Classrooms as Integrated Learning Communities (CILC)

Dillard University, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

With NSF support, Dillard University will implement the project "Classrooms as Integrated Learning Communities (CILC)", a comprehensive action plan to address the continued under-representation of minorities receiving baccalaureate and graduate degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This strategy is designed to provide a comprehensive approach to improve STEM students' performance in gate-keeping courses, institutionalize and expand an undergraduate research framework, and ultimately increase the number of minority students receiving degrees in STEM disciplines. Project outcomes are driven by three major objectives and corresponding activities: (1) develop and maintain a vigorous and systemic recruitment infrastructure within the University and the STEM disciplines that identify, motivate, attract and enroll minority students within these disciplines; (2) strengthen curricula and courses through a model Integrated Research Laboratory (IRL) for targeted STEM disciplines; and (3) develop capacity to provide students advanced research opportunities, through completion of a molecular biology core facility for molecular-level research in STEM disciplines. The intellectual merit of CILC is captured in the first of the two guiding principles of this initiative: (1) improvement of success rates among minority students in STEM disciplines will promote increased evaluation and contribution toward the limited research available on minority STEM students in contexts where they are most successful. The broader impact of CILC is captured in the second of these guiding principles: (2) by strengthening students' performance in STEM gate-keeping courses, thereby allowing them to make seamless transitions into more rigorous STEM studies, and making mentored research an expectation of the learning experience, undergraduate students will complete STEM disciplines at increased rates and be better prepared to pursue and complete graduate studies.