Envisioning the Future of STEM Education: The National Academies' Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
1:00 pm PT | 2:00 pm MT | 3:00 pm CT | 4:00 pm ET
Presenters: Ann E. Austin (Michigan State University), Noah Finkelstein (University of Colorado Boulder), and Kerry Brenner (The National Academies)
The registration deadline has passed.
Abstract
The Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education is a group of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that brings together national experts and thought leaders representing the full spectrum of stakeholders in higher education. They coordinate and catalyze actions that advance the common goal of improving undergraduate STEM learning experiences. Linking existing reform efforts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education allows reformers to learn from each other and leverage each other's work. Using evidence-based approaches and building on successful reform efforts, the roundtable works to expand access, increase equity, and support quality learning experiences for all learners. Their work examines changes in technology, workforce, demographics, and society to determine optimal ways for the system of higher education to respond to the current and future needs of the nation to have a scientifically literate public and a well-prepared STEM workforce. This webinar will highlight forces the Roundtable sees impacting the future of undergraduate STEM education, present information on some of the key themes the Roundtable has identified as central to progress in improving undergraduate STEM education, and invite input from webinar participants on their own related initiatives and their suggestions for future Roundtable work.
Audience
This webinar is designed for individuals involved in STEM education reform initiatives or who are interested in change efforts and avenues for connecting to a national agenda. We welcome current faculty as well as future STEM faculty; academic and administrative leaders at 2- and 4-year colleges and universities; and leaders and staff of non-profit organizations, professional societies and disciplinary associations, and funding organizations.
Goals
As a result of this webinar, participants will:
- Learn about the purpose and initiatives of the Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education
- Hear about current work and ideas related to teaching evaluation, evidence-based instruction, and the workforce of the future
- Have opportunities to share information about their own work and to connect existing initiatives to the Roundtable
- Provide input to shape the future work of the Roundtable
Logistics
The registration deadline has passed.
Time - 1:00 pm PT | 2:00 pm MT | 3:00 pm CT | 4:00 pm ET
Duration - 60 minutes
Format - Online web presentation via Zoom web meeting software with questions and discussion. Go to the webinar technology page for more information on using Zoom. Detailed instructions for joining the webinar will be emailed to registered participants one day prior to the webinar.
Preparation - There is no advance preparation required for this webinar.
Please email Mitchell Awalt (mawalt at carleton.edu) if you have any technical questions about this event.
Presenters
Ann E. Austin University Distinguished Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University, where she also serves as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Education and Interim Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development. Her research concerns academic work and professional development, teaching and learning issues, doctoral education, STEM education, and organizational change. She has been a Program Officer at the National Science Foundation, a U.S. Fulbright Fellow (1998, South Africa), and President of the Association for the Study of Higher Education. She is currently serving as Co-Chair of the National Academy of Sciences' Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education, and she is PI/co-PI on several National Science Foundation-funded projects (one focused on preparation of future STEM faculty as effective teachers; one on teaching evaluation; and one examining networks of organizations committed to strengthening undergraduate education). In 2010, she was named a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association in recognition of substantial contributions to educational research and, in 2018, she received the Research Achievement Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education. She also has received teaching awards at her university, and she has worked in more than 15 countries. Her publications include Faculty Development in the Age of Evidence: Current Practices, Future Imperatives (2016), Rethinking Faculty Work: Higher Education's Strategic Imperative (2007), Creating the Future of Faculty Development: Learning from the Past, Understanding the Present (2005), and Paths to the Professoriate: Strategies for Enriching the Preparation of Future Faculty (2004), as well as numerous journal articles, chapters, and monographs concerning higher education in the U.S. and international contexts.
Noah Finkelstein is a Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder and conducts research is in physics education, specifically studying the conditions that support students' interests and abilities in physics – developing models of context. In parallel, he conducts research on how educational transformations get taken up, spread, and sustained. He is a PI in the Physics Education Research (PER) group and a co-director of CU's Center for STEM Learning. He co-directs the national Network of STEM Education Centers, is building the STEM DBER-Alliance, and coalitions advancing undergraduate education transformation. He is involved in education policy serving on many national boards, sits on a National Academies' roundtable, is a Trustee of the Higher Learning Commission, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Presidential Teaching Scholar and the inaugural Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador for the University of Colorado system.
Kerry Brenner is a senior program officer for the Board on Science Education. She was the study director for the 2017 consensus report Undergraduate Research for STEM Students: Successes, Challenges, and Opportunities and the 2017 workshop on service learning in undergraduate geosciences education as well as the recently released report Science and Engineering for Grades 6-12: Investigation and Design at the Center. She is the director of the Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education. She previously worked for NASEM's Board on Life Sciences, serving as the study director for the project that produced Bio2010: Transforming Undergraduate Biology Education for Future Research Biologists. As an outgrowth of that study she participated in the founding of the National Academies Summer Institutes for Undergraduate Education. She earned her bachelors' degree from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University.
Program
- Welcome and introductory marks
- Information about the Roundtable's mission
- Roundtable work on teaching evaluation, evidence-based instruction, and the future workforce
- Input from participants on current roundtable work and future directions
- Webinar evaluation
Resources and References
