Bridging the Research‐to‐Practice Gap: Designing an Institutional Change Plan Using Local Evidence

Abstract

Background Ample research provides evidence about the influence of effective teaching practices on student success. Yet the adoption of such practices has been slow at many institutions. Efforts to bridge the gap between research and practice are needed.Purpose We describe an institutional change plan we developed to bridge this research-topractice gap. Our plan is grounded in research and theories about faculty motivation and organizational change, and we designed it using local evidence from the University of Michigan College of Engineering.Design/Method We collected local data from three sources to provide context for our institutional change plan. First, faculty focus groups allowed us to determine factors that influence faculty adoption of effective teaching practices. Second, classroom observations allowed us to ascertain current teaching practices. Third, a student survey allowed us to identify teaching practices perceived by students to enhance their success. We used this local evidence with a "who/what/how" decision-making process to design our change plan. ResultsOur institutional change plan for accelerating the adoption of effective teaching practices comprises a faculty action plan and an administrative change plan. Although still evolving, there is evidence of the success of both parts.Conclusions Local evidence is critical in our change plan. Change agents wishing to bridge the research-to-practice gap at their own institutions can design a plan that adapts our process and integrates relevant research and theory with their own local data.

Understanding How a Culture of Collaboration Develops Among STEM Faculty

“…Few engineering education studies explicitly connect research based instructional practices directly to practitioners with the exception of cooperative learning literature 5,6 and the 141 conference papers published with the American Society of Engineering Education since 2010. Recently, engineering educators at the University of Michigan developed an institutional change model or plan to bridge the research-to-practice gap 7 . The authors emphasized minimizing faculty effort by developing easy to implement active learning techniques to allow faculty to take incremental steps throughout the initial implementation and maintained adoption 7 .…”

“…Recently, engineering educators at the University of Michigan developed an institutional change model or plan to bridge the research-to-practice gap 7 . The authors emphasized minimizing faculty effort by developing easy to implement active learning techniques to allow faculty to take incremental steps throughout the initial implementation and maintained adoption 7 . Furthermore, building a learning community structurally supported faculty in STEM sharing information, resources, and responsibility to collectively develop solutions 7 .…”

“…The authors emphasized minimizing faculty effort by developing easy to implement active learning techniques to allow faculty to take incremental steps throughout the initial implementation and maintained adoption 7 . Furthermore, building a learning community structurally supported faculty in STEM sharing information, resources, and responsibility to collectively develop solutions 7 . Although Finelli et al (2014) connected the study results to the local college of engineering culture, we argue that building a community among STEM faculty is a necessary step in implementing RBIS's and could lead to the development of instructional innovation.…”

“…Furthermore, building a learning community structurally supported faculty in STEM sharing information, resources, and responsibility to collectively develop solutions 7 . Although Finelli et al (2014) connected the study results to the local college of engineering culture, we argue that building a community among STEM faculty is a necessary step in implementing RBIS's and could lead to the development of instructional innovation.…”

Development and Application of the Sustainability Skills and Dispositions Scale to the Wicked Problems in Sustainability Initiative

“…Participating within a supportive community has been indicated by faculty as key for venturing into the space of novel pedagogical strategies. 25 Through their reflections, the WPSI instructors (and authors) indicated this community was helpful for sharing ideas and content, and the staged pedagogical framework allowed them to focus their effort on course content and student feedback as opposed to instructional design. Nonetheless, as with any course offering, the implementation of the WPSI framework to a specific course ought to improve with practice.…”