Cross-disciplinary CURE Program Increases Educational Aspirations in a Large CommunityCollege

Undergraduate research experiences have been widely demonstrated as a beneficial and essential component of the college experience. However, many community colleges face barriers and lack of support in implementing such research programs, which means a sig-nificant number of community college students miss out on these impactful experiences. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) represent a feasible way to in-crease access to research experiences within community colleges. To investigate whether these CURE opportunities resulted in comparable to 4-year university CURE students, a CURE program was developed across various disciplines in a large community college and the impact on community college students was assessed. Analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data showed that students reported improvement in research skills, increases in confidence, and increases in educational aspirations. Peer interactions and instructor relationships in CUREs were identified as key factors associated with increases in research skills. Key factors associated with increases in educational aspirations included confi-dence in research-based courses, seeking additional research opportunities, and building a meaningful relationship with the instructor, but only if confidence increased as well. Our findings indicate that CUREs positively impact student outcomes in the community col-lege setting and may provide increased access to research experiences.

Automated summary

This study examined the impact of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) on community college students. The analysis of qualitative and quantitative data revealed that students reported improvement in research skills, increased confidence, and higher educational aspirations. Peer interactions and instructor relationships were identified as key factors for enhancing research skills, while confidence in research-based courses, seeking additional research opportunities, and building meaningful relationships with instructors were crucial for increasing educational aspirations. The findings suggest that CUREs positively impact student outcomes in community college settings and provide increased access to research experiences.