Literature Connections for BI Projects with Higher Education

References for rationale or as background to prepare to work with these audiences.

1. National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine (2010). Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/12999.

   Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited provides a snapshot of the work of the government and the private sector in the past five years, analyzing how the original recommendations have or have not been acted upon, what consequences this may have on future competitiveness, and priorities going forward. In addition, readers will find a series of thought- and discussion-provoking factoids--many of them alarming--about the state of science and innovation in America.

2. National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council (2012). Community Colleges in the Evolving STEM Education Landscape: Summary of a Summit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13399.

   Based on a national summit that was supported by the National Science Foundation and organized by the NRC and the NAE, the report highlights the importance of community colleges, especially in emerging areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and preparation of the STEM workforce.

3. National Academy of Engineering (2018). Understanding the Educational and Career Pathways of Engineers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25284.

   Engineering skills and knowledge are foundational to technological innovation and development that drive long-term economic growth and help solve societal challenges. Therefore, to ensure national competitiveness and quality of life it is important to understand and to continuously adapt and improve the educational and career pathways of engineers in the United States. To gather this understanding it is necessary to study the people with the engineering skills and knowledge as well as the evolving system of institutions, policies, markets, people, and other resources that together prepare, deploy, and replenish the nation's engineering workforce.

4. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2016). Barriers and Opportunities for 2-Year and 4-Year STEM Degrees: Systemic Change to Support Students' Diverse Pathways. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/21739.

   Nearly 40 percent of the students entering 2- and 4-year postsecondary institutions indicated their intention to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in 2012. But the barriers to students realizing their ambitions are reflected in the fact that about half of those with the intention to earn a STEM bachelor's degree and more than two-thirds intending to earn a STEM associate's degree fail to earn these degrees 4 to 6 years after their initial enrollment. Many of those who do obtain a degree take longer than the advertised length of the programs, thus raising the cost of their education. Are the STEM educational pathways any less efficient than for other fields of study? How might the losses be "stemmed" and greater efficiencies realized? These questions and others are at the heart of this study.

5. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2017). Undergraduate Research Experiences for STEM Students: Successes, Challenges, and Opportunities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24622.

   Undergraduate research has a rich history, and many practicing researchers point to undergraduate research experiences (UREs) as crucial to their own career success. There are many ongoing efforts to improve undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education that focus on increasing the active engagement of students and decreasing traditional lecture-based teaching, and UREs have been proposed as a solution to these efforts and may be a key strategy for broadening participation in STEM. In light of the proposals questions have been asked about what is known about student participation in UREs, best practices in UREs design, and evidence of beneficial outcomes from UREs.

6. National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council (2005). Enhancing the Community College Pathway to Engineering Careers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11438.

   Community colleges play an important role in starting students on the road to engineering careers, but students often face obstacles in transferring to four-year educational institutions to continue their education. Enhancing the Community College Pathway to Engineering Careers, a new book from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council, discusses ways to improve the transfer experience for students at community colleges and offers strategies to enhance partnerships between those colleges and four-year engineering schools to help students transfer more smoothly. In particular, the book focuses on challenges and opportunities for improving transfer between community colleges and four-year educational institutions, recruitment and retention of students interested in engineering, the curricular content and quality of engineering programs, opportunities for community colleges to increase diversity in the engineering workforce, and a review of sources of information on community college and transfer students. It includes a number of current policies, practices, and programs involving community college—four-year institution partnerships.

7. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2016). Promising Practices for Strengthening the Regional STEM Workforce Development Ecosystem. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/21894.

   U.S. strength in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines has formed the basis of innovations, technologies, and industries that have spurred the nation's economic growth throughout the last 150 years. Universities are essential to the creation and transfer of new knowledge that drives innovation. This knowledge moves out of the university and into broader society in several ways — through highly skilled graduates (i.e. human capital); academic publications; and the creation of new products, industries, and companies via the commercialization of scientific breakthroughs. Despite this, our understanding of how universities receive, interpret, and respond to industry signaling demands for STEM-trained workers is far from complete.

8. Dewar, J. (2018). A Worthy Endeavor. In The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Scientists, Engineers, and Mathematicians. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198821212.001.0001

   This book discusses the development of discipline-based education research into undergraduate teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. It is a how to manual for creating testable research questions, designing studies, and collecting learning science data from your students.

9. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018). Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25038.

   The U.S. system of graduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has served the nation and its science and engineering enterprise extremely well. Over the course of their education, graduate students become involved in advancing the frontiers of discovery, as well as in making significant contributions to the growth of the U.S. economy, its national security, and the health and well-being of its people. However, continuous, dramatic innovations in research methods and technologies, changes in the nature and availability of work, shifts in demographics, and expansions in the scope of occupations needing STEM expertise raise questions about how well the current STEM graduate education system is meeting the full array of 21st century needs. Indeed, recent surveys of employers and graduates and studies of graduate education suggest that many graduate programs do not adequately prepare students to translate their knowledge into impact in multiple careers.

10. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018). Adaptability of the US Engineering and Technical Workforce: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25016.

    The workshop served to increase stakeholders' understanding of both the importance of workforce adaptability and the definition and characteristics of adaptability. It also provided an opportunity to share known best practices for fostering adaptability, including identification of barriers and multiple pathways for overcoming those barriers. As important, it helped to identify needs for future study and development. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

These references are examples of scholarship in BI in with STEM researchers working in higher education.

1. Borrego, M. and Henderson, C. (2014). Increasing the Use of Evidence-Based Teaching in STEM Higher Education: A Comparison of Eight Change Strategies. J. Eng. Educ., 103: 220-252. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20040.

   This article describes the goals, assumptions, and underlying logic of selected change strategies with potential relevance to STEM higher education settings for a target audience of change agents, leaders, and researchers. The article describes eight strategies of potential practical relevance to STEM education change efforts. Each change strategy, is summarized with key references, discussion on their applicability to STEM higher education, a STEM education example, and discussion of the implications for change efforts and research.

2. M. Stains, et al. (2018). Anatomy of STEM teaching in North American universities. Science, 359 (6383), 1468-1470. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap8892

   This article provides the results of analysis over 700 university classes on teaching practices of professors. This study used the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS), which can provide consistent assessment of instructional practices and document impacts of educational initiatives. Three main findings emerge from this report: (i) Didactic practices are prevalent throughout the undergraduate STEM curriculum despite ample evidence for the limited impact of these practices and substantial interest on the part of institutions and national organizations in education reform. (ii) Although faculty survey-based studies have suggested classroom layouts and course size as barriers to instructional innovation, flexible classroom layouts and small course sizes do not necessarily lead to an increase in student-centered practices. (iii) Reliable characterization of instructional practices requires at least four visits.