Activity

Description:Facilitator(s):
Evangeline Cummings, University of Florida
JoleenCannon, University of Florida
Emma Brady, University of Florida
JoeClark, Florida State University
Baiyun Chen, University of Central Florida

Abstract:
Under the leadership of the Board of Governors and the directionof the SUS Presidents shepherding implementation of the Florida Strategic Planfor Online Learning, a system wide Task Force began deliberate focus inNovember 2016 on ensuring robust STEM Lab offerings for SUS online students.Chaired by Assistant Provost and Director of UF Online, Evangeline Cummings,and comprised of representatives from every Florida SUS institution, the TaskForce completed its first year with three recommendations presented to the BOGin January 2018: (1) Foster more deliberate engagement among SUS faculty in theadvancement of rigorous and accessible online approaches for STEM and inparticular STEM labs in the areas of physics, biology and chemistry, (2)continue the work of the STEM Lab Task Force for an additional year to divedeeper into current lab offerings, their approaches, their relative quality toguide further refinements, and (3) Begin brisk work on a very concrete andmeaningful pilot of a Chemistry Lab boot camp for fully-online students, heldon the UF campus in either summer 2019 or 2020.

This TOPKit session will mark the next step for the TaskForcewhere select members (UF, FSU, UCF) present will kick off the session withbrief presentations showcasing their current approaches and considerations asthey embark upon STEM content rich with technology. From there we’ll have afacilitated group discussion about the challenges facing the System as we buildout more options for online students to earn STEM degrees with rigorous laboptions. Lastly, specific insights will be gathered from the sessionattendees about how to frame and convene faculty on this topic from across thesystem this fall at the first Fall Faculty Forum on Online STEM held at theUniversity of Florida, Gainesville campus in October 2018.