Leveraging a research network to empower institutional change in undergraduate STEM education

This symposium shares the journey of an NSF-funded Research Coordination Network in uniting a group of instructors, education researchers, psychologists, and students to empower institutional change. FLAMEnet – Factors influencing Learning, Attitudes, and Mindsets in Education – was established in 2018 to explore undergraduate STEM students' orientations towards challenges. Initially, we aimed to involve instructors from multiple institution types and settings in a) developing classroom interventions, b) conducting large-scale research to assess the efficacy of those interventions, and c) disseminating said interventions within their departmental and institutional contexts. These initiatives were based on a theoretical model developed by network leadership from existing literature on intrapersonal factors (e.g., growth mindset, fear of failure) of interest

Conversations with network members during COVID lockdown elicited dual frustrations: a) roadblocks disseminating information and materials (e.g., lack of buy-in) and b) desires for the network to be more flexible in terms of individual needs and goals. That is, FLAMEnet members wished to explore empirical testing of alternative theoretical constructs (e.g., student belonging, instructor trust) as possible influences on students' outcomes within their specific educational context(s). Members also sought specific advice for identifying and navigating challenges related to their change initiatives.

In response, the network's steering team recognized a unifying drive to change departmental processes. To address member needs, the network pivoted to utilizing network resources to support member-proposed research projects and scaffold change-related initiatives inspired by specific educational contexts of our institutional teams. For example, our most recent annual workshop was centered around evidence-based approaches to change processes.

In this symposium, in addition to summarizing this history of FLAMEnet, we will provide information and prompt discussion on the usefulness of FLAMEnet's core constructs to drive change in undergraduate education and the potential of research-focused networks to empower members to become effective change leaders.