Catalyzing Student Success: Implementing Cyberlearning Tools in Large Introductory Courses in the Chemical Engineering Pathway

促进学生成功：在化学工程途径的大型入门课程中实施网络学习工具

• 批准号: 1928842
• 负责人: Michael Brown
• 金额: $ 29.31万
• 依托单位: Iowa State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1928842&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Catalyzing; Student; Success; Implementing; Cyberlearning

With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE:EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by improving student learning and retention in chemical engineering. Retention of students pursuing chemical engineering degrees is essential to the future STEM workforce, but deficiencies in introductory coursework are a barrier to degree persistence and completion. The objective of this project is to implement cyberlearning tools in introductory courses in the chemical engineering curriculum. It is expected that these tools will increase student success in the courses, thus improving retention of students in the chemical engineering major and graduation of chemical engineers who are prepared for the workforce or advanced education. The project plans to achieve the objective by developing and testing a chemistry- and chemical engineering-focused online dashboard that is integrated into the University's online learning management system. The dashboard will include badges to visualize student progress in the course, a leaderboard to motivate study behavior and help-seeking, and rewards to provide immediate feedback about mastery of key chemistry or chemical engineering concepts. The results from this project have the potential to increase understanding about how cyberlearning tools can motivate students in chemical engineering coursework. The results also have the potential to provide foundational knowledge about effective use of cyberlearning tools in other STEM fields.Despite research showing positive impact of cyberlearning on engagement and academic achievement, only a small number of studies have focused on large enrollment STEM courses. In addition, few of these studies incorporate robust measures to rigorously and systematically assess students' behavioral, cognitive, and affective changes. This project aims to fill this gap by developing and testing a student dashboard that tracks student accomplishments and motivates them to use the software to improve their performance in introductory courses. Dashboard development and testing will occur with three study cohorts of students in multiple, large enrollment, undergraduate courses, including general chemistry. The development process will benefit from a rigorous evaluation framework, including an advisory board of national experts, to provide formative and summative feedback on the project progress. Project deliverables include (1) development of an online dashboard, (2) evaluation of the dashboard using surveys, online data, and focus groups, and (3) dissemination of project outcomes through presentations, publications, a website, and social media. The quantitative analysis of behavioral outcomes and motivational surveys will be complemented by a qualitative analysis of how students made sense of the dashboard and what role the dashboard may have played in their emerging identities as engineers. The novel data collection will triangulate findings to offer a detailed understanding about how student motivation and academic achievement in chemical engineering interact and are informed by the use of a chemical engineering-focused online dashboard. The NSF IUSE:EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.

在 NSF 改善本科生 STEM 教育计划：教育和人力资源 (IUSE:EHR) 的支持下，该项目旨在通过提高学生在化学工程方面的学习和保留来服务于国家利益。留住攻读化学工程学位的学生对于未来的 STEM 劳动力至关重要，但入门课程的缺陷是学位持续和完成的障碍。该项目的目标是在化学工程课程的入门课程中实施网络学习工具。 预计这些工具将提高学生在课程中的成功率，从而提高化学工程专业学生的保留率以及为就业或接受高等教育做好准备的化学工程师的毕业率。该项目计划通过开发和测试一个以化学和化学工程为重点的在线仪表板来实现这一目标，该仪表板已集成到大学的在线学习管理系统中。仪表板将包括用于可视化学生在课程中的进度的徽章、激励学习行为和寻求帮助的排行榜，以及提供有关掌握关键化学或化学工程概念的即时反馈的奖励。 该项目的结果有可能加深人们对网络学习工具如何激励学生学习化学工程课程的理解。 研究结果还有可能为其他 STEM 领域有效使用网络学习工具提供基础知识。尽管研究表明网络学习对参与度和学术成就产生积极影响，但只有少数研究关注大招生 STEM 课程。 此外，这些研究很少采用强有力的措施来严格、系统地评估学生的行为、认知和情感变化。该项目旨在通过开发和测试学生仪表板来填补这一空白，该仪表板可以跟踪学生的成绩并激励他们使用该软件来提高他们在入门课程中的表现。 仪表板的开发和测试将由三个研究组的学生进行，他们参加多个、大量招生的本科课程，包括普通化学。开发过程将受益于严格的评估框架，包括由国家专家组成的咨询委员会，为项目进展提供形成性和总结性反馈。项目可交付成果包括 (1) 开发在线仪表板，(2) 使用调查、在线数据和焦点小组对仪表板进行评估，以及 (3) 通过演示文稿、出版物、网站和社交媒体传播项目成果。对行为结果和动机调查的定量分析将通过对学生如何理解仪表板以及仪表板在他们作为工程师的新兴身份中发挥的作用的定性分析进行补充。新颖的数据收集将对研究结果进行三角测量，以详细了解学生在化学工程方面的动机和学术成就如何相互作用，并通过使用以化学工程为重点的在线仪表板来了解信息。 NSF IUSE:EHR 计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生 STEM 教育的有效性。 通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。