Exploring the Role of Instructors' Social Networks in Undergraduate STEM Instructional Improvement

探索教师社交网络在本科生 STEM 教学改进中的作用

• 批准号: 1550990
• 负责人: Chris Rasmussen
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: San Diego State University Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1550990&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exploring; Role; Instructors; Social; Networks

Calls for improvement of undergraduate mathematics and science education have resulted in numerous initiatives that seek to improve student learning outcomes by promoting changes in teaching practices at the undergraduate level. Although many of these initiatives focus on individual instructors, contemporary theoretical approaches consider the academic department to be a highly productive unit for creating change because of the social nature of knowledge construction. The tools of social network analysis (SNA) can be productively used to determine the current state of academic departments, target participants for involvement in change initiatives, and inform higher education reform efforts to support quality teaching. The goal of this proposed two-workshop series is to accelerate knowledge development about the use of SNA in studying department-level change by bringing STEM education researchers who have been early users of these methods together with established SNA experts. Project aims are to: 1) develop a theoretical and practical foundation for SNA research related to department-level instructional change, 2) identify key metrics and measurement techniques, 3) develop a coherent research program among early users of SNA methods in undergraduate STEM education research and 4) pool several data sets to begin articulation of normal values for key metrics. The work will contribute to the intent of the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (IUSE-EHR).The two-workshops, punctuated by virtual meetings in between, will bring together STEM education researchers, who have been early adopters of these methods, as well as novices in SNA use, with recognized SNA experts. Four institutional teams (Oregon State University, San Diego State University, University of California-San Diego, and Western Michigan University) will comprise the core teams with a total of eight researchers. An additional eight participants from other institutions, who are less active in regard to SNA, will be invited to participate in order to provide for more diverse perspectives, as well as to expand their capacity and provide momentum for additional research in this area. These interactions will result in consensus on a theoretical framing for SNA related to departmental change, metrics for measurement in this regard, a research focus, and sharing of data sets. Ultimately, it is expected that a more robust research agenda in regard to the use of social network analysis (SNA) in studying departmental change will occur.

呼吁改善本科数学和科学教育的呼吁导致许多举措通过在本科层面促进教学实践的变化来提高学生的学习成果。尽管这些举措中的许多集中在个人讲师上，但当代理论方法认为，由于知识建设的社会性质，学术部门是创造变革的高生产力的单位。 社交网络分析（SNA）的工具可有效地用于确定学术部门的现状，目标参与者参与变更计划，并为高等教育改革提供了支持质量教学的努力。 这个提议的两工作坊系列的目的是通过将STEM教育研究人员与已建立的SNA专家一起成为早期使用这些方法的STEM教育研究人员来加速有关SNA在研究部门级别变化中的知识发展。 项目的目的是：1）为与部门级教学变更相关的SNA研究建立理论和实用基础，2）确定关键指标和测量技术，3）在本科STEM教育研究中SNA方法的早期用户中开发了一项连贯的研究计划，4）汇集了几个数据集，以开始对键入键的正态价值的几个数据集。 这项工作将有助于改善教育和人力资源局（Iuse-ehr）的本科STEM教育的意图。两者之间的介于两者之间的虚拟会议，将召集STEM教育研究人员，他们已经早期采用了这些方法的STEM教育研究人员，以及SNA SNA使用的新手，以及认可的SNA​​ SNA专家。 四个机构团队（俄勒冈州立大学，圣地亚哥州立大学，加利福尼亚山脉大学和西密歇根大学）将组成共有八名研究人员的核心团队。 将邀请来自其他机构的另外八名参与者，他们在SNA方面不太活跃，他们将被邀请参加，以提供更多样化的观点，并扩大其能力并为该领域的其他研究提供势头。 这些相互作用将对与部门变化有关的SNA的理论框架达成共识，在这方面的测量指标，研究重点和数据集共享。 最终，预计将在研究部门变革中使用社交网络分析（SNA）的更强大的研究议程。