Promoting Access and Equity in STEM Work-Based Learning

Broward College, Fort Lauderdale FL

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project aims to increase access to work-based learning opportunities in Information Technology (IT) career paths for undergraduate students who are from groups underrepresented in their participation in IT careers. The proposed project activities build on and extend prior research to create equitable approaches and systems for students to flourish and persist in STEM majors in general. The proposed project is designed to increase participation, persistence, and completion in the STEM field of Information Technology for minoritized students through a coordinated, research-based, cross-sector approach to expanding access to work-based learning opportunities. The research conducted in this project will investigate three aspects of the work-based learning implementation: 1) validity of the “Work-based Learning Readiness Scale”; 2) efficacy and equity in virtual internships; and 3) outcomes of early student participation in work-based learning. All three are new or emerging aspects of work-based-learning experiences for which there is little research related to student outcomes. One-hour interviews with 40 students participating in project work-based learning experiences will be conducted using social cognitive career theory to elicit information about student challenges to participating in work-based learning. Evaluation of the effectiveness of strategies including work-based learning pre-orientations, employer and faculty collaboration, continuous improvement in alignment of learning outcomes, and offering flexibility through virtual and project-based work-based learning, can support development and implementation of more effective and inclusive work-based learning programs. By understanding and identifying challenges and opportunities for effective work-based learning, other two-year colleges can draw on key findings to integrate work-based learning to improve access and engagement for underrepresented groups in STEM, improve STEM education and career outcomes for all students, as well as strengthen collaborative college-employer partnerships. Broad dissemination of products such as student and employer work-based learning readiness assessments, the work-based learning cohort model, virtual work-based learning modules, and other materials developed by the project have the potential to improve technical education at postsecondary institutions on a regional and national scale. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity for transformational change at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSI enterprise, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research: (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves the field's understanding of how to build institutional capacity for sustainable change at HSIs writ large. 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.