Abstract
BackgroundEfforts to achieve improved student outcomes in STEM are critically reliant on the success of reform efforts associated with teaching and learning. Reform efforts include the transformation of course-based practices, community values, and the institutional policies and structures associated with teaching and learning in higher education. Enacting change is a complex process that can be guided by change theories that describe how and why a desired change takes place. We analyzed the utility of a theory-based change model applied in a higher education setting. Our results provide guidance for change efforts at other institutions.ResultsUse of the CACAO model to guide the transformation of STEM instruction at a large public university resulted in changes to faculty teaching practices and department culture consistent with the vision defined for the project. Such changes varied across STEM departments in accordance with the emergent nature of project activities at the department level. Our application of the CACAO model demonstrates the importance of (1) creating a vision statement (statement of desired change or end-state); (2) attending to different levels of the organization (e.g., individuals, departments, and colleges); (3) working with change agents who are situated to be effective at different organizational levels; and (4) employing strategies to meet the needs and interests of faculty at different stages of adoption with respect to the desired change.ConclusionOur work, which demonstrates the utility of the CACAO model for change and captures its key elements in a matrix, provides a potential foundation for others considering how to frame and study change efforts. It reinforces the value of using change theories to inform change efforts and creates a structure that others can build on and modify, either by applying our CACAO matrix in their own setting or by using the matrix to identify elements that connect to other change theories. We contribute to the growing body of literature which seeks to understand how change theories can be useful and generalizable beyond a single project.
Highlights
Education reform in the STEM disciplines is necessary both to improve student learning and to achieve equitable outcomes for students (Committee on STEM Education, 2018; Harris et al, 2020; Kober, 2015; Seymour & Hunter, 2019)
Once all of the reported activities were identified, the researchers used the following questions to identify which components of the CACAO model were being enacted: 1) What stages of faculty adoption were supported by the activity? 2) Who were the project change agents carrying out the activity? 3) What level of the organization was impacted by the activity? We used the intersections of these three questions to develop a representation of the strategies framed by the CACAO model
The change agents and components of the organization are represented as columns, and adopters are represented as rows according to the stages of adoption
Summary
Education reform in the STEM disciplines is necessary both to improve student learning and to achieve equitable outcomes for students (Committee on STEM Education, 2018; Harris et al, 2020; Kober, 2015; Seymour & Hunter, 2019). With few examples of wide-spread departmental or institutional adoption of EBIPs to draw upon, practical, operational models of change are needed to guide large-scale reform efforts (Austin, 2011; