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This workshop’s goal is to help faculty who want to establish a course (or alternate vehicle) for mentoring undergraduates with some computer science background to participate in K-12 teaching computer science in local schools with engaging pedagogy. The workshop leverages the experiences and lessons learned from ten semesters of the organizers leading a course that meets once a week on campus for mentoring to support the undergraduates’ field experience in local schools and libraries. The workshop will dive deep into logistics including how to establish and maintain strong teacher partnerships, establishing student-teacher matches and weekly field experience schedules, weekly in-class activities and assignments to support the field experience, weekly student reflective journal prompts, and surveys for formative evaluation. Participants will actively reflect on their own contexts with potential opportunities and challenges, and organizers will facilitate small group discussions of how to address the challenges, different models for different contexts, and how to get started. Participants should leave with a plan for next steps toward offering a mentored undergraduate field experience in teaching computer science and access to a community of faculty who are working to help to broaden participation in computer science in K-12 while providing opportunities for undergraduates to hone their communication and leadership skills, increase their self confidence, and participate in giving back to the community using their technical skills.
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Learning in a Crisis: Online Skill Building Workshop Addresses Immediate Pandemic Needs and Offers Possibilities for Future Trainings
Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic led to the suspension of many summer research opportunities for science, technology, engineering and mathematics students. In response, the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology Education and Outreach program, in collaboration with Miami University, offered a free online Seismology Skill Building Workshop to increase undergraduates’ knowledge, skills, self-efficacy, and interest in observational seismology and scientific computing. Registrations were received from 760 undergraduates representing 60 different countries. U.S. participants consisted of 59% women and 29% from populations traditionally underrepresented in the geosciences. The workshop design consisted of a tailored Linux virtual machine, regular webinars, a Slack workspace, tutorial-style active e-learning assignments, and an optional final project. Every other week for 12 weeks, a module with ∼6 assignments was released to build skills with Linux, Generic Mapping Tools, Seismic Analysis Code, webservices, seismic network processing, Python, ObsPy, and Jupyter notebooks. A final module focused on competitiveness for graduate school, summer internships, and professional jobs. Evaluation of the workshop relied on registration data, pre- and post-workshop surveys, and performance data from the learning management system. 440 participants completed at least one assignment, 224 completed at least 80% of the assignments, and 191 completed all 35 assignments, significantly higher than most comparable large-scale, open-access courses. Participants invested ∼6 hrs per week and averaged a score of 88% on assignments. We identified >60% normalized gain in scientific computing skills. There is evidence that the inclusive design of the workshop was able to attract and retain a diverse population. However, some additional investigation is needed to ensure that benefits were evenly experienced. Regardless of the degree of completion, participants perceived the workshop quite positively: on average 96% described it as high to very high quality, 83% satisfied to very satisfied with their experience, and 70% very likely to recommend to peers. We identify future directions for running a second iteration of the workshop, including strategies to continue broadening participation and improving retention.
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- PAR ID:
- 10334083
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Seismological Research Letters
- Volume:
- 92
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0895-0695
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3215 to 3230
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1785/0220200472
