Mass High Tech: Community tools needed to improve STEM education

An opinion piece written for Mass High Tech’s “How I See It” Column concerning how community and social online tools would be helpful in achieving their goals set forth to improve the State of Massachusetts Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education

I recently attended the STEM Business Leaders Breakfast concerning tapping Massachusetts’ potential in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. The goal of the initiative, which is part of the national Tapping America’s Potential (TAP) Coalition, is to act as a “voice to the business community’s deep concern about sustaining U.S. scientific and technological leadership into the future.”

Many of the attendees and speakers at the STEM breakfast continually used words such as “outreach,” “connecting,” “information sharing,” “collaboration” — and even “community” — when addressing how they envision many of the STEM programs would need to be created and maintained.

This is where I’d like to expand on the conversation that was focused on how we go about building communities, connecting with core audiences and collaborating across a wide range of industries and schools. How we do it quickly, with the highest probability for success and the most cost-effective implementation.

The answer, I believe, is rooted in online communities, open-source collaboration technology and social networking…..

For expanded text, please visit Mass High Tech.

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