Development and Continuous Improvement of K-12 Outreach Programs in STEM
Creating a K-12 Learning Community with Quality Tools and PLC — Cancelled Workshop
Effective Strategies in Development Math Education
STEM from a job churning perspective: Professions deemed critical for the country’s future well-being
Using social media to support interaction and quality of student experience
Development and Continuous Improvement of K-12 Outreach Programs in STEM
Workshop Leader: Paul D. Plotkowski, Ph.D.
Dean of the Padnos College of Engineering and Computing
at Grand Valley State University
The United States is in fierce race to remain competitive in technical fields, and the need to expand the pipeline of students interested in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields is well recognized. In response to this need, many organizations have responded to the call to inspire students through outreach programs for K-12 students. Developing an effective outreach program that excites and motivates students requires an understanding of today’s students, an engaging theme and format, careful design and planning, a comprehensive team and commitment to a sustained effort.
This workshop will engage participants in the essential elements of developing, sustaining, and continuously improving K – 12 outreach programs. Major topics and activities will include:
The Padnos College at Grand Valley State University supports the following K-12 STEM outreach programs: FIRST Robotics, FIRST Lego League, STEPS (for 7th grade girls), Get with the Program, Math Counts, Science Olympiad, SAE’s A World in Motion and Electrathon. It also has a Science and Math Partnership with the Sibley Elementary School.
About the Workshop Leader
Paul D. Plotkowski, Ph.D.
Paul Plotkowski is the founding Dean of the Padnos College of Engineering and Computing at Grand Valley State University. The Padnos College enrolls over 1,250 students in a variety B.S. and M.S. degree programs in engineering, computer science, information systems, and medical & bio-informatics.
The GVSU Padnos College of Engineering & Computing engages a variety of university and community partners in providing a wide array of STEM focused K-12 outreach programs. These programs build upon Paul’s involvement in outreach activities for over 30 years.
Paul has served as the national vice president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). His other activities include serving as an accreditation visitor for mechanical and manufacturing engineering degree programs for the Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology (ABET).
Paul is a Fellow of ASME and has received numerous awards including the Dedicated Service Award from ASME, the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer of the Year award from SME and the Outstanding Educator award from Pi Tau Sigma. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Oakland University.
Effective Strategies in Development Math Education
Workshop Leaders: Deborah Kruschwitz-List
Interim Math TLC Co-Director
UW-Stout
Kristle Mayer
Assistant Math TLC Director
UW-Stout
This session will highlight successful and cost-effective strategies for improving student success in remedial math courses developed by the Math, Stats and Computer Science Department at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. After our presentation there will be time for questions from the participants, and a hands-on experience with MyMathLab software will be available to those who bring a laptop. Participants will leave the session with ideas and resources to use to improve retention and success in remedial math courses in their own schools.
The UW-Stout Math Teaching and Learning Center was created in 2004 to tackle the problem of declining first-to-second year undergraduate retention stemming from low success rates in remedial and introductory mathematics courses. In a pilot program, UW-Stout undertook a comprehensive redesign of two introductory algebra courses to incorporate daily online work with required daily classroom sessions and a new tutoring service devoted specifically to students in those two courses. Over the past five years the new program has reduced failure and withdrawal rates in remedial algebra by 52% while also reducing the minority student achievement gap in remedial math by 80%.
The success of the original two-year trial project earned the Math TLC program permanent status in 2006. The program has also been successful in attracting external grant funding for new initiatives. UW-System WiscAMP and EDI grant awards have been used to implement new strategies for reducing the minority achievement gap in math. The Math TLC also received a 4-year U.S. Department of Education FIPSE grant for developing workshops and resource materials for other institutions seeking to develop programs modeled on the Math TLC approach.(More information on the UW-Stout Math TLC program structure and results can be found at http://mathtlc.uwstout.edu/ )
About the Workshop Leaders
Deborah Kruschwitz-List
Deborah Kruschwitz-List has taught as a Senior Lecturer in the Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science Department at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie for many years. She is a member of the UW System Math Placement Test Committee, on the writing team for the Wisconsin Mathematics Council's State Math Contest, and a Mathematics instructor for the Science Technology and Engineering Preview at UW-Stout for Girls (STEPS) Program.
Deborah has been a member of the UW-Stout Math Teaching and Learning Center (Math TLC) project team from the developmental stages in 2003 to the present. She was also a member of the FIPSE grant project team that developed and taught math course redesign workshops for 45 educators and administrators from 30 post-secondary institutions in 12 states from 2007-2009. She will be acting Co-Director of the Math TLC along with Dr. Eileen Zito while Director Jeanne Foley is on sabbatical during the 2011-2012 academic year. Deborah has done post-graduate work at the University of Minnesota in Mathematics, Applied Statistics, and Epidemiology, and holds an MS in Mathematics: Teaching from Minnesota State University-Mankato. She earned a BS in Mathematics Education from Valley City State University in North Dakota
Krystle Mayer
Ms Mayer graduated in December of 2007 from UW-Stout with a BS in Early Childhood Education and a BA in Psychology. She taught first grade and kindergarten in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Krystle is currently engaged in studying for a Master of Science in Education and serves as Assistant Director of the Math Teaching and Learning Center at UW-Stout.
