Thank you for viewing our eSEM Showcase video!

Your comments are welcome!

Sincerely,

Cindy Ziker, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Senior Researcher

SRI International

Great project! Do you think your project could also help minority females?

Cindy and Kemi, I'm so interested in this work (and in the NIC approach), and agree that there is much to learn still about how to effectively connect the good work outside school spaces to the immense work inside school spaces.

Look forward to learning from and with your project!

Joanna Burt-Kinderman and FIRST2

Cindy and Kemi, I am so excited by your project! Finally, someone is talking about the minority males. As a minority female engineer, I am happy to see so many programs to increase the number of women in engineering but I always say where are the programs for the minority males. Even though engineering is a male dominated field, it is not dominated by minority males. I look forward to seeing more of your work and results. This is great stuff!!

Thank you for your work!  I'm curious about what models of mentorship your team is examining?

Hi Barbara,

We have a webinar on our website (esem-includes.org) about mentoring strategies that are used at one of our sites. We also partner with the National Cares Mentoring Network.  It would be great to have your insights about this. Many thanks! Cindy Ziker

I like the work that you all are doing! We have to start early because students find so many excuses to run in the opposite direction rather than face the rigor of STEM. As a mathematician who spends quite a bit of time working with outreach initiatives to engage minorities, I am pleased to see initiatives such as this.

Cindy and Kemi, Wanted to make you aware of COSEBOC (Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color) http://www.coseboc.org  While their work is not specific to STEM they would certainly be interested in your work and findings. They have an annual meeting. Let me know if you would like me to connect you to the leaders of this effort. 

 

Thank you to everyone on your team for doing this important work for our young men! What plans do you have/What do you have already in place for expanding this project to serve other underrepresented minority males? 

- April Lindala, Northern Michigan University :-)

Hi Cindy and team,

How are assessment (and other work on shared measures) supporting your work as a Networked Improvement Community?

Hi Jeremy, 

Thanks for your question.  Our team is still working on developing a shared measurement system, but currently, eSEM uses program-based pre and post online surveys and assessments at 12 institutions, to gauge student level progress in problem solving, engineering, coding, 3D design and mobile app development skills. We also collect data on students' interest in STEM courses, STEM careers and attending college. Our NIC will review the results of our data in the fall, during an annual face to face Leadership Summit, where best practices, lessons learned, challenges and action plans can be discussed and shared. We expect these data review opportunities will help us improve our outcomes and strengthen our NIC.

Thanks for sharing your vision for this important work! Building on Jeremy's question, what would success look like for your project and its participants? And what do you hope to be able to share that will influence others working to open doors for students of color into STEM?

Thanks for your interest, Leslie! The success of eSEM will result in sustainable engagement between a network of higher education institutions and local schools, teachers, parents, community services and businesses, who will work together to promote STEM proficiency and interest in pursuing STEM careers among minority males. By reaching out to a broad range of organizations and stakeholders with similar interests, the eSEM project will connect STEM-focused partners that will likely be able to contribute to the success of minority males.

Our project will identify and share evidence based models that have been effective in moving the needle forward for minority males and will include best practices for promoting success in such areas as STEM education, mentoring, family engagement, and professional development for teachers and mentors serving this population. Check out our webinar entitled “Designing, Implementing, and Monitoring Effective Child-Centered Mentor Training” at http://esem-includes.org/webinars/

Cindy and Kemi, this project looks great--thanks for the work you are doing. It seems from the video that your focus is on K-12--are you also looking at the transition to college and success in the university context?

Hi Marjorie, Thanks for your question. One component of our project is training mentors to serve as role models for participating students. The mentors are generally undergraduate students enrolled in engineering, computer science, and other programs of study (see the mentor training webinar we posted on our website at http://esem-includes.org/webinars/). Focus groups with our students and mentors revealed that the mentors have helped to increase students' interest in attending college by encouraging students to have a sense of belonging on campus, which we expect will contribute to a successful transition to a college setting later in our students' lives. Mentors have also reported that working with our students has helped them to stay motivated while completing their own course work, in order to set a good example.

 

We would love to know more about this and incorporate your findings in the collective impact effort we are building out.  Let us know how we can work together.

Hi 'Kemi and Derrick - It was great meeting you in person at the CAHSI conference.  Nice video!  I am excited about the mentoring aspects of your program, and look forward to watching your webinar mentioned above.  In our First Two pilot, we plan to have our rural first-generation college students serve as Hometown Ambassadors, and it would be interesting to consider adding some of the elements from your program to their roles.  I also really appreciated Derrick's suggestions about financial literacy as an important piece of this puzzle for college students, especially those without a family history of college.

Thanks so much, Chris. Our website, esem-includes.org offers more information about our project. Maybe we can connect in person at the Includes California STEM Conference May 4-6th. Hope to see your there!