South Texas Undergraduate Curriculum Consortium for Educating Biotechnical Science Students (SUCCESS)
Del Mar College (DMC) and Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC), two Hispanic-serving institutions, are collaborating with a local workforce board, a national laboratory, a university, and industry to create a new biotechnology program for South Texas. The goals of the project are to (1) develop a new biotechnology program at DMC that teaches current research and laboratory procedures in agricultural and medical biotechnology, (2) build a customized workforce of underrepresented technicians for local employment in the life science industry, (3) improve students' scientific literacy through inquiry-based learning, (4) incorporate instructional technology into new and existing certificate and associates degree courses, and (5) provide professional development for high school and college educators. Project deliverables include a new biotechnology program, a course website, new and revised biotechnology-related courses, teacher institutes, student research internships, project-related reports, and articulation agreements. An extension of this project is Revising Science Education with Vision (REVISION). This program involves DMC students using more contemporary scientific skills and provides them more practice with methods that develop critical and independent thinking. Research components embedded within several laboratories based on the Vision and Change concept-based curriculum recommendations are being used to assist student in developing their troubleshooting and problem-solving activities. Additionally, with the help of the USC Annenberg Innovation Laboratory, the students will be provided with highly engaging curricular materials that use mobile device platforms to encourage participation, learning and faculty/student community building using technologically advanced tools.