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1. Coordinated Distributed Experiments in Higher Education: A Low Barrier to Entry and Potential for Student Projects

   https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.2101  

   Koomen, Michele; Ross, Jake; Hinrichs, Emelia; Hofstede, Ellen; Grimes, Jolie; Mohl, Emily (October 2023, The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America)

   Abstract This mixed‐methods research focused on the implementation of a coordinated distributed experiment (CDE) investigating local adaptation in common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), a host plant for the monarch butterfly population. Faculty participants were recruited from the Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN) who recruited their former undergraduate students. Quantitative data were drawn from the Milkweed Local Adaptation (MLA) CDE database across the three project years. Qualitative data included faculty survey responses, semi‐structured interviews of faculty and former undergraduates, and review of undergraduate research posters, papers, and curricula using rubrics aligned with 4DEE and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) benchmarks. Analysis of the MLA CDE database illustrates a decline in both participating institutions and in counts of milkweed stems over the project (2018–2020). Qualitative data analysis revealed that CDEs: (1) offer opportunities for higher education faculty and their students to be part of research including developing skills of data collection, analysis, and interpretation; (2) have unexpected challenges; and (3) can inspire undergraduate students to develop independent research projects or curricular modules for use in formal 6–12 classrooms. Broader ecological educational implications of our outcomes for higher education faculty and their undergraduate students include: (1) recommendation that faculty members involved ought to be proactively informed about potential challenges and provided with guidance on how to mitigate them; (2) mitigating challenges with model studies to try to estimate the sample size and redundancy likely to produce robust data; and (3) proactive use of the educational network to understand institutional use of the CDE project with undergraduates. 

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2. Increasing Undergraduate Retention in Appalachia through a Mentored Undergraduate Research Experience

   https://doi.org/10.18833/spur/7/2/1  

   Pacheco, Cinthia; Hessl, Amy; Campbell, John; Zalman, Paige; Ferguson, Carinna (January 2023, Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research)

   This article describes the Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP), a mentored undergraduate research experience implemented in 2017 at a public land-grant institution located in the Appalachian region. The article focuses on RAP’s approach to recruiting, retaining, and supporting students in faculty-mentored research and creative inquiry. To assess the impact of RAP on undergraduate retention, institutional data were collected to identify RAP participants from the years 2017 to 2022 (n = 868) to compare next-year retention rates with institutional averages across similar demographic groups. The results showed that retention rates for RAP participants were significantly higher than institutional averages, and disaggregated data also showed higher retention rates for participants from historically marginalized populations. These This article describes the Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP), a mentored undergraduate research experience implemented in 2017 at a public land-grant institution located in the Appalachian region. The article focuses on RAP’s approach to recruiting, retaining, and supporting students in faculty-mentored research and creative inquiry. To assess the impact of RAP on undergraduate retention, institutional data were collected to identify RAP participants from the years 2017 to 2022 (n = 868) to compare next-year retention rates with institutional averages across similar demographic groups. The results showed that retention rates for RAP participants were significantly higher than institutional averages, and disaggregated data also showed higher retention rates for participants from historically marginalized populations. These results provide evidence of the program’s contribution to the educational development of the Appalachian region. 

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3. Moving Toward Transdisciplinary Learning Around Topics of Convergence: Is it really Possible in Higher Education Today?

   Strimel, G.; Pruim, D.; Briller, S.; Martinez, R.; Lucas, D.; Kelley, T.; Sohn, J. (June 2023, Review directory American Society for Engineering Education)

