Digital Resources for STEM Educators and Recommendations for Cyberlearning Initiatives: Results from the National Science Foundation Digital Library/Distributed Learning Program Evaluation

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2017

DOI

10.7249/RR414

Pages

1-229

Abstract

The National Science Foundation (NSF) created the National Science Digital Library/Distributed Learning (NSDL) program in 2000. Between 2000 and 2011, NSDL awarded more than 250 grants to support the development of resources, collections, and technical tools and services for teachers and learners in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. NSDL's mission was to assemble these elements into a distributed digital library that would be widely available to the public through websites. In 2011, NSF discontinued grant funding for projects in order to build on the results of the NSDL program and to establish the next generation of cyberlearning programs.

This report documents the third and final phase in a series of evaluations of the NSDL program. The broad goal of the evaluation was to assess the sustainability of NSDL resources, tools, and services over time and across the changing technology landscape. The report also identifies lessons that could be useful to other programs, both within and outside NSF — specifically, the attributes of sustainable digital initiatives and the extent to which the NSDL program demonstrated these attributes.

Comments

© 2017 RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California

Link included with permission of the publisher.

ORCID

0000-0002-1775-8219 (Crompton)

Original Publication Citation

Bikson, T. K., Straus, S. G., Agnew, G., Kalra, N., McArthur, D. J., Crompton, H., Kase, C. A., & Leuschner, K. J. (2017). Digital Resources for STEM Educators and Recommendations for Cyberlearning Initiatives: Results from the National Science Foundation Digital Library/Distributed Learning Program Evaluation. Rand Corporation. https://doi.org/10.7249/RR414

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