Agenda for STEM Education Center's Meeting

Indianapolis Marriott Downtown – October 25, 2014

A hard copy of the agenda will be available at the workshop in Indianapolis.

Workshop Agenda

7:45 - 8:30 am - Breakfast in Indiana A and B

8:30 - 9:00 am - General Session in Indiana C and D

Welcome, introductions, summary of prior work -Noah Finkelstein and Kacy Redd

2013 STEM Education Center Meeting Report

Preliminary Analysis of STEM Education Centers (September 2013)

9:00 – 9:15 am - Objectives of the Day in Indiana C and D

9:15 – 9:45 am - How can a national network of STEM education centers serve your center?

9:45 – 10:15 am - Toolkit for Centers in room Indiana C and D

1. What tools will help your center? What tools do we need for establishing and sustaining centers? Fix, add, delete, and prioritize the following:

Draft Toolkit elements

Communication and framing of what a center is (e.g. branding),

Organizational structure and how a center is organized and operates,

What programs and offerings centers do and how to do it,

Coordination with administration (e.g. what do I say to my provost),

Funding sources and communicating with funders,

Data indicators that matter,

Cross-campus collaborations (e.g. getting buy-in from faculty).

2. Identify what would help you in these areas: future meetings, professional development, white papers, research needs, and/or materials for sharing.

3. Identify possible resources that already exist or need to be developed in these areas.

10:15 – 10:30 am - Report out

10:30 – 10:45 am - Coffee Break

10:45 – 11:55 am - Refining Research Questions in room Indiana C and D

Breakout discussion on what are potential research questions that a small number of centers could collectively address?

Overarching Research Questions

1. Studying the capacities and mechanisms of individual centers (how they operate within institutional contexts). Group Leader: Gabriela Weaver

2. How do we design and facilitate a national STEM Center network, and how do we monitor and evaluate the network in a way that increases its effectiveness over time? Group Leader: Bruce Goldstein

3. How do we design and facilitate a national STEM Center network, and how do we monitor and evaluate the network in a way that increases its effectiveness over time? Group Leader: Stan Deetz

Research Action Clusters (RAC or NIC: Network Improvement Community)

4. Retention and success: How are STEM education centers driving retention and success, especially in the first two years of undergraduate education? Group Leader: Emily Miller

5. Quality education: How are STEM education centers training and evaluating faculty teaching, and shaping learning outcomes for STEM majors including STEM teachers? Group Leader: Linda Slakey

6. Research and assessment: How are STEM education centers contributing to disciplinary based education research (DBER), evaluating student learning, and driving assessment to support STEM education improvements? Group Leader: Steve Case

7. Partnerships beyond the university: How are STEM education centers partnering with K-12 schools, 2 and 4-year colleges and universities, and/or state networks (e.g. Battelle's STEMx), and industry. Group Leader: Lorne Whitehead

8. Engaging Faculty: How are STEM education centers effectively engaging faculty? Is it through reform of upper division courses, outcomes for majors, benchmarking against peer departments, or other methods? Group Leader: Howard Gobstein

11:55 – 12:30 pm - Report out

12:30 – 1:00 pm - Lunch in Indianapolis A and B