RCN-UBE: Northwest PULSE-A Community of Practice for Departmental Transformation Using Vision and Change

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An award has been made to Washington State University to fund an RCN-UBE network to promote the mission of the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Science Education (PULSE). PULSE seeks to stimulate life science departments to undertake the type of transformative changes recommended by Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action (AAAS, 2011). Fellows from two-year colleges, liberal arts colleges, comprehensive universities and research universities were selected as PULSE Leadership Fellows, and they worked during the 2012-13 year to develop approaches to help departments implement recommendations made in the Vision and Change report. Such improvements in how biology is taught at all types of undergraduate institutions are expected to lead to increases in: 1) student learning of core concepts in the life sciences, 2) retention rates for students in the life sciences, and 3) preparation for all students to be more curious and scientifically literate citizens. Although individual faculty members have been very active in instituting reforms in their classrooms, departmental and institutional transformation has been more difficult. This proposal will address this challenge by creating a network of institutions in geographical proximity so they can support and advise one another as each moves to implement departmental change. Tools and resources have been developed by the PULSE Leadership Fellows that will be field-tested by the different types of participating institutions in the Northwest. For example, rubrics for departmental self-assessment and visits by trained Ambassadors will be provided to assist departments in adopting reforms in how life science courses are taught. During each year of this award, fifteen participating institutions from across the spectrum of Institutions of Higher Education will identify teams of faculty, administrators, and students to participate in on-line training sessions, in-person workshops, and follow up activities, including a regional symposium for biology instructors. The NW PULSE efforts target change at the department level and a key aspect is training in a systems-thinking approach. This enables institutional teams to recognize their department as a system whose behavior they can influence and helps them to understand and identify leverage points, thus empowering them to act as change agents at their home institutions. It is hoped that this Community of Practice will increase awareness of the recommendations made in the Vision and Change report, accelerate the pace of adopting those recommendations by different departments, and lead to a better understanding of how change happens on diverse campuses. Results from the network's activities will be shared with the life sciences community, primarily via the www.pulsecommunity.org website and by continued partnerships with other groups advocating for change in life science education in the Northwest.This project is funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Directorate of Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education in support of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/