TIES, the manager and operator of the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice (SLECoP), is seeking information about existing asset mapping tools that might be customized for use by the 85 communities, across the world, that make up the SLECoP.

The SLECoP provides the architecture for the 85 ecosystems to share strategies and best practices for offering all young people access to STEM-rich learning environments so they can develop important skills and engagement in science, technology, engineering and math throughout preK-16.

Strong STEM Learning Ecosystems feature dynamic collaborations among schools, out-of-school time programs, STEM expert institutions (such as museums, science centers, institutions of higher education and STEM professional associations), the private sector, community-based organizations, youth and families.

What is a STEM asset map?

In its most basic sense, an asset map is a geo-located summary of the various STEM resources that exist in a community.

A STEM asset map, when properly developed and deployed, will engage students, families, formal educators, informal educators, business and industry leaders, government officials, philanthropic leaders and ecosystem coordinators. They will all be able to see and understand what resources are available and where there are areas of need. This will then be powerful and actionable information for every single user. For instance:

• Students and families will be able to locate programs that could be of interest;
• Formal and informal educators will be able to understand the full landscape of what exists and can align their work accordingly;
• Business, industry, government, ecosystem and philanthropic leaders can gain powerful insight about what is happening and how their needs and goals may or may not be being met.

The basic overarching goal of a STEM asset map is to increase STEM opportunities for ALL in pursuit of lifelong learning in the cradle to career continuum.

Why is an asset map so critical for ecosystems and the millions of students, families and educators that they serve?

Learning doesn’t happen in silos.

In order for communities to achieve the goal of STEM for ALL, it is critical to understand what already exists, what is missing and how existing resources can be better aligned to accomplish the shared overarching goals.

How would people use an asset map?

The idea is that an asset map would be broadly deployed and, as with all databases, it will become smarter over time as it engages more users.

Numerous strategies would be developed and implemented to broadly deploy the asset mapping tool, including:

• Incentivized dissemination to school districts;
• Strong social media campaigns;
• Legacy media campaigns;
• Government offices;
• Business and industry, philanthropic and other partners.

At a minimum, what must an asset map do?

• Collect information pertaining to:
  • The name of the program/resource
  • Contact information about the program/resource
  • The topic focus of the program/resource
  • The ages served by the program/resource
  • Educational goals that the program/resource addresses
  • Targeted ages for the program/resource
  • Operation details about the program/resource, including times, location, costs

We are seeking a partner to repurpose an existing tool that would be able to scale across the entire STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice.

The ideal tool will collect information pertaining to:

• The name of the program/resource
• Contact information about the program/resource
• The topic focus of the program/resource
• The ages served by the program/resource
• Educational goals that the program/resource addresses
• Targeted ages for the program/resource
• Operation details about the program/resource, including times, location, costs

Please submit letters of interest with a description of your available tools to info@stemecosystems.org by April 29, 2019. Please offer a brief statement of no more than a few pages outlining what asset mapping tools you currently use or have developed, your organization’s capacity for customizing the existing tool, and any appropriate links that might show your organization’s work.