Research-Infused Courses are Effective for Online and In-Person Education.

Abstract

Engaging students in research is a high impact practice known to increase underrepresented students' persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields and improve their graduation rates. For broad impact, research infusion can be implemented through careful redesign of courses or through the adoption of research modules to supplement class instruction and existing student training programs. In this paper, we present data on a program for the design and implementation of research-infused curricula in major courses across a variety of STEM and related disciplines. Specifically, the Research Across the Curriculum program's goal was to have faculty engage in a redesign of a class to exemplify how specific disciplines engage in research. Fourteen courses were included in the present analysis, and the redesigned components were implemented in the form of interactive activities for in-person or online learning. Overall, the redesigned courses had a large impact on student's perceptions of gains in research skills. Students reported moderate to good gains in understanding the relevance of research in their discipline and skills important to research like problem solving, understanding research papers, and interpreting research results. The modality of the course (online vs. face-to-face) had little impact. Thus, research-focused activities intentionally embedded in courses strengthen the research foundation of students and should be encouraged as a high-impact practice.