RCN-UBE Incubator: Transforming Assessment and Feedback in Undergraduate Biology Education

为了满足劳动力需求和应对气候变化和新型传染病等社会挑战，美国需要更多的STEM毕业生。在这些领域开始学习的学生在几门课程后突然离开是很常见的，这种人员流失不成比例地影响了已经被低估的学生，如女性和有色人种学生。一种可能的解释是，本科生物学教育很大程度上依赖于高风险的小测验和考试，学生们觉得这些考试会让他们失去动力，从而形成了一种令人生畏的“淘汰”文化。这令人沮丧，但与此同时，这些学生必须掌握高水平的内容，才能成功地从社区大学过渡到四年制课程，然后再过渡到学士学位后的科学课程或职业。这个研究协调网络将通过创建一个不仅来自生物学，而且来自教与学（SoTL）领域的学者的网络来推进本科生物学教育，以确定和促进教育者使用更有效的、非传统的方法来评估、评分和反馈，同时尊重综合生物学教育所带来的限制。这个项目的目标是改善本科生物教育的评估和反馈，这样我们就可以在不牺牲优秀标准的情况下扩大和多样化学习这些领域的学生。一个由社区学院、主要本科文理学院、HBCUs和大型研究型大学等机构组成的多元化网络将实现以下目标：建立研究网络；在这些不同范围的机构中使用定量和定性设计来确定有问题的评估和反馈的来源，使用新方法，以及实施创新的障碍；在几个主要的生物学和教学会议上发表关于当前本科生物学评估和反馈的障碍和挑战的见解；并使用收集到的数据来制定一个完整的提案，以实施和测试新方法的有效性。当前孵化器的目的是澄清本科生物学教育的现状——仍在使用的传统方法，正在尝试的新方法及其相对的成功和失败，以及在开发任何新工具时应牢记的生物学研究的特定限制和障碍。研究结果将成为一项更大规模研究的基础，该研究将开发和测试新的评估和反馈工具的有效性，以鼓励而不是阻碍广泛参与生物学研究，从而提高学生的学习和表现，并培养一支准备更充分、更多样化的STEM劳动力。该项目由生物基础设施司生物科学理事会资助，作为应对《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》（http://visionandchange/finalreport/）所提出的挑战的努力的一部分。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。

The Nation needs more STEM graduates in order to meet workforce needs and address societal challenges such as climate change and new infectious diseases. It is very common for students to begin study in these fields only to abruptly leave after a few courses, and this attrition disproportionately affects already underrepresented students such as women and students of color. One possible explanation is that undergraduate biology education largely relies on high-stakes quizzes and exams that students find demotivating, creating an intimidating “weed out” culture. This is dismaying but at the same time, these students must master a high degree of content to successfully transition from community colleges to four-year programs and then to post-baccalaureate science programs or careers. This Research Coordination Network will advance undergraduate biology education by creating a network of scholars not only from biology but also from the field of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) to identify and facilitate educator use of more effective, nontraditional approaches to assessment, grading, and feedback that nonetheless respect the constraints presented by a comprehensive biology education. The goal of this project is to improve assessment and feedback in undergraduate biology education such that we expand and diversify students studying in these fields while not sacrificing standards of excellence. A diverse network representing institutions ranging from community colleges to primarily undergraduate liberal arts colleges to HBCUs to large research-focused universities will pursue the following aims: establish the research network; use quantitative and qualitative designs within these diverse range of institutions to identify sources of problematic assessments and feedback, use of novel approaches, and barriers to implementation of innovations; present at several leading biology and teaching conferences the insights on current barriers and challenges to undergraduate biology assessment and feedback; and use data gathered to formulate a full proposal that will implement and test effectiveness of novel approaches. The purpose of the current incubator is to clarify the current state in undergraduate biology education—the traditional methods still being used, new methods being attempted and their relative successes and failures, and the constraints and barriers particular to the study of biology that should be kept in mind in the development of any new tools. The results will form the basis for a larger study which will develop and test the effectiveness of new tools for assessment and feedback that encourage rather than discourage wide participation in the study of biology, thereby improving student learning and performance and producing a better prepared and more diverse STEM workforce.This project is being funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure as part of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).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.