(197g) A Personalized Learning Model for STEM Graduate Education - a Pilot in Chemical Engineering

Most U.S. graduate engineering programs traditionally follow a “one-size-fits-all” approach that focuses narrowly on research skills, is slow to incorporate industry trends, and defaults to training students for careers as university professors. Further, they implicitly assume that all students start at the same level of knowledge, disregarding differences not only in academic preparation, but in students’ background, including socioeconomic, sociocultural, prior work experience and professional development. However, not accounting for these factors decreases inclusivity. Guided by the principles of personalized learning, and supported by an Innovations in Graduate Education grant from the National Science Foundation, the department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh will prepare graduate students for their target career by providing a customized education in which faculty and students work collaboratively to achieve a competency-based engineering education. To achieve this aim, we are piloting, testing, and validating a Personalized Learning Model (PLM) for STEM Graduate Education in which personalized learning is implemented both within the classroom and in professional development activities. The five components of the PLM include (1) establishing Instructional Goals for each student through learner profiles, strength finders, and individual development plans, (2) defining the Task Environment through one credit, modular classes that provide topic flexibility and content customization, and “Professional Development Streams” - a set of co-curricular activities organized around industry, academia and entrepreneurship, and (3) Scaffolding the Instruction to provide pedagogy that leads to independence and mastery in the student’s area of focus. (4) Assessment of Performance and Learning tracks progression towards the student’s instructional goals, followed by guided (5) Reflection and Evaluation. This talk will introduce the innovation, the evaluation and assessment approach, and describe progress to date. In the first model component – Instructional Goals – we have guided students in finding their strengths, establishing individual development plans, and effective goal setting; we will describe observations as a function of year in the program. In the second model component – task environment – we will describe the development and content of a modernized “body of knowledge” that incorporates input from disciplinary experts in industry, entrepreneurship, national labs, and academia. The qualitative and quantitative methods for formative and summative assessment will be presented. This work is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DGE-IGE 2325599)