Mitigating the STEM Crisis through Enhanced Online Learning

摘要

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics, and Statistics Administration, in 2010 7.5 million people were employed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs and accounted for 5.5 percent of the workforce. The report also stated that these occupations are projected to grow at a rate of 17.0 percent outpacing non-STEM jobs which are projected to grow only 9.8 percent. However in 2012, despite there being nearly 14 million unemployed people in the U.S., American companies could still not find workers skilled enough in math and technology to fill an estimated 3 million permanent job openings. The lack of trained skilled STEM workers has often been called the STEM Crisis. There are many researched reasons some argue that if there really is a STEM Crisis, why it exists. However, much of the traditional reasons, while still very valid have given way to reports that academic unpreparedness and lack of STEM literacy may be in part the cause for the shortage of STEM workers who possess a broad range of competencies and experiences. The response to this challenge has become the focus of many states, encouraging partnerships and collaborations between colleges/universities, K-12 schools, and public and private sectors. The aim of this paper is to present an effort to abate the STEM crisis through restructuring content delivery in an introductory computer science course taught a two-year institution. The paper presents the context in which the work is framed, the course design and delivery of the enhanced online learning experience, results from the study, limitations and future work.