Summer Institute 2010

Meeting the Needs of the 21st Century:
Designing for Student Engagement

June 28-July 2, 2010

at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Needham, MA

The accelerating pace of technological change requires that we radically rethink how we educate scientists and engineers for the next century. As the NAE, the NSF, and others have observed, the students we educate today will spend most of their working lives addressing problems that we have not yet even imagined. In this week-long institute, participants will develop designs and action plans for curricular change at their home institutions to meet these challenges.

Curriculum:

This institute is designed to support you in creating and leading curricular change and in addressing the needs of 21st century students. Through participatory design exercises, case studies, and presentations from experts, you will learn about, experience, and design new and meaningful STEM curricula. Program sessions will help you to:

• Understand state of the art research in STEM education and current best practices
• Anticipate the needs of today's student body and the curricular practices that engage and empower today's students
• Design solutions that are appropriate for your institutional context
• Identify structural and cultural obstacles to change and create strategies to reshape them
• Practice effective leadership to build successful solutions for curricular change

You will work together with others from similar institutions, working on similar projects, to develop concrete action plans for curricular change. Sessions will be highly participatory and you will be challenged to continually consider new ideas and put novel approaches into practice.

Institute attendees will acquire a new lens through which to view the your projects, an expanded repertoire of techniques and solutions, and concrete steps to take your plans forward.

Participants:

This institute is intended for faculty members and academic leaders undertaking significant curricular change with the intention of increased student engagement and responsiveness to the needs of the 21st century.

Participants are expected to bring a project of their own choosing from their home institution. Teams who will work together on a project are especially encouraged to attend together.