Research-Infused Courses are Effective for Online and In-Person Education

Abstract: Engaging students in research is a high impact practice known to increase underrepresented students’ persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields and improve their graduation rates. For broad impact, research infusion can be implemented through careful redesign of courses or through the adoption of research modules to supplement class instruction and existing student training programs. In this paper, we present data on a program for the integration of research-infused curriculum in major courses across a variety of disciplines in STEM. Specifically, the program's goal is to have faculty engage in a redesign of the class to exemplify how specific disciplines engage in research. The course redesign can be in the form of activities for in-person education or as interactive activities for online learning. Fourteen courses were included in this analysis. Anonymous surveys were administered at the end of the fall or spring semester to 864 students in the 14 courses from Fall 2020 to Spring 2023. A total of 643 students (74% response rate) participated in the evaluation.Gains in research skills: Students indicated how much they gained in various skills (on a scale of 1: no Gain to 5: Great Gain) as a result of the course. Overall, a high percentage of students (92-96%) reported gains of some kind, while only about 4% of students reported no gains, though a slightly higher proportion reported no gains in understanding what everyday research work is like (8%). Results suggest that on average, students reported moderate to good gains (Ms ranged from 3.36 to 3.70) for all items. Most students felt they had good gains in problem-solving, understanding the relevance of research, understanding research reports, and interpreting results, and moderate gains in comfort discussing research concepts and confidence in ability to do well in research courses. Course Redesign Goals: Students also indicated high levels of agreement about three redesigned course goals: Understanding research-related ethical issues, effective communication of research, and stimulating research interest on a scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 4 (Strongly Agree). Most students agreed/strongly agreed that due to the course, they were able to effectively communicate research information to different audiences (80% Mode=3). Although most students agreed/strongly agreed that the course stimulated interest in research (71%, Mode=3) and helped them understand research ethics (73%; Mode=3), close to one-third of students disagreed (17-23%) or strongly disagreed (3-7%) with these statements.Intention to Pursue Research: More than half of students in the redesigned course indicated that they increased their likelihood of exploring research careers (62%), joining a research/lab training program (64%), and pursuing research-focused courses (62%).Effects of Course Modality: When examining differences by the modality of the course, there were no statistically significant differences between courses that were virtual and courses that were face-to-face for gains in research skills, (X2(1)=0.22, p=.641), research intentions X2(1)=1.30, p=.254, research career perceptions (X2(1)=2.05, p=.152), or course redesign goals, X2(1)=0.08, p=.778.Faculty who received the award found it helpful in redesigning courses to make them more interactive, problem- and research- focused. One awardee shared, “through this program, I can see more underrepresented students more interested in machine learning, data science and artificial intelligence.” Overall, the redesigned courses had a large impact on student’s research skill gains. Students reported moderate to good gains in understanding relevance of research in their discipline and skills important to research like problem solving, understanding research papers, and interpreting research results. The modality of the course (virtual vs. face-to-face) had little impact. Thus, research-focus activities intentionally embedded in courses strengthening the research foundation of students and should be encouraged as a high-impact practice.

Keywords: STEM education, online education, research training, learning sciences, Research curriculum

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1005753

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