Top Universities Will Help Train STEM Teachers

A group of Tier 1 research universities -- the Stanfords, Harvards and MITs of the world - will join the White House-led effort to train 100,000 new math and science teachers by the year 2022. A $22.5 million gift from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), announced by the White House this morning, will make it possible to expand a successful teacher-training program called UTeach to 10 top research schools over the next five years. "Historically, Tier 1 universities have not been focused on turning out teachers through their science and math departments," said Tom Luce, the founding CEO and chairman of the National Math and Science Initiative, the group that is leading the expansion effort, in an interview following Monday morning's announcement. They are focused on turning out PhD students, and they will continue to do so, he said, but the gift will help emphasize that educating new teachers is a mission that all universities "need to embrace if we're going to reach our goal."The mission of training 100,000 new STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teachers originates from a 2010 report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, "Prepare and Inspire: K-12 Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) For America's Future." President Barack Obama first mentioned the goal in his 2011 State of the Union Address, saying, "over the next 10 years, with so many baby boomers retiring from our classrooms, we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science and technology and engineering and math."UTeach, which began at the University of Texas at Austin in 1997, is based on the idea espoused by many education experts that highly effective science and math teachers need deep knowledge of their subject area, plus outstanding pedagogical skills. But few U.S. STEM teachers have that combination. Only 52 percent of high school mathematics teachers and 61 percent of high school science teachers hold a major in the disciplines they teach, according to a February report from Horizon Research. In middle-schools, only 26 percent of science teachers and 23 percent of math teachers majored in their subjects.UTeach instills both sets of skills in its students. The program is a collaboration among a university's schools of education, liberal arts and sciences and local school districts. It recruits undergraduate math and science majors to pursue teaching careers, and students graduate in four years with both a STEM major and all the courses needed for a teaching certification.The program is also noted for its high retention rate. More than 40 percent of all teachers leave the profession during their first five years. Among STEM teachers, two-thirds of attrition comes from job dissatisfaction. But UTeach reports that 82 percent of its graduates are still in the classroom five years later. In her August 2012 feature for SA, journalist Pat Wingert wrote: "UTeach credits those high numbers to the fact that it gives students lots of time in real classrooms right from the start, so they can decide if they like teaching or not," says Mary Ann Rankin, former dean of the University of Texas at Austin's natural sciences department, who helped launch the program. "Some are seduced once they have a really fun experience and see how rewarding it can be."At the news conference, I asked how far along the White House is toward its goal of 100,000 new STEM teachers. The answer: nearly halfway. UTeach has grown rapidly, from a presence on 20 campuses in 2010, to 35 today. The HHMI funding will allow it to reach 45 schools, training an additional 1,750 STEM teachers, for a total of 17,000. But HHMI and UTeach are only one part of the effort. The group 100kin10, a coalition of 150 organizations lead by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, has pulled together additional resources to train around 30,000 teachers, for a grand total of 47,000. President Obama has also called for an $80 million federal investment to support evidence-based STEM teacher preparation programs.Luce's organization, the National Math and Science Initiative, posted a request for proposals from Tier One schools interested in implementing UTeach on Monday and hopes to select 10 within the next few months. Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs.Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
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More elite universities offer free online courses

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — More of the world's elite universities are joining the rush to offer "massive open online courses" that are broadening access to higher education. But some experts question how much so-called MOOCs can help students trying to earn college degrees.

Coursera and edX, two of the leading MOOC providers, on Thursday announced major expansions that will roughly double the number of universities offering free online courses through their websites.

Cambridge, Mass.-based edX, which was founded in May by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said it will add six new institutions, including five outside the U.S., which will offer at least 25 additional courses.

Mountain View-based Coursera said it will add 29 institutions, including 16 outside the United States. Over the next several months, the schools will offer 90 new courses, including some taught in French, Spanish, Italian and Chinese.

"Having courses taught in other languages will enable more students to take our classes," said Andrew Ng, a Stanford University professor who co-founded Coursera last April.

MOOCs have attracted millions of students and captured the public imagination over the past year, allowing people from all walks of life to learn from leading scholars at top-tier universities — free of charge.

But the question remains: Can these large-scale, highly automated classes help increase college completion rates or lower the cost of earning a degree?

So far only a small number of institutions are offering degree credit for MOOCs, but that could change if more colleges determine the digital classes meet their academic standards.

