Rethinking Needs Assessment in Undergraduate STEM Education

The role of needs assessment in informed decisions involving programmatic changes in transforming undergraduate STEM education is explored in this presentation. Is a change made because there is a need for change or for the sake of change is an important question that should be addressed during the process of decision making in transforming STEM education programs in higher education. Decisions to change an existing program that is successful or to create new programs for the sake of change under external pressure and political trend are standard on college and university campuses. For example, STEM programs developed with good intentions, but based on fatal attraction to the availability of external funding seem to fall away without adequate institutional buy-in once the funding cycle ends. Likewise, changes to STEM programs implemented by administrative decisions and not based on curricular and program needs, tend to disappear when a new administration enters the scene. There is a loss of fiscal and human capital investments in both scenarios because a change to an existing STEM program was made without an adequate needs assessment. Unfortunately, students left by the wayside are the major casualty because of a poorly planned change on campus. How to avoid these situations to make lasting changes that are beneficial to students in STEM programs is a very important question. This question becomes more significant in minority-serving institutions where efforts to promote access, equity, and inclusion in STEM education are underway. In this context, it is worth exploring some salient principles and practical methods of needs assessment to facilitate stakeholders of STEM education to make informed decisions to transform undergraduate STEM programs by drawing input from the needs assessment literature. Also, implications for research and policy in transforming undergraduate STEM education will be discussed.