Change at the Core: A Collaborative Model for Undergraduate STEM Education Reform

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Change at the Core (C-Core) is a multi-disciplinary, inter-institutional project that is transforming undergraduate STEM education at Western Washington University (WWU), Whatcom Community College (WCC), and Skagit Valley College (SVC). C-Core is improving student engagement, learning, and success in STEM by creating a critical mass of STEM faculty at each institution and in each STEM department who understand and regularly use evidence-based teaching and learning practices. Participants include faculty members, department chairs, deans, and teaching assistants, who are becoming agents of change.To achieve project goals, participants and project staff are creating a shared vision and model for transforming undergraduate STEM education. This model includes Summer Institutes on evidence-based practices, followed by professional learning communities (PLCs) to support implementation over the academic year. Institutes and PLCs are also focusing on implementation of strategies to promote underrepresented minority (URM) students' success in STEM. Assessment for Learning (AL) is C-Core's overarching framework, supported by student-centered strategies such as peer-learning, flipped classrooms, and authentic research experiences. C-Core is generating new knowledge about organizational change at both two- and four-year institutions including alignment of institutional and departmental policies and practices to support student-centered learning, use of PLCs and change agents to create a critical mass of faculty using evidence-based practices, promotion of positive and lasting changes in faculty practices and beliefs, and improvement of URM student success and interest in STEM courses, majors, and careers. Rigorous evaluation and dissemination plans are enabling C-Core to become an adaptive model for institutional reform involving two- and four-year institutions.To increase participation, retention and success of URM students in STEM, C-Core is partnering with high school-to-college bridge programs to recruit more URM students into STEM majors and leverage research opportunities, tutoring, and student clubs to promote academic success. Additionally, faculty are being trained to address issues of isolation, culture, and identity as ways to support URM student success in STEM. To disseminate the C-Core model regionally and nationally, WWU, WCC, and SVC are working directly with other institutions, collaborating with disciplinary-based organizations and networks such as Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), the Science Education Resource Center (SERC), and Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE), conducting workshops at professional society meetings, and developing a Change at the Core Webinar series.