Community College STEM Pathways Guide: A Collaborative Online System for Design and Implementation of STEM Pathway Programs

摘要

STEM Pathways offer students additional opportunities to explore and prepare for successful careers in new and emerging STEM fields. To breakdown existing silos between K12 and higher education, community college-centered programs function as conduits between high schools, universities and jobs. An online social collaboration system called the Arizona STEM Network enables rich collaboration and shared ownership of the students' education with results that attract local industry partners. The STEM Pathways Guide, hosted on the Arizona STEM Network, provides a comprehensive tool to design, implement, and validate STEM Pathway Programs, measure program effectiveness and share best practices. Learning's from four other STEM Guides developed by SFAz informed the structuring and content of the STEM Pathways Guide. The Pathways Guide is based on a model validated by research. The model has seven primary components. College owned components include Education Outreach and Career Exploration, Foundational Knowledge and Skills, and Transferable Certifications and Degrees. Interdependency components include Student Support Strategies, Industry Engagement, Technology Integration, and Curricular Alignment. Currently, eight rural community colleges in Arizona and eleven Hispanic Serving Community Colleges (HSCCs) in California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, and New Mexico are participating in the online community and using the STEM Pathways Guide.