Online Tool Assists Underrepresented Students, Faculty in STEM

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For underrepresented students, it can be difficult to find mentors and role models in their academic fields with whom they can connect. This can be especially true at larger universities, where the prospect of identifying a mentor among hundreds, if not thousands, of faculty and staff can be overwhelming. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) — home to more than 43,000 students and approximately 2,500 faculty members — the task of finding a mentor in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines has become streamlined thanks to an innovative new resource designed specifically for underrepresented students.

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Now is the Time to Think About Accessibility

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The line between what we think of as normal practice and special accommodations is a thin one, and it’s often based on very little of substance. No matter our students’ ability, we need to try — within reason — to eliminate barriers that keep them from fully participating in our courses. We need to work to ensure that students have every opportunity to succeed. That’s true whether our students are disabled or not.

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Online Education: Heading Toward the Future

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Online learning has reached a tipping point in higher education. It has grown from a peripheral project of early tech adopters or a practice of the for-profit industry into an accepted way of delivering education that is now deeply embedded in the majority of colleges and universities. In a March 2017 survey conducted for The Chronicle of Higher Education by Maguire Associates, 1,287 administrators involved in online learning and decisions about online learning reported on the growth of online education at their colleges and universities. The findings demonstrate the maturing of online education and how its positive effects have ramifications for the wider educational system.

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Why Female Students Leave STEM

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In a new working paper, Georgetown University researchers explored what drives women who entered a STEM major to switch to something else. Their findings, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, show that the answer is a complex combination of factors, including the environment, perception of the major and grades. It also showed that previous theories don’t always hold up.

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Hey Higher Ed- Why Not Focus on Teaching?

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Stanford physics and education professor Carl Wieman won a Nobel Prize for his innovative, break-through work in quantum mechanics. Wieman has since levered the prestige and power of that prize to call attention to the need to transform undergraduate teaching, especially science education.

In a new book, Carl Wieman continues his efforts to spark systemic changes in how universities teach science.

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How to Be an Ally to New Minority Scholars

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The effects of strong mentoring relationships on the lives and careers of new scholars can be substantial. Evidence from studies of mentoring in higher education shows that doctoral students and new faculty members fortunate enough to be mentored by senior academics report smoother adjustment to academe, stronger records of teaching and scholarship, stronger institutional commitment, higher retention, greater success achieving promotion and tenure, and higher overall job and career satisfaction. Evidence regarding the career importance of mentorship has prompted the Council of Graduate Schools to list mentoring as one of six key factors leading to Ph.D. completion.

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Values Affirmation Intervention Reduces Achievement Gap Between URM and Non-URM Students in Intro Biology Classes

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Achievement gaps between underrepresented minority (URM) students and their white peers in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classrooms are persistent across many white-majority institutions of higher education. Attempts to reduce this phenomenon of underperformance through increasing classroom structure via active learning have been partially successful.

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