The Upper Cumberland Rural STEM Initiative

Strategies and Challenges

Upper Cumberland

•$1.5 million grant• $500,000 to Oakley STEM Center• $1 million to Putnam County Schools

•STEM Center to “create a hub to • Coordinate processes among the partner schools to create

customizable lessons and experiences for classrooms • Document activities and results from the UCRSI• Create a platform to communicate and share best practices

between teachers in partner schools”

Professors Professionals

Teachers

1. Resources on the HUB

2. Ask other teachers / professors / professionals

3. Collaborate to create a new resource

Timeline

Jun-11 Sep-11 Dec-11 Mar-12 Jun-12 Sep-12 Dec-12

UCRSI Real-Time Implementation

Challenges

• Adoption

1-May

5-May

9-May

13-May

17-May

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25-May

29-May

2-Jun

6-Jun

10-Jun

14-Jun

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30-Jun

4-Jul

8-Jul

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28-Jul

1-Aug

5-Aug

9-Aug

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29-Aug

2-Sep

6-Sep

10-Sep

14-Sep

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Number of Users

Challenges

• User expectations– “I just stumbled on the Knowledge Base…and

would never have guessed that this contained info on using the website! (I expected to find STEM-related literature.)”

– “Questions and Answers seems like it would be teaching questions…but the comment, “Can't find an answer in our Knowledge Base or by Search?” implies to me it should relate to website questions, rather than teaching questions. ”

Challenges

• User ease of entry– Added “Quick Start” link to front page

– Reduced number of enabled features

– Pre-made groups

We’re still just beginning our journey…

• Resource contribution is low, but increasing

• User growth steady, with surges as school systems join

• Several groups with frequent activity