Earlier this month, the American Council on Education said it will recommend credit for five Coursera courses. The association is evaluating more MOOCs for possible credit recommendations, which many schools use to decide whether to grant credit for nontraditional courses.

But some experts say MOOCs can't replace traditional classroom learning, especially for struggling students who need more face-to-face interaction and mentoring to succeed.

A new study by Columbia University found that community-college students who took small-scale, online-only courses performed worse and were more likely to drop out than peers who took traditional classes. There was a steeper decline in performance among students who are young, male, black or economically disadvantaged, according to the report.

"Online education as it's been developed so far, including MOOCs, I don't think has been effective for struggling students," said Tom Bailey, who directs Columbia's Community College Research Center. "We're not finding you can't learn online. But we're finding a less effective outcome."

EdX President Anant Agarwal said colleges should use MOOCs to improve — rather than replace — campus-based education by combining online lessons with classroom instruction.

San Jose State University students who recently took a "blended" version of an edX engineering class performed significantly better than students who took the classroom-based course, he added.

"I really believe the blended model is really a key approach to improving campus education," Agarwal said.

The MOOC movement has also encountered some setbacks during its rapid expansion.

Earlier this month, Coursera suspended an online course offered by Georgia Institute of Technology because of technical problems. The company hopes to relaunch the course, "Fundamentals of Online Education," in the near future, Ng said.

Last week, a University of California, Irvine professor, Richard McKenzie, said he would stop teaching a Coursera economics course halfway through the term because of disagreements over how to run the class.

McKenzie declined to comment Thursday, but Gary Matkin, UC Irvine's dean of distance learning, said the course would continue as scheduled because the instructional materials have already been created.

"Prof. McKenzie is not accustomed (as few are) in teaching university-level material to an open, large, and quite diverse audience including those who were not seriously committed to achieving the learning objectives of the course," Matkin said in a statement.

Ng said Coursera played no role in McKenzie's decision to stop teaching, but he noted that teaching a MOOC is quite different from teaching a traditional course and "it really isn't for everyone."

"We're all experimenting still with what makes sense for MOOCs," Ng said. "There will be missteps along the way."

Coursera currently offers 220 courses from 33 institutions and has almost 2.8 million registered users who have signed up for nearly 10 million courses. Only a fraction of enrollees actually complete the courses, in part because it's easy and free to sign up.

The 29 new Coursera partners include Chinese University of Hong Kong, Technical University of Denmark, National Autonomous University of Mexico as well as the universities of Copenhagen, Geneva and Toyko.

EdX, which currently offers 25 courses from six universities and has 700,000 registered users, will add six new members: Australian National University, Delft University of Technology, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, McGill University, Rice University and the University of Toronto.

Delft University in the Netherlands will be the first edX partner to provide courses as "open content," which means that other universities are free to incorporate the materials in their offerings, said Agarwal.

"People can reuse it and remix it," Agarwal said. "It enables courses to get better and better over time by allowing people to share content."

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More top universities to offer free online courses

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — More top universities outside the United States are joining the rush to offer "massive open online courses" that are broadening access to higher education.

Coursera and edX, two leading providers of so-called MOOCs, on Thursday announced major expansions that will roughly double the number of university partners offering free online classes through their websites.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Coursera said it will add 29 institutions, including 16 outside the U.S. Over the next several months, they will offer about 90 new courses, including some taught in French, Spanish, Italian and Chinese.

"Having courses taught in other languages will enable more students to take our classes," said Andrew Ng, a Stanford University professor who co-founded Coursera.

Coursera currently offers 220 courses from 33 institutions and has nearly 2.8 million registered users who have signed up for nearly 10 million courses, Ng said.

The new partners include Chinese University of Hong Kong, Technical University of Denmark, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico as well as the universities of Copenhagen, Geneva and Toyko.

Cambridge, Mass.-based edX said it's adding six new institutions, including five outside the U.S., which will provide at least 25 courses.

EdX, which was launched in May by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, currently offers 25 courses from six universities and has 700,000 registered students.

The new partners are Australian National University, Delft University of Technology, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, McGill University, Rice University and the University of Toronto.

Delft University in the Netherlands will be the first edX partner to provide courses as "open content," which means other universities are free to incorporate the materials into their classes, said edX President Anant Agarwal.

"People can reuse it and remix it," Agarwal said. "It enables courses to get better and better over time by allowing people to share content."

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