Seeing the Paths to Change: Evaluating Vision & Change in Undergraduate Biology Education Using a Pathway Modeling Approach

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The field of biology has seen dramatic advances in the past two decades, both in its research findings and research methodology. Vision and Change (V&C) in undergraduate biology education began nearly fifteen years ago with conversations in the biological sciences community about how those advances challenge the nature of what students ought to learn in their undergraduate programs of study. This project aims to serve the national interest by undertaking a holistic evaluation of the Vision and Change “movement” to better demonstrate how it has contributed (and continues to contribute) to improving undergraduate biology education. The project will provide an organizing structure by identifying short-, mid-, and long-term V&C outcomes and connecting them in a way that affords stakeholders a useful and helpful way to “see” the successes, opportunities, and future trajectory of V&C. The project will develop a visual and easy-to-understand theoretical framework known as a Pathway Model of V&C. The V&C Pathway Model is a visualization that will be developed through the systematic integration of the literature on V&C as well as key stakeholder perspectives on what V&C is and how it works. The project will enable the V&C community to develop a stronger understanding of what their impact has been on undergraduate biology and what they should turn their attention to in upcoming years to maximize the impact.The project aims to develop a theoretical framework that will: a) organize and articulate the wide variety of V&C activities and outcomes; b) consolidate the current body of knowledge about the nature and extent of V&C's use and impact; and c) structure future directions for V&C evaluation at both the local and national levels. The model will strive to 1) identify and address critical assumptions underlying implementation of V&C; b) optimize plans for implementing V&C at all levels; c) enable local implementers to strategically focus their evaluation efforts; and d) provide national-level investigators with an organizing guide for their research. Once the initial theoretical model is developed, the content of the model will be validated through the contributions of three V&C stakeholder cohorts via online focus group sessions. These include early V&C organizers, current V&C implementers, and organization- and system-level change-makers. The project will develop a five-year plan for expanding adoption of the V&C framework. The five-year plan will be distributed alongside the pathway model as a credible tool for planning, decision-making, and evaluation. Subsequently, the pathway model will be used in a series of webinars as a training and brainstorming tool to inform a wider range of stakeholders on the V&C principles and outcomes. Through focused dissemination efforts this project has the potential to enrich the national conversation around V&C. This project is funded by the Division of Undergraduate Education’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program through its Program Description 21-7412 that calls for projects that study the impact of the V&C movement in Undergraduate Biology Education.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.