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Abstract While the traditional goals of undergraduate courses are often content-based, the development of career-readiness and professional skills, such as those listed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, are increasingly recognized as important learning outcomes. As Mammalogy courses embrace more hands-on learning activities, they provide the opportunity to embed these professional skills, which are directly relevant to many careers in science. For example, many Mammalogy courses may include projects that incorporate experimental design and data analysis that focus on quantitative literacy, in addition to technical skills including small mammal trapping and handling, or preparing voucher specimens, that focus on problem-solving and attention to detail. Here, we review the professional skills that can be developed through a Mammalogy course and evaluate evidence-based approaches to build those skills into our courses. One approach, using Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), provides opportunities for both student skill development and instructor research program development. Because they invite students to participate in authentic scientific inquiry—from study design and data collection, to analysis and reporting of results—students participating in CUREs reported significant gains in their comfort with several important professional skills, including conducting field procedures, formulating and analyzing data, normalizing failure, and attempting new procedures on their own. Finally, we review the literature to demonstrate how active learning approaches inherent in CUREs can help students to build familiarity with technologies and techniques for collecting and assessing data from wild mammal populations, as well as to build important professional skills such as teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, and written and oral communication.
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ETAC ABET and EvaluateUR-CURE: Findings from Combining Two Assessment Approaches as Indicators of Student Learning Outcomes
Engineering Technology (ET) programs at community colleges and colleges/universities play a vital role in meeting the growing national demand for STEM graduates. Many accredited ET programs feature design projects that allow students to apply content knowledge and gain valuable workplace skills. Undergraduate research, especially inquiry-based projects, helps students take ownership of their own learning and see the real-world relevance of research as they learn problem-solving skills. EvaluateUR-CURE, an evidence-based method developed at SUNY Buffalo, measures a broad range of desirable outcomes that include both content knowledge and outcomes that are critically important in the workplace, such as communication skills, creativity, autonomy, an ability to overcome obstacles, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. EvaluateUR-CURE also provides students opportunities to develop metacognitive skills as a way to identify how much academic progress they have made or still need to make. This paper addresses the process of development of performance indicators and presents the results of assessment and evaluation of ETAC ABET student outcomes and outcome categories of EvaluateUR-CURE.
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- PAR ID:
- 10647127
- Publisher / Repository:
- Engineering Technology Division
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of engineering technology
- ISSN:
- 0747-9964
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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