Collaborative Research: Deep Roots: Wide-Spread Implementation of Community-Driven Evidence-Based Pedagogy

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This multi-university institutional transformation project, led by the University of Kansas, will both implement and study a model to improve STEM education within seven universities. The ultimate goal is to propagate widespread adoption of evidence-based instructional methods in order to improve undergraduate STEM learning and educational outcomes for both STEM and non-STEM students. Five American institutions funded by this grant, as well as two unfunded Canadian institutions, will test local adaptations of the model on their own campuses. The model is derived from research on institutional change and quality improvement, and builds on an extensive successful initiative (known as the Science Education Initiative, SEI) at two of the partner institutions the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of British Columbia. The core approach is to support "embedded expertise" in STEM departments to catalyze course transformation and build intellectual communities within and across institutions, in order to share in the development of course reform. The other participating institutions are the University of Texas at San Antonio, Indiana University, the University of California, Davis, and Queens University in Canada. The model of transformation involves embedding STEM education experts (specially prepared postdoctoral scholars or faculty leaders) in departments. These experts will collaborate with department faculty to guide and support the implementation of research-based educational practices in STEM courses. This extension of the SEI model supports change with a smaller infusion of resources by developing communities of scholars around course transformation across departments and institutions. These communities broaden the impact of the embedded experts by expanding support and opportunities for reflective practice for faculty, contributing to the development of a shared vision, and encouraging a critical mass of faculty engagement within departments needed to produce meaningful changes in the teaching environment. Seven research universities that have been actively collaborating through the Bay View Alliance will each implement and evaluate variations of this model on their own campuses. The network serves two functions: 1) to build a community for intellectual exchange and collaboration on evidence-based teaching as a key component of the intervention itself, and 2) to permit a test of whether the intervention model can be localized to different institutional contexts to yield widespread STEM reform. A combination of quantitative and case study evaluation methods are planned to identify the various dimensions and conditions that signal initial readiness, successful approaches, and sustainable outcomes in participating institutions.