STEM from a job churning perspective: Professions deemed critical for the country’s future well-being
Workshop Leader: Fernando F. Padró, Ph.D.
Interim Director, Educational Leadership
Cambridge College
“Knowledge economy”, first suggested by Fritz Machlup in 1962, connected knowledge achieved through learning with the idea of economic benefit. The term has taken a new meaning in a globalized knowledge industry with STEM related professions more closely related to what the knowledge economy value. Related to the need for more STEM workers for the knowledge industry, job churning as a topic of concern for the STEM Agenda is gaining interest. Job churning defines the creation and destruction of jobs based on demand and the resulting migration of employees from one sector to another, in one respect reflects how market demand creates new occupations and makes others obsolete because the need is no longer there. Innovation to meet demand means the creation of new business and industries which, in turn, creates pressure on educational systems primary through higher education to prepare individuals to work in these new business and industries.
This workshop is a discussion of STEM from the backdrop of job churning, particularly job flow as seen in employment and wage data. What this workshop does is look at some of the economic information related to STEM jobs and, whenever possible, finds data showing how traditional jobs are disappearing and/or lessening in earning power capacity. The idea is to present a workshop environment where a discussion can be generated between those in workforce development and education at all levels to frame how to best address STEM issues as it relates to economic well-being and social and individual wellbeing. As an example, a jointly commissioned report by The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and The Kaufmann Foundation (2010) indicate that the first decade of the 21st century saw a lack of real economic vitality; suggesting that it is not enough to merely create any job, but to have jobs firmly rooted in those factors that equal success in the new economy: knowledge-based, globalized, entrepreneurial, IT-driven, and innovation-based. Statistical data from various sources such as the 2011 Statistical Abstract of the United States will be used as a basis for some of the workshop discussions.
This discussion should be of interest to policy makers as well as educators in K-12 and higher education. Individuals interested in workforce development will also find this discussion of interest given that a discussion framed on job churning provides an end-user focus as well as a frame of reference for educators. See a recent editorial “Closing the Gap on STEM Education” by Deborah Hopen, past president of ASQ, on the connection between the STEM Agenda and workforce development.
About the Workshop Leader:
Fernando F. Padró, Ph.D.
Dr. Padró is Interim Director of Educational Leadership at Cambridge College and chair–elect of the ASQ Education Division. He specializes in quality assurance through accreditation and audit processes and has authored several papers on global accreditation issues. With a dissertation on the presence of quality circles in educational systems, he has conducted research in higher education quality policy, quality assurance, and system thinking for more than 25 years. He has made numerous presentations in Europe and Australia about key issues on implementing quality initiatives at colleges and universities from the points of view of faculty participation and organizational response to meeting external expectations. He has been a Baldrige Examiner for four years and has served as a Peer Reviewer for The Higher Learning Commission's Project AQIP. He serves as Associate Editor for ASQ Education Division’s Quality Approaches in Higher Education, is on the editorial board of The TQM Journal, is a reviewer for the Total Quality Management & Business Excellence Journal, and is a current Faculty Fellow at NASPA
Using social media to support interaction and quality of student experience
Workshop Leader: Kevin W. Tharp, Ph.D
Assistant Instructor,
Department of Apparel and Communications Technology,
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Technology is having a profound impact on the way that we deliver educational content and communications. Increasingly students are utilizing mobile technology to interact with instructors and peers and expect communications and content to be compatible with their mobile devices. Satisfying these expectations can lead to more satisfied students and higher retention. Tools are available to help instructors to reach out to the students in the mobile realm where many of them spend their time. This session considers the use of social media as a tool for communications and content delivery. It will look at the advantages and disadvantages of resources such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube for managing communications and content delivery. Come prepared to get your virtual feet wet.
About the Workshop Leader
Kevin W. Tharp, Ph.D
Kevin W. Tharp is an Assistant Professor of Information and Communications Technology at the University of Wisconsin-Stout where he has been teaching since 2008. Dr. Tharp has been involved in the social aspects of the internet since 1994 and is currently focusing his research on the way that modern communications technologies can support a sense of presence in online courses. Utilizing social media to enhance social presence is at the heart of both research and praxis for Dr. Tharp who is an active user of social media both personally and professionally.
Kevin was among the pioneers of online community networking managing a not-for-profit Freenet called ORION in the 90’s then moving to Queensland, Australia in 2001 to do research in Community Informatics with the COIN Internet Academy. This research led to his Ph.D in 2005 and ultimately to his decision to begin teaching at Stout in 2008. Because of the nature of the program he teaches in, each of his courses must be taught online at least once a year. The amount of online teaching he has done has directed his attention to finding ways to improve interaction, content delivery and a sense of presence in asynchronous online classrooms. Drawing on his experience in online community, Kevin actively uses social media to support interaction and quality of experience for his students.
