Changing the Culture: Developing a Guide of Effective Practices to Improve, Assess, and Review Undergraduate Physics Programs

近年来，高等教育越来越重视问责制。作为回应，学院和大学认证机构越来越强调需要基于既定的学习目标和强大的评估过程的绩效衡量。大多数物理系每五到七年进行一次项目审查。为了支持这样的评论，这个项目将创建一个指南，评估，审查和改进本科物理课程。该指南将帮助物理教师更有效地利用：（1）记录有效的做法，以改善他们的部门和计划，符合当地的情况下，使命，和资源;（2）外部强加的要求程序审查和认证作为一个机会，制定一个战略，以改善教育实践。该指南将收集相关文献和有效做法，并由专家对这些信息进行提炼。 这些信息将是有价值的教师谁希望设计或改进程序组件。 它还将帮助各部门为认证做好准备，并促进更广泛地使用以证据为基础的教育实践。随着时间的推移，人们期望这本指南将积极影响大多数，如果不是所有的学院和大学的物理系在美国。 因此，它有可能为促进其他STEM学科的项目改进提供一个模式。该项目是两个专业协会的合作：美国物理学会和美国物理教师协会。 调查人员在宾夕法尼亚州米勒斯维尔大学、俄勒冈州州立大学、马里兰州大学公园分校和科罗拉多大学博尔德分校。项目团队将为项目评估、审查和改进创建一个指南，该指南应简洁，并提供实用的建议，而无需假设事先具备专业知识。指南将确认以下原则：有效做法取决于目标和当地情况;有效做法基于现有最佳信息;用户的目标和问题驱动结构和内容;指南内容是描述性的，而不是禁止性的。 指南制定后，该项目将举办研讨会、在线学习社区和其他活动，以吸引和支持项目负责人和评审人员使用指南。 该项目将制定和实施一项可持续发展计划，以确保该指南定期更新，并继续支持方案采用其原则。 最后，该项目将开展并发表研究，探讨该指南和相关支持机制对物理课程文化和实践的影响。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In recent years there has been a growing emphasis on accountability in higher education. In response, college and university accrediting agencies have increasingly emphasized the need for performance measurements that are based on established learning goals and robust assessment processes. Most physics departments engage in a program review every five to seven years. To support such reviews, this project will create a guide for assessment, review, and improvement of undergraduate physics programs. The guide will aid physics faculty in more effectively using: (1) documented effective practices to improve their departments and programs, aligned to their local context, mission, and resources; and (2) externally imposed requirements for programmatic review and accreditation as an opportunity to develop a strategy for improving educational practice. The guide will collect relevant literature and effective practices, and that information will be distilled by experts. This information will be valuable for faculty who wish to design or improve program components. It will also help departments prepare for accreditation and promote the wider use of evidence-based educational practices. Over time, the expectation is that this guide will positively affect most, if not all college and university physics department in the United States. Thus, it has the potential to provide a model for promoting program improvements in other STEM disciplines.The project is a collaboration of two professional societies: the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers. The investigators are at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Oregon State University, the University of Maryland at College Park, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. The project team will create a guide for program assessment, review, and improvement that is compact and that offers practical advice without assuming prior expert knowledge. The guide will recognize the following principles: effective practices depend on the goal and local context; effective practices are based on the best available information; users' goals and problems drive the structure and content; guide content is descriptive, not proscriptive. After the guide is developed, the project will host workshops, online learning communities, and other activities to engage and support program leaders and reviewers in using the guide. The project will develop and implement a sustainability plan to ensure that the guide is regularly updated, and that programs continue to be supported in adopting its principles. Finally, the project will conduct and publish research studies that explore the impact of the guide and associated support mechanisms on culture and practice in physics programs. In this way, the project can contribute to understanding how to promote institutional changes that improve undergraduate 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.