Beyond Access: Leveraging Mobile-Friendly Design of Online Course Content to Support STEM Student Success

Bakersfield College

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project responds to the pervasive lack of access to reliable home Internet that was highlighted as a barrier to student outcomes during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. A collaborative team of mathematics faculty, instructional designers, equity-minded practitioners, and accessibility experts will work together to design mobile-friendly course shells, or digital containers for course content, grading, and centralized student-instructor communication. In addition, they will also provide linked professional development opportunities to faculty. The majority of students in online courses use mobile devices to access course content. However, research has shown that women, students of color, students with disabilities, first-generation students, students who are independent, and students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds see their devices as significantly more important to their success than do their peers outside these groups. While this establishes a clear need for mobile-friendly courses, there is a lack of research and guidelines on how to design online courses that are mobile accessible. In addition, there is a lack of research on how mobile-friendly courses affect student success in STEM. This project will develop empirically-based guidelines for designing mobile-friendly courses, as well as an understanding of how mobile-friendly courses can impact student success in STEM courses. Three principal outcomes are expected. First is the design of three mobile-friendly course shells with integrated grading for equity approaches intended to close equity gaps in anatomy and physiology, introductory physics, and statistics courses. Second is the completion of a research study that: (i) explores the impact of mobile-friendly course design on student success, (ii) develop understanding of student perspectives of mobile-friendly course design, and (iii) documents the student experiences in mobile-friendly courses. The third outcome is increased visibility and awareness to encourage broader faculty adoption of mobile-accessible courses. By designing mobile-friendly STEM courses, this project is taking important strides toward designing for equity. Courses will be made freely and widely available on Canvas Commons. To generate interest and awareness of the importance of mobile design, the project will disseminate outcomes on both key components of mobile design and the impact of mobile-friendly courses on student experiences and outcomes. Publication, presentations, and a project website will guide researchers, faculty and instructional designers who are interested in creating mobile-friendly courses or engaging in further study. A mixed-method project evaluation will inform the project's progress towards the HSI Program's aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity for improved STEM learning at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research on: (i) engaged student learning; (ii) insights into what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively; and (iii) improved understanding of how to build institutional capacity for transformation at HSIs are supported by this program. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.