Bridging research and practice: How the EP3 Initiative supports faculty uptake of departmental change strategies

There is abundant evidence of practices that support strong undergraduate programs, such as shared leadership and using data to guide programmatic changes. Yet in many physics and other STEM departments, motivating uptake of these strategies can be difficult due to factors such as time constraints and cultural assumptions of the disciplinary community. The Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) initiative responds to these challenges.

EP3 is led by two professional societies that are trusted among physicists; the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). The EP3 Guide was created by gathering knowledge from both research and practitioners within physics and education. It serves as a resource for stakeholders who wish to transform their programs by bringing together effective practices across a wide range of departmental facets; such as, student mentoring, course design, and departmental leadership.

The Departmental Action Leadership Institute (DALI) was created as the initial community engagement arm of the EP3 initiative. DALI is an intensive, year-long, professional learning community led by expert facilitators that supports physics faculty in apprenticing into effective change strategies, and adapting practices—including those outlined in the EP3 Guide—to match their local contexts. During this year, DALI participants engage with a local team of departmental stakeholders to work on a change effort that is specific to their program's concerns.

Research on DALI has found that faculty participants value learning skills around facilitating teams and designing purposeful approaches to change. This learning is supported by the consistent, high-touch, approach of DALI. This presentation will focus on three primary leadership practices that faculty members brought into their local teams: shared vision for success, purposeful use of data for decision making, and partnerships with students.

Join us to learn about EP3 and discuss ways to enable uptake of effective change practices.