Three City University of New York colleges, City College of New York (CCNY), Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College and The Borough of Manhattan Community College have formed a partnership designed to: increase the number of students enrolling in and graduating from Associate and Bachelors degree programs in Engineering; improve student preparation in academic skill areas providing the foundation for their success in upper division Engineering coursework; enhance student readiness for research participation; and provide seamless and successful transitions between community and senior college. Project activities include:
a) Coordination and improvement of early required courses. As one of the keystones of the project, the partner institutions are working together to redesign three lower division science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses per year to make these courses functionally identical in terms of learning outcomes and generally more effective in promoting student mastery. The redesign includes integration of collaborative, small-group work into first- and second level STEM courses; infusion of high-interest research topics into more general presentations of science, mathematics and engineering fundamentals; and use of new technology tools to give students access to visual representations of STEM concepts that clarify understanding and to create virtual learning communities.
b) Expanding research opportunities in faculty laboratories for freshmen and sophomores and introducing a summer research program for pre-transfer students.
c) Connecting campus cultures through a summer orientation week for transfer students and design competitions linking senior and community college students.
The intellectual merit of the project is found in the knowledge that is being generated by its combination of multiple interventions that have demonstrated success in addressing the content learning and motivational needs of students who aspire to an engineering degree but face the challenges of inadequate early preparation and problems that can arise upon transfer in mid-course of study. By combining approaches with demonstrated success and building an activity plan that uses outcomes assessment as a core design and evaluation strategy, project leaders are synergizing project outcomes.
The project has several important broad impacts extending beyond the project itself that are being widely disseminated: early, improved coursework is enhancing the learning of a broad range of students as affected courses include a diverse range of students; the participating institutions are collaborating on other initiatives beyond this project; and, because the partner institutions each serve a highly diverse student population, the project is expanding the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM professions.