   There have been numerous demands for enhancements in the way undergraduate learning occurs today, especially at a time when the value of higher education continues to be called into question (The Boyer 2030 Commission, 2022). One type of demand has been for the increased integration of subjects/disciplines around relevant issues/topics—with a more recent trend of seeking transdisciplinary learning experiences for students (Sheets, 2016; American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2019). Transdisciplinary learning can be viewed as the holistic way of working equally across disciplines to transcend their own disciplinary boundaries to form new conceptual understandings as well as develop new ways in which to address complex topics or challenges (Ertas, Maxwell, Rainey, & Tanik, 2003; Park & Son, 2010). This transdisciplinary approach can be important as humanity’s problems are not typically discipline specific and require the convergence of competencies to lead to innovative thinking across fields of study. However, higher education continues to be siloed which makes the authentic teaching of converging topics, such as innovation, human-technology interactions, climate concerns, or harnessing the data revolution, organizationally difficult (Birx, 2019; Serdyukov, 2017). For example, working across a university’s academic units to collaboratively teach, or co-teach, around topics of convergence are likely to be rejected by the university systems that have been built upon longstanding traditions. While disciplinary expertise is necessary and one of higher education’s strengths, the structures and academic rigidity that come along with the disciplinary silos can prevent modifications/improvements to the roles of academic units/disciplines that could better prepare students for the future of both work and learning. The balancing of disciplinary structure with transdisciplinary approaches to solving problems and learning is a challenge that must be persistently addressed. These institutional challenges will only continue to limit universities seeking toward scaling transdisciplinary programs and experimenting with novel ways to enhance the value of higher education for students and society. This then restricts innovations to teaching and also hinders the sharing of important practices across disciplines. To address these concerns, a National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education project team, which is the topic of this paper, has set the goal of developing/implementing/testing an authentically transdisciplinary, and scalable educational model in an effort to help guide the transformation of traditional undergraduate learning to span academics silos. This educational model, referred to as the Mission, Meaning, Making (M3) program, is specifically focused on teaching the crosscutting practices of innovation by a) implementing co-teaching and co-learning from faculty and students across different academic units/colleges as well as b) offering learning experiences spanning multiple semesters that immerse students in a community that can nourish both their learning and innovative ideas. As a collaborative initiative, the M3 program is designed to synergize key strengths of an institution’s engineering/technology, liberal arts, and business colleges/units to create a transformative undergraduate experience focused on the pursuit of innovation—one that reaches the broader campus community, regardless of students’ backgrounds or majors. Throughout the development of this model, research was conducted to help identify institutional barriers toward creating such a cross-college program at a research-intensive public university along with uncovering ways in which to address these barriers. While data can show how students value and enjoy transdisciplinary experiences, universities are not likely to be structured in a way to support these educational initiatives and they will face challenges throughout their lifespan. These challenges can result from administration turnover whereas mutual agreements across colleges may then vanish, continued disputes over academic territory, and challenges over resource allotments. Essentially, there may be little to no incentives for academic departments to engage in transdisciplinary programming within the existing structures of higher education. However, some insights and practices have emerged from this research project that can be useful in moving toward transdisciplinary learning around topics of convergence. Accordingly, the paper will highlight features of an educational model that spans disciplines along with the workarounds to current institutional barriers. This paper will also provide lessons learned related to 1) the potential pitfalls with educational programming becoming “un-disciplinary” rather than transdisciplinary, 2) ways in which to incentivize departments/faculty to engage in transdisciplinary efforts, and 3) new structures within higher education that can be used to help faculty/students/staff to more easily converge to increase access to learning across academic boundaries. 

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4. Collaborative Research: AGEP FC-PAM: Project ELEVATE (Equity-focused Launch to Empower and Value AGEP Faculty to Thrive in Engineering)

   Alaine M. Allen; Darlene Saporu; Elisa Riedo; Shelley L. Anna; Linda DeAngelo: Andrew Douglas; Nathalie Florence Felciai; Neetha Khan; Jelena Kovacevic; Stacey J. Marks; William Harry Sanders; et al (June 2023, Review directory American Society for Engineering Education)

   Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, and New York University created the Project Equity-focused Launch to Empower and Value AGEP Faculty to Thrive in Engineering (ELEVATE) Alliance (National Science Foundation Awards #2149995, #2149798 #2149899 from the Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM in the Directorate for STEM Education) to develop a model to promote the equitable advancement of early career tenure-track engineering faculty from populations of interest to the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program. The goal of this AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FCPAM) is to develop, implement, self-study, and institutionalize a career pathway model that can be adapted for use at other similar institutions for advancing early career engineering faculty who are: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. This NSF AGEP FCPAM will provide a framework for institutional change at private, highly selective research institutions that will enable all faculty to be members of a collaborative community. Improving the experience of these faculty can lead to increased diversity in the engineering faculty and ultimately result in graduating more engineering students from diverse populations and increasing diversity in the engineering workforce. The Alliance interventions will focus on three major areas, 1) equity-focused institutional change designed to make structural changes that support the advancement of AGEP faculty, 2) identity-affirming mentorship that acknowledges and provides professional support to AGEP faculty holistically, recognizing all parts of their identity and 3) inclusive professional development that equips all engineering faculty and institutional leaders with skills to implement inclusive practices and equips AGEP faculty for career advancement. In this paper, we will discuss the process of creating a leadership team to address these focus areas and assess the processes and procedures that currently exist at the three institutions as we begin to institutionalize these change efforts. We provide an overview of the project and efforts to date. We will also present our process for engaging in our initial self-study evaluation and next steps. 

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5. Effects of High Impact Educational Practices on engineering and computer science student participation, persistence, and success at land grant universities: YEAR 2.

   Asghar, M. (August 2022, 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Effects of High Impact Educational Practices on Engineering and Computer Science Student Participation, Persistence, and Success at Land Grant Universities: Award# RIEF-1927218 – Year 2 Abstract Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), this project aims to investigate and identify associations (if any) that exist between student participation in High Impact Educational Practices (HIP) and their educational outcomes in undergraduate engineering and computer science (E/CS) programs. To understand the effects of HIP participation among E/CS students from groups historically underrepresented and underserved in E/CS, this study takes place within the rural, public university context at two western land grant institutions (one of which is an Hispanic-serving institution). Conceptualizing diversity broadly, this study considers gender, race and ethnicity, and first-generation, transfer, and nontraditional student status to be facets of identity that contribute to the diversity of academic programs and the technical workforce. This sequential, explanatory, mixed-methods study is guided by the following research questions: 1. To what extent do E/CS students participate in HIP? 2. What relationships (if any) exist between E/CS student participation in HIP and their educational outcomes (i.e., persistence in major, academic performance, and graduation)? 3. How do contextual factors (e.g., institutional, programmatic, personal, social, financial, etc.) affect E/CS student awareness of, interest in, and participation in HIP? During Project Year 1, a survey driven quantitative study was conducted. A survey informed by results of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) from each institution was developed and deployed. Survey respondents (N = 531) were students enrolled in undergraduate E/CS programs at either institution. Frequency distribution analyses were conducted to assess the respondents’ level of participation in extracurricular HIPs (i.e., global learning and study aboard, internships, learning communities, service and community-based learning, and undergraduate research) that have been shown in the literature to positively impact undergraduate student success. Further statistical analysis was conducted to understand the effects of HIP participation, coursework enjoyability, and confidence at completing a degree on the academic success of underrepresented and nontraditional E/CS students. Exploratory factor analysis was used to derive an "academic success" variable from five items that sought to measure how students persevere to attain academic goals. Results showed that a linear relationship in the target population exists and that the resultant multiple regression model is a good fit for the data. During the Project Year 2, survey results were used to develop focus group interview protocols and guide the purposive selection of focus group participants. Focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 27 undergraduates (12 males, 15 females, 16 engineering students, 11 computer science students) across both institutions via video conferencing (i.e., ZOOM) during the spring and fall 2021 semesters. Currently, verified focus group transcripts are being systematically analyzed and coded by a team of four trained coders to identify themes and answer the research questions. This paper will provide an overview of the preliminary themes so far identified. Future project activities during Project Year 3 will focus on refining themes identified during the focus group transcript analysis. Survey and focus group data will then be combined to develop deeper understandings of why and how E/CS students participate in the HIP at their university, taking into account the institutional and programmatic contexts at each institution. Ultimately, the project will develop and disseminate recommendations for improving diverse E/CS student awareness of, interest in, and participation in HIP, at similar land grant institutions nationally. 

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