Predictors of Dissemination Success of STEM Learning Innovations: An Empirical Investigation

二十多年来，美国国家科学基金会和其他联邦机构支持了许多改善STEM教育的项目。然而，传播这些项目进展的努力（即其他STEM教师在课堂和实验室中使用这些项目的程度）的成功尚未得到仔细研究。因此，一个基于证据的、全面的导致传播成功的因素清单并不存在。没有这样的清单，教育工作者和研究人员在理解如何最好地设计教学创新以获得最大效果方面受到阻碍。本研究旨在通过实证来确定哪些因素是传播STEM学习创新成功的最重要因素，从而填补这一空白。在2011年TUES PI会议上进行的一项试点研究确定了几个重要因素，这些知识已被用于开始向开发人员、实现者、管理员和资助者提出建议。然而，试点研究的范围有限。本研究以以下研究问题为指导，重点关注前两个问题：1。在已发表的关于创新扩散（或传播）的文献中描述的因素如何影响STEM教育改进传播的成功？STEM领域传播成功的预测因素如何因创新类型而异？（可能的创新类型包括教学材料、教学策略、发展教师专业知识和课程开发。）3. 对于特定类型的STEM教育改进，传播成功的预测因素是否因学科（科学、技术、工程和数学）而异？对于特定类型的STEM教育改进，传播成功的预测因素是否因所涉及的目标利益相关者群体而异？可能的利益相关者包括教职员工、材料开发者、学生、出版商和资助提供者。干系人的意识水平如何影响采纳的意图？为了严格检验这些研究问题，在技术接受模型（TAM）的基础上，开发了一个研究模型，TAM是信息系统学科中广泛使用的理论范式。该模型中的变量使用混合方法进行测试，采用三种互补的方法：(1)对已发表结果的内容分析用于研究当前已发表的工作，以确定可能的其他因素；(2)采用德尔菲法对已知（或怀疑）影响扩散的因素的感知重要性进行评级，并确定其他因素；(3)正在开发和实施一种调查方法，其中包括一项详细的测量研究，为每个独立因素和两个结果因素制定心理测量学上合理的测量方法。调查问卷旨在分发给选定STEM学科的利益相关者样本。计划使用调查结果的综合来完善研究模型。

NSF and other federal agencies have supported numerous projects to improve STEM education for more than two decades. However, the success of efforts to disseminate the advances developed in these projects (i.e. the extent they are being used by other STEM faculty members in their classrooms and laboratories) has not been carefully researched. Thus, an evidence-based, comprehensive listing of the factors that lead to dissemination success does not exist. Without such a listing, educators and researchers are hampered in understanding how to best design pedagogical innovations for maximum effectiveness. This research aims to fill this void by empirically determining which factors are the most important in success of efforts to disseminate STEM learning innovations. A pilot study conducted at the 2011 TUES PI conference identified several important factors and this knowledge has been used to begin making recommendations to developers, implementers, administrators, and funders. However, the pilot study was limited in scope. This study is being guided by the following research questions, with an emphasis on the first two:1. How do the factors described in the published literature on the diffusion (or propagation) of innovation affect the success of dissemination of STEM education improvements?2. How do the predictors of dissemination success in the STEM areas vary by the type of innovation? (Possible types of innovation are instructional materials, instructional strategies, developing faculty expertise, and curriculum development.) 3. Do the predictors of dissemination success for a given type of STEM education improvement differ by academic discipline (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)?4. Do the predictors of dissemination success for a given type of STEM education improvement differ by the target stakeholder group involved? Possible stakeholders include faculty members, material developers, students, publishers, and grant providers.5. How does the level of awareness of the stakeholder affect the intention to adopt?In order to rigorously examine these research questions, a research model based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a widely-used, theoretical paradigm in the discipline of information systems, was developed. The variables in this model are being tested using a mixed methods approach utilizing three complementary methodologies: (1) Content analysis of published results is being used to study current published work in order to identify possible additional factors, (2) Delphi methods are being employed to rate the perceived importance of the factors known (or suspected) to influence diffusion, and to identify additional factors, and (3) a survey methodology is being developed and administered that includes a detailed measurement study to develop psychometrically sound measures for each of the independent factors and the two outcome factors. The survey questionnaire is designed for distribution to a sample of stakeholders in the selected STEM disciplines. It is planned to use a synthesis of the survey results to refine the research model.