UNO STEM Annual Report 2015

The following document is a brief Annual Report for the STEM Priority at UNO as of May 1, 2015. The document builds upon past strategic planning discussions, meetings,and conversations and aligns with the UNO STEM Strategic Plan, as first published in the Fall of 2013. It is important to note that the annual report is essentially a“work in progress” and will be continually refined during the next year and updated as initiatives progress. It is also a “springboard” for a continued and strategic review of our local STEM statistics and the professional literature on STEM learning, and it serves as a frame of reference for our interpretations of what other universities are doing to enhance STEM learning. The annual report is intended to be a very dynamic document that will be revisited yearly as we continue to move steadily forward. As a STEM Leadership Team, we are certainly appreciative of the many ideas, suggestions, and thoughts that are shared with us, and we continue to move forward to an increasingly bright and collaborative future for UNO STEM education initiatives and efforts

Computational Thinking: In-Service Elementary Teachers Developing Knowledge, Understanding, And Confidence

Computers infiltrate almost every aspect of our lives, including our homes and cars. For work, education, or personal fulfillment, computing has increased dramatically. The need for an educated workforce is expanding as technology devices become smaller, faster, and more powerful. We can teach students how to use math, logic, and computational thinking, a problem-solving process that allows the functionality of computing devices as part of innovative solutions. Teachers who receive professional development and resources to incorporate computational thinking can enhance problem-solving activities in all curriculum areas. Different instructional methods support the knowledge for problem-solving processes using computational thinking. Strategies to implement computational thinking in all subject areas are critical to pedagogical success. Providing teachers professional development for ongoing in-service is an area for future research

Building Collaboration Networks and Alliances to Solve the IT Talent Shortage: A Revelatory Case Study

As companies increasingly face challenges finding sufficient numbers of skilled IT workers, regions around the country have attempted different strategies to address the gap. In Northeast Wisconsin, the primary strategy has been the formation of a formal organization, the NEW Digital Alliance, charged with attracting, developing, and retaining IT workers in Northeast Wisconsin, funded by local companies and universities. In this paper, we will explore collaborative networks and the innovative effect they have on solving the IT talent pipeline challenge in a specific geographic region. Specifically, we explore the role of collaboration maturity and present a new comprehensive framework that may help understand and direct new regional collaborative efforts. The findings suggest that an alliance of business, education, and economic development partners can move a region forward in ways that are difficult for single players to achieve. We find that the Northeast Wisconsin region has been able to achieve coordination between K-12, higher education, and employers to improve on awareness of the problems that each part of the talent pipeline is facing. With an increase in collaboration maturity, the organization was able to relatively easily transition to virtual activities as well as assemble new constellations of collaborative efforts in short order when faced with the COVID-19 crisis

College Student Participation in K-12 Computer Science Education

This report outlines recommendations for a program that would use college students as a resource to teach K-12 computing topics both inside and outside of Massachusetts classrooms. We also outline a recommendation for a conference to help push this program into fruition; organizing this conference could be a future WPI project. Our recommendations for this program are the result of research, interviews, and surveys, all of which are detailed in the report