A Research-Based Foundation for Change Initiatives Using Instructional Development Teams

Andrea Beach, Professor, Western Michigan University, andrea.beach@wmich.edu

Abstract

Many recent grant-funded instructional improvement projects (e.g., AAU's STEM initiative, NSF WIDER and IUSE, HHMI Undergraduate STEM program) are moving away from change strategies focused on individuals and towards strategies focused on the department and institution levels. They are engaging teams of faculty, graduate students, and post-graduate researchers to collaboratively redesign content and instructional approaches in STEM undergraduate courses. If these team-based approaches will be prominent among the change strategies of future initiatives, the STEM education community needs a better understanding of how they best work for particular goals and outcomes, what kind of leadership and facilitation is necessary keep them vital and on-task, and what kinds of relationships, communication, and collaborative work are necessary for them to reach their goals. This poster presents the initial work of an NSF-funded project aimed at identifying and categorizing the current team-based approaches and connecting their practices with organizational and change theory.

Poster

cricpe_iuse_poster_ascn-smti ( 466kB Jun13 17)

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