Creating a Web Presence for the I³ Track

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

This project creates an Internet Web presence for the Innovation through Institutional Integration (I³) community and for the broader STEM community that is interested in NSF’s integrative, innovative and institutional endeavor that is I³. I³ projects represent multiple synergistic, collaborative efforts focused on the integration of education and research, educational critical junctures, promotion of a globally engaged workforce, broadening participation, as well as research and evaluation. These projects engage faculty, administrators, and other higher education stakeholders in thinking strategically about the creative integration of NSF-funded projects, as well as endeavors funded by other federal and non-federal entities.

The I³ website creates an online venue that connects all I³ efforts and enables each project to share its goals, description, models, and resources with each other and with the broader STEM community. Further, it enables NSF’s I³ effort as a whole to more effectively disseminate its solicitation language, research, and achievements to current and prospective grantees, researchers, administrators, and policy makers.

In addition to the online effort, this project, in collaboration with a stakeholder-advisory committee, will plan and execute a face-to-face conference on innovation in higher education. The conference will address central themes of the I³ program that focus on developing new models for integrating STEM research and education within higher education, and on innovative policies that promote increased collaboration and synergy within and between institutions to promote new research endeavors. This conference will bring together leaders in the field, and will be videotaped and archived on the website to enable broader participation and dissemination.

This work, orchestrated by TERC, a private non-profit organization in Cambridge MA, includes:

• Expeditiously building a broadcast website presence for NSF’s I³ initiative.
• Engagement with the community to learn more about its potential needs for collaboration and communication.
• Integration of expanded interactive capabilities that meet the needs expressed by the community.
• Execution of a face-to-face conference on innovation, which will be videotaped and archived on the site.
• Addressing the issue of site sustainability through an integrated content management system that will enable NSF to add, edit, and delete content.

The resources that will be posted on the site, as well as the associated I³ innovation conference, will deepen the dialogue on many facets of innovation and institutional integration, as well as the processes and policies that promote it within higher education, within the I³ community, and beyond.