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The CUAHSI Virtual University is an interinstitutional graduate training framework that was developed to increase access to specialized hydrology courses for graduate students from participating US institutions. The program was designed to capitalize on the benefits of collaborative teaching, allowing students to differentiate their learning and access subject matter experts at multiple institutions, while enrolled in a single course at their home institution, through a framework of reciprocity. Although the CUAHSI Virtual University was developed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the resilience of its online education model to such disruptions to classroom teaching increases the urgency of understanding how effective such an approach is at achieving its goals and what challenges multi-institutional graduate training faces for sustainability and expansion within the water sciences or in other disciplines. To gain faculty perspectives on the program, we surveyed (1) water science graduate program faculty who had served as instructors in the program, (2) water science graduate program faculty who were aware of the program, but had not participated, and (3) departmental chairs of participating instructors. Our data show widespread agreement across respondent types that the program is positive for students, diversifying their educational opportunities and increasing access to subject matter experts. Concerns and factors limiting faculty involvement revolved around faculty workload and administrative barriers, including low enrollment at individual institutions. If these barriers can be surmounted, the CUAHSI Virtual University has the potential for wider participation within hydrology and adoption in other STEM disciplines.
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The Rapid Model: Results from Piloting a Model to Establish a Consortium for Sharing Graduate Courses in Wind Energy
Skilled candidates with graduate training are in critical need in the wind energy industry. To prepare for employment in the industry requires both general training (e.g., an engineering degree, a business degree, etc.) and specialized training (e.g., wind energy resource assessment, wind turbine design, environmental impacts training, etc.). Consequently, it is challenging for one educational institution to provide the depth and breadth of course offerings and educational opportunities required. This challenge exists in many multidisciplinary and rapidly evolving fields. WindU is a collaborative National Science Foundation funded effort to respond to this need, by developing and testing a model to establish an expandable, multi-university, multi-disciplinary consortium in STEM graduate education. The consortium consists of multiple universities across the United States who have expertise in wind energy and share distance learning courses. The goal is to both broaden learning opportunities for current students, and to open up the pool of possible students interested in this field. Expanding educational opportunities by developing online delivery of wind energy graduate courses is one strategy to address much needed diversity in the field. Building upon the literature of previous successful consortium development, a new replicable model for setting up a consortium was created, called the Rapid model, with the name reflecting the goal to implement a new consortium within one year. Researchers conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of the model, through observing program meetings, interviewing faculty, staff and administrators engaged in the consortium development work, and examining course sharing outcomes. Researchers identified a number of aspects of the model most important for establishing the consortium, including the importance of external facilitation, committed faculty, staff and administrators, and useful tools and procedures. The research also identified some areas for model modification. This replicable model adds to the knowledge base concerning establishment of an expandable university consortium in graduate STEM education
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- Award ID(s):
- 1856384
- PAR ID:
- 10325252
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE Annual Conference proceedings
- ISSN:
- 1524-4644
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- ID #33173
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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