Bioquest Curriculum Consortium

RCN-UBE: QUANTITATIVE BIOLOGY AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES

RCN-UBE: BUILDING OPEN EDUCATION ECOSYSTEMS TO FACILITATE THE ADOPTION AND ADAPTATION OF COMPUTATIONAL AND DATA-CENTRIC TOOLS ACROSS UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY EDUCATION (OEE-UBE) -BUILDING AND APPLYING MODERN BIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE DEPENDS ON USING ADVANCED COMPUTER TOOLS AND DATABASES TO GATHER INFORMATION, ANALYZE DATA, AND TEST IDEAS. UNFORTUNATELY, MANY COLLEGE STUDENTS DON?T GET ENOUGH EXPERIENCE WITH THESE METHODS TO PURSUE TECHNICAL CAREERS. TO ADDRESS THIS EXPERIENCE GAP, THE PROJECT PLANS TO CREATE A NETWORK THAT BRINGS TOGETHER EXISTING SCIENCE AND EDUCATION RESOURCES, MAKING THEM EASIER TO USE IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF INSTITUTIONS AND WITH DIVERSE STUDENT AUDIENCES. THIS NETWORK WILL BE ORGANIZED AROUND FOUR KEY AREAS: HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING, USING SCIENTIFIC DATA, MODELING AND SIMULATION, AND INTERACTIVE DATA TOOLS. BY MAKING THESE RESOURCES MORE ACCESSIBLE AND USER-FRIENDLY, THE PROJECT AIMS TO HELP FACULTY AND STUDENTS DEVELOP THEIR COMPUTATIONAL SKILLS AND BREAK DOWN BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATION IN THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE, ESPECIALLY FOR STUDENTS FROM TRADITIONALLY UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS. THIS RESEARCH COORDINATION NETWORK WILL OPERATE AT THE INTERFACE OF OPEN SCIENCE AND OPEN EDUCATION TO INTEGRATE EXISTING SCIENTIFIC AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES. ADOPTING FAIR PRINCIPLES (FINDABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY, INTEROPERABILITY, AND REUSABILITY) THAT BRIDGE SCIENTIFIC AND TEACHING RESOURCES WILL REQUIRE THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A SHARED METADATA SCHEMA THAT AUTOMATES ROBUST CONNECTIONS BETWEEN OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES (OER), COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS, AND SCIENTIFIC DATA REPOSITORIES. EACH OF THE FOUR FOCUS AREAS WILL BE SUPPORTED BY AN ONLINE OPEN EDUCATION ECOSYSTEM (OEE) WHERE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE WILL WORK TO COORDINATE TEACHING AND SCIENTIFIC MATERIALS, SUPPORT FACULTY PROFESSIONAL LEARNING, AND FOSTER PEDAGOGIES THAT PROMOTE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT WITH CONTEMPORARY SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES. THROUGH THE WORK OF THE FOUR OEES THE NETWORK WILL DESIGN AN INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE TO SUPPORT STEM EDUCATION AND RESEARCH INTEROPERABILITY, SCALABLE CLASSROOM ACCESS TO COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCES, AND EMBEDDED CYBERTRAINING, PROMOTING EDUCATIONAL IMPACTS THAT EMPOWER MARGINALIZED LEARNER COMMUNITIES. THIS PROJECT IS BEING JOINTLY FUNDED BY THE DIRECTORATE FOR BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, DIVISION OF BIOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE, AND THE DIRECTORATE FOR STEM EDUCATION, DIVISION OF UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION AS PART OF THEIR 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

CONFERENCE: BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY FOR STEM EDUCATION INNOVATION AT TWO-YEAR COLLEGES -THIS PROJECT AIMS TO SERVE THE NATIONAL INTEREST BY INCREASING PARTICIPATION IN NSF FUNDED EDUCATION REFORM PROJECTS AMONG TWO-YEAR COLLEGE FACULTY. TWO-YEAR COLLEGES PLAY AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN THE POST-SECONDARY STEM EDUCATION LANDSCAPE BECAUSE THEY SERVE DIVERSE STUDENT POPULATIONS, PROVIDE ACCESSIBLE DEGREE PATHWAYS, AND ARE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED GEOGRAPHICALLY. THIS PROJECT BRINGS TOGETHER PUBLISHED RESOURCES, PROJECT EXPERTISE, AND GUIDED PLANNING ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE FACULTY ACCESS TO, AND PARTICIPATION IN, THE FEDERAL FUNDING PROCESS. THESE MATERIALS WILL BE DEVELOPED AND DISSEMINATED THROUGH A FACE-TO-FACE CONFERENCE FOR 40 FACULTY AND AN ONLINE COMMUNITY SPACE TARGETED DIRECTLY TO TWO-YEAR COLLEGE SETTINGS. THE PROJECT SEEKS TO BOTH INCREASE THE NUMBER AND QUALITY OF NSF PROPOSALS FROM NEW INSTITUTIONS AND CONTRIBUTE TO ENHANCING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE FOR DIVERSE STUDENT POPULATIONS. GENERATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FACULTY FROM TWO-YEAR COLLEGES TO ENGAGE WITH NATIONAL STEM EDUCATION REFORM PROJECTS IS AN IMPORTANT MECHANISM TO PROMOTE THE ADOPTION OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATION PRACTICES AND BUILD FACULTY CAPACITY FOR PURSUING INSTRUCTIONAL INNOVATIONS IN THE EVOLVING POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION LANDSCAPE. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO BUILD LEADERSHIP CAPACITY AND FACILITATE NSF PROPOSAL SUBMISSION AMONG 2-YEAR COLLEGE STEM FACULTY. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO ACHIEVE THIS BY CONVENING A FACE-TO-FACE WORKSHOP AND HOSTING A COLLABORATIVE ONLINE COMMUNITY. IN ORDER TO SUPPORT TWO-YEAR COLLEGE FACULTY PARTICIPATION IN NSF FUNDED EDUCATION PROJECTS, A SET OF EXISTING PROPOSAL PREPARATION, PROJECT PLANNING, AND MANAGEMENT RESOURCES FOR USE IN THE PREPARATION OF PROPOSALS WILL BE ADAPTED. THE MODULAR CURRICULUM DESIGN SEEKS TO ALLOW FLEXIBLE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SUPPORT RESOURCES TO ADDRESS DIVERSE USE SCENARIOS AND DELIVERY MODALITIES. THIS PROJECT BRINGS TOGETHER AN EXPERIENCED ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF TWO-YEAR COLLEGE STEM FACULTY WHO WILL USE BOTH THE FACE TO FACE AND ONLINE SUPPORT COMMUNITY CONTEXTS TO RAISE AWARENESS OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES, SUPPORT PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT, AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION IN FUNDED PROJECTS. THE QUBESHUB PLATFORM WILL BE USED TO FACILITATE THE DESIGN, IMPLEMENT THE WORKSHOP, DISSEMINATE OUTCOMES, AND EVALUATE THE PROPOSAL PREPARATION RESOURCES. THE NSF IUSE: INNOVATION IN TWO-YEAR COLLEGE STEM EDUCATION (ITYC) PROGRAM SEEKS TO ACCELERATE THE IMPACT OF AND ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT EMERGING AND EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES IN UNDERGRADUATE STEM EDUCATION AT TWO-YEAR COLLEGES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: OPENING THE PATHWAY TO TECHNICIAN CAREERS: A CONFERENCE FOR BIOLOGY TEACHERS OF DEAF STUDENTS

BUILDING ADAPTABILITY FOR TEACHING ONLINE THROUGH PEER-REVIEWED, ACTIVE-LEARNING RESOURCES AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I-CORPS L: B2 SCHOLARS: A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL FROM BIOQUEST