Transforming Undergraduate Education From the Middle Out With Departmental Action Teams

Reinholz, Daniel L.; Pilgrim, Mary E.; Corbo, Joel C.; Finkelstein, Noah D.

doi:10.1080/00091383.2019.1652078

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…One of the levels recently targeted in the literature for its potential to promote and sustain instructional transformation is the academic department (AACU, 2014;Austin, 2011;Corbo et al, 2016;Musante, 2013;Reinholz & Apkarian, 2018;Reinholz et al, 2017;Shadle et al, 2017;Wieman, 2017;Wieman et al, 2010). The current approach is to enhance instructional change by developing a departmental culture that embraces and encourages evidence-based teaching practices (Quan et al, 2019;Reinholz et al, 2019aReinholz et al, , 2019b. This culture-oriented approach is based on individuals' behaviors and relationships between individuals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context and content of teaching conversations: exploring how to promote sharing of innovative teaching knowledge between science faculty

et al. 2022

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Background Change strategies may leverage interpersonal relationships and conversations to spread teaching innovations among science faculty. Knowledge sharing refers to the process by which individuals transfer information and thereby spread innovative ideas within an organization. We use knowledge sharing as a lens for identifying factors that encourage productive teaching-related conversations between individuals, characterizing the context and content of these discussions, and understanding how peer interactions may shape instructional practices. In this study, we interview 19 science faculty using innovative teaching practices about the teaching-focused conversations they have with different discussion partners. Results This qualitative study describes characteristics of the relationship between discussion partners, what they discuss with respect to teaching, the amount of help-seeking that occurs, and the perceived impacts of these conversations on their teaching. We highlight the role of office location and course overlap in bringing faculty together and characterize the range of topics they discuss, such as course delivery and teaching strategies. We note the tendency of faculty to seek out partners with relevant expertise and describe how faculty perceive their discussion partners to influence their instructional practices and personal affect. Finally, we elaborate on how these themes vary depending on the relationship between discussion partners. Conclusions The knowledge sharing framework provides a useful lens for investigating how various factors affect faculty conversations around teaching. Building on this framework, our results lead us to propose two hypotheses for how to promote sharing teaching knowledge among faculty, thereby identifying productive directions for further systematic inquiry. In particular, we propose that productive teaching conversations might be cultivated by fostering collaborative teaching partnerships and developing departmental structures to facilitate sharing of teaching expertise. We further suggest that social network theories and other examinations of faculty behavior can be useful approaches for researching the mechanisms that drive teaching reform.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context and content of teaching conversations: exploring how to promote sharing of innovative teaching knowledge between science faculty

et al. 2022

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“…Such local mission statements can and should be independently developed by the people expected to live by them to ensure relevance and buy-in. This has been the starting point for successful organisational change in several science departments in the US, as pioneered by Joel Corbo and colleagues in their work on Departmental Action Teams (DATs) at the University of Colorado Boulder (Corbo et al, 2016;Reinholz, Pilgrim, Corbo, & Finkelstein, 2019).…”

Section: The Case For Local Mission Statementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On a Mission: The Case for Sustainability and Embedding Values in a Changing Higher Education Landscape

Lindstrøm

Spagnoli

Pye

et al. 2022

IJISME

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Change in higher education creates many risks to the sustainability of teaching practices. In this paper, we review some perspectives and resources on change in higher education and examine strategies for educators to participate in sustainable change. Central to this is the role of local mission statements, formulated to consciously reflect common values and purpose within a team of colleagues, and used to guide decision making, particularly in times of change. This discussion considers changes in teaching practice, such as those required for active learning, informed by principles concerning general organisational change, and specific qualities of contemporary higher education in the sciences.

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“…Research on persuasion shows that the influence of evidence on beliefs is situational (i.e., under some circumstances, individuals are more likely to be convinced by evidence rather than other factors), suggesting that the value attributed to empirical evidence may reasonably differ by discipline (Petty et al, 1981;Petty and Cacioppo, 1986). Another unique factor of mathematics departments is their emphasis on "problem solving," which may make them less likely to engage with change processes focused on generating shared visions for an outcome to be achieved, in contrast with the more typical view of finding problems and making sure they are addressed (Reinholz et al, 2019c). These differences indicate that it may be useful for change agents to determine what would serve as necessary and sufficient evidence to encourage instructors in a department to change their instructional practices.…”

Section: Empirical and Theoretical Considerations (Symbols)mentioning

confidence: 99%

STEM Is Not a Monolith: A Preliminary Analysis of Variations in STEM Disciplinary Cultures and Implications for Change

Reinholz

Matz

Cole

et al. 2019

LSE

Self Cite

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Research suggests that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments are a productive unit of focus for systemic change efforts. In particular, they are relatively coherent units of culture, and cultural changes are critical to creating sustainable improvements. However, the STEM disciplines are often treated as a monolith in change literature, and unique aspects of these different disciplinary cultures—and consequences for change efforts—remain somewhat underdeveloped. This exploratory study focuses on similarities and differences among STEM disciplinary cultures, drawing on data gathered from scholars in discipline-based education research who attended two sessions at the 2017 Transforming Research in Undergraduate STEM Education conference. Our analyses of these data help begin to characterize disciplinary cultures using the theoretical lens of four frames: structures, symbols, power, and people. We find preliminary evidence for both similarities and differences among the cultures of STEM disciplines. Implications for change efforts and future directions for research are discussed.

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Transforming Undergraduate Education From the Middle Out With Departmental Action Teams

Cited by 11 publications

References 8 publications

Context and content of teaching conversations: exploring how to promote sharing of innovative teaching knowledge between science faculty

Context and content of teaching conversations: exploring how to promote sharing of innovative teaching knowledge between science faculty

On a Mission: The Case for Sustainability and Embedding Values in a Changing Higher Education Landscape

STEM Is Not a Monolith: A Preliminary Analysis of Variations in STEM Disciplinary Cultures and Implications for Change

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