Diffusion of research-based instructional strategies: the case of SCALE-UP

Abstract

Background: Many innovative teaching strategies have been developed under the assumption that documenting successful student learning outcomes at the development site is enough to spread the innovation successfully to secondary sites. Since this 'show them and they will adopt' model has yet to produce the desired large-scale transformation, this study examines one innovative teaching strategy that has demonstrated success in spreading. This instructional strategy, Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP), modifies both the pedagogy and classroom design to maximize interaction and activity-based learning. A web survey was used to develop a census of instructors who have been influenced by SCALE-UP. Results: SCALE-UP, which started in large enrollment university physics, has spread widely across disciplines and institutions. The survey identified that SCALE-UP style instruction is currently used in over a dozen disciplines at a minimum of 314 departments in at least 189 higher education institutions in 21 countries. Many more respondents indicated learning about SCALE-UP via interpersonal channels, such as talks/workshops and colleagues, than via mass media channels, such as the Internet and publications. We estimate the dissemination of SCALE-UP in physics may be at the tipping point between adoption by adventurous early users and the more mainstream majority. Implementers demonstrate pedagogical and structural variation in their use of SCALE-UP. Conclusions: Leveraging interpersonal networks can help accelerate dissemination of educational innovations and should be used more prominently in change strategies. Since SCALE-UP may be nearing a tipping point within the discipline of physics, now may be the time to modify change strategies to appeal to more typical faculty rather than the early adopters. This may include using successful secondary implementers as like-minded intermediaries to reach out to people considering the use of the innovation in different institutional settings for more practical and relatable advice. For SCALE-UP, having a specialized classroom may improve the likelihood of continued use at an institution. We also hypothesize that having a special classroom may start departmental conversations about innovative teaching and may make instructors less likely to revert back to traditional methods.

Content-specific differences in Padlet perception for collaborative learning amongst undergraduate students

“…Notably, active learning can create distractions and therefore, good classroom management is needed when practicing active learning in classrooms. Approaches such as SCALE UP (Foote et al, 2014) may be of use, particularly, the notion of focusing student attention on one active learning approach at a time. This could work in a blended learning approach.…”

Diffusion of research-based instructional strategies: the case of SCALE-UP

“…Thus, instead of analyzing the diffusion of ideas among individuals, we chose to look at the spread of ideas among departments and elect to use that grain size for the majority our study. This choice is supported by other research on innovations in organizations (Katz 1962;Nutley et al 2002;Lewin 1947;Wildemuth 1992;Zaltman et al 1973) but can introduce complicating factors since the strength of evidence on whether adoption will lead to improved effectiveness does not seem to be the main factor influencing adoption decisions (Stocking 1985;Westphal et al 1997) but instead depend more on current fads and fashions, especially during times of high uncertainty (DiMaggio and Powell 1983).…”

Editorial: Active Learning: Theoretical Perspectives, Empirical Studies, and Design Profiles

“…New areas of research have been spawned by innovative learning technologies and the learning environments that support active learning, for instance, technology-rich classrooms such as SCALE-UP (Foote et al, 2014) and TEAL (Belcher, 2003). Among practitioners, there is a surge of interest in approaches such as the "flipped classroom" where students engage in the "lecture-like" activity at home, watching videos and reading texts, while they enact more active forms of problem solving, small group work, tutorial and recitation during class time (Bens, 2005;Lasry et al, 2014).…”