College Hosts Conference with Higher Education Outreach Program Leaders
BU leads NSF-funded research on program outcomes
By Liz Sheeley
The College of Engineering hosted a three-day, National Science Foundation (NSF)—funded conference as part of an early-concept grant for exploratory research (EAGER) from September 23-25 that gathered 37 university outreach administrators, K-12 administrators, university students, educational researchers, and evaluators to discuss ambassador-based, K-12 outreach programs.
“The goal of the conference was for attendees to discuss their outreach programs, make connections with potential collaborators, share best-practices, and consider ways to make our programs more effective,” says Stacey Freeman, the director of national outreach initiatives at the College of Engineering.
The meeting kicked off with a welcoming address from Dean Kenneth R. Lutchen, and four keynotes from attendees, each touching on a different subject matter, including introducing the discussion of developing a robust model to measure outreach outcomes on a national scale.
This EAGER program had three phases, the first of which launched in September 2018, and this recent conference was the third and final phase. EAGERs are meant to allow initial, exploratory research into untested, but potentially transformative research, ideas or approaches.
The first phase included interviews with potential stakeholders and attendees of the meeting. Then, Sandra Rodegher, manager of national outreach programs at BU, compiled the data from those interviews and turned them into the workshop design.
The College’s signature outreach program, the Technology Innovation Scholar program (TISP), trains undergraduate students to work with middle- and high-school students to teach them about engineering as a discipline and a career.
“From our surveys to the students who have participated in TISP, we know that they enjoyed the program, but we don’t know if the program made an impact on their educational future,” says Freeman.
Freeman hopes that the foundations laid during all three phases of the program will help administrators and leaders from K-12 schools and universities to work together to build tools to understand if programs like TISP are making a difference in students’ trajectories.
“Creating these communities is really valuable,” says Freeman. “We can all learn from each other to incorporate new ideas into our programs and gain fresh perspectives.”
With additional funding, Freeman hopes that they can continue these meetings annually and eventually develop robust research tools that schools across the nation can use to perform longitudinal studies.
“This first meeting was definitely a success and hopefully just a starting point for what’s to come,” says Wynter Duncanson, lecturer and assistant dean of outreach and diversity. “Learning what my colleagues at other universities are doing, and discussing what we think are the best evaluation points are for these programs was important and mutually beneficial.”