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Using Science Education Gateways to Improve Undergraduate STEM Education: The QUBES Platform as a Case Study

Author(s): Sam S Donovan1, Drew LaMar2

1. BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium 2. College of William and Mary

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Description

After March 1, 2024 you will be able to access the published paper on the NSF Public Access Repository

The paper was published in Computing in Science and Engineering an IEEE journal as part of a theme issue: Science Gateways: Accelerating Research and Education (paywall). 

preprint is available on ARXIV. Please feel free to email Sam Donovan to request a copy of the final article. 

Abstract:

The Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis (QUBES) platform was conceived as a “science education gateway” and designed to accelerate innovation in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The technical infrastructure was purpose built to provide more equitable access to professional resources, support learning that reflects authentic science, and promote open educational practices. Four platform services (Open Educational Resource library access; professional learning; partner support; and customizable workspaces) support overlapping faculty user communities, provide multiple points of entry, and enable manifold use-case scenarios. The integrated nature of the platform makes it possible to collect, curate, and disseminate a diverse array of reform resources in a scalable and sustainable manner. We believe that the cyberinfrastructure provided by the QUBES platform has the capacity to broaden participation in scholarship around teaching and learning and, furthermore, that it can help to lower faculty barriers to the adoption of reform practices. Thus, we call for further exploration of the roles of cyberinfrastructure in undergraduate STEM education.This paper describes BioQUEST's vision for the QUBES platform as an engine for science education reform. 

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