信息系统专业的副学士学位，并进入信息系统职业生涯。该项目将加强硬技术技能，同时培养软技能，这些技能被该机构的独联体雇主咨询委员会确定为应届毕业生经常缺少的技能。该项目评估的主要研究问题将是，填补这些技能缺口是否可以改善大学留校率和毕业率，并增加有资格在信息系统行业就业的毕业生数量。该项目将通过个性化的教师和同行指导、学生队列、一年级课程序列、职业咨询会议以及与该行业专业人士的研讨会来瞄准硬技能和软技能差距。项目评估采用了一种应用社会科学的研究方法：使用数据来改进决策，确定项目是否达到了目标，衡量项目的影响，并传播结果。结果将在学院、地区和国家层面传播，并将有助于填补社区大学生培养软技能如何提高学习成绩和信息系统行业就业机会的知识空白。该项目由NSF的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入学术天才学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学业成功、留住、转移、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。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。

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Central Oregon Community College. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 15 unique full- or part-time students pursuing an associate degree in Computer Information Systems (CIS) or Geographic Information Systems (GIS). First-year students will receive up to three years of scholarships. This project focuses on developing both technological and soft skills during the degree programs. Technological learning will be enhanced with focused mentoring from faculty and peers as well as cohort building beginning with a first-year course sequence. Soft career skills relate to communication and collaboration and will be enhanced using career counselors and workshops with local employers. As a result of project activities, the project will increase the number of students graduating in these fields and entering the information technology (IT) workforce who are low-income and from groups currently underrepresented in their pursuit of careers in IT. Additionally, the project will investigate best practices for helping academically talented students from these groups to succeed in college and transition to the workforce.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The main objective of the project is to help low-income students complete their associates degrees in either CIS or GIS and move on to a career in Information Systems. This project will enhance hard technological skills while also building soft skills, which were identified as commonly missing skills for recent graduates by the the institution's CIS employer Advisory Board. The project’s main research question for evaluation will be whether filling these skill gaps can improve college retention and graduation and increase the number of graduates qualified for employment in the Information Systems industry. The project will target hard and soft skill gaps with individualized faculty and peer mentoring, student cohorts, a first-year course sequence, career counseling sessions, and workshops with professionals from the industry. Project evaluation takes an applied social science research approach that will: use data to improve decision making, determine if the project has met its objectives, measure the project’s impact, and disseminate the results. The results will be disseminated at the college, regional, and national levels and will help fill the knowledge gap on how building soft skills in community college students can lead to increased academic performance and job placement in the Information Systems industry. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.