Online Program

Training Data-Savvy Workforce: The Impact of the SOLSTICE Approach (309925)

Keywords: Data-intensive disciplines, graduate education

Training in data-rich disciplines in graduate programs requires students to advance in knowledge, skills, and experience adapt their attitudes toward new forms of learning. The ongoing pandemics challenged our education systems and abilities to effectively respond and adapt. Being funded by NSF to develop a transformative solution-oriented, student-initiated, computationally-enriched (SOLSTICE) learning approach, we had a unique opportunity to assess the effect of switching to an online format on eight critical aspects of team-based collaboration using a series of surveys from 141 participants. We recognize that in an online course, it is especially important to have clear and explicit statements of goals and objectives reinforced in both asynchronous and synchronous components. It also became clear that the constraints of an online course require modifying goals and objectives and thus, the assessment tools created for traditional in-person training. Overall, students preferred the in-person format and had reported challenges related to virtual remote options, especially for fostering group discussions, enabling productive teamwork and skill learning. Students also recognized the positive effects of virtual modes for setting clear expectations, enabling peer reviews, and generating diverse opinions, especially for women and members of underrepresented groups.