Brenda Capobianco, interm Director of DLRC.
There is a call to transform the realm of STEM education in American Universities and Colleges. To that end, Purdue is leading the charge with a conference on the topic from today, (October 23rd) until October 24th. The conference is by the University’s Discover Learning Research Center (DLRC).
The conference is called Transforming Institutions: 21st Century Undergraduate STEM Education. It will gather the best minds in education to discover how research-based transformative practices can be used by STEM educators to improve education.
Brenda Capobianco, Interim Director of the DLRC said, "This national conference led by Purdue will focus on ways to transform undergraduate STEM education, bringing together academic leaders and education researchers and others to address this important challenge."
She added, "Our conversations will center on the major themes of institutional supports and barriers for transformation; understanding transformation through assessment; faculty development for advancing innovation; and learning spaces, technology and infrastructure."
Currently, Purdue has transformed over a hundred of their courses due to the Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT) program. The program promotes more group work with a focus on student centered learning vs. lectures. The program plans to redesign 300 courses by the 2016-17 school year. This student centered education seems to be exemplified in their Engineering Interdisciplinary Masters which allows students to determine their own education path towards a Masters.
Other topics discussed at the conference will include:
- Association of American Universities’ (AAU’s) Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative
- Institutional Transformations in STEM (Case Studies)
- Opportunities and Challenges for Institutional Transformations
University of Maryland’s president Freeman Hrabowski III will keynote the event. Hrabowski has earned the Heinz Award for his work to improve the “Human Condition” and is an inductee into the US News & World Report’s STEM Solutions Leadership Hall of Fame.
The conference will host a poster session, panel discussions, and other speakers including:
- University of Southern California Prof. Adrianna Kezar, expert on higher education change leadership.
- AAU STEM Initiative Consultant, Linda Slakey
- Co-Director of the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative (SMTI), Howard Gobstein
Willie Burgess, managing director of the DLRC said, "Through this convergence of innovation and transformation, the conference will lay the groundwork for systematically investing in new approaches for enhanced STEM teaching, learning, assessment, support and research at the undergraduate level that will feed the 21th century economy.”
The conference will be held from October 23rd-24th at the NCAA Conference Center in Indianapolis. Registration costs $495. To attend please follow this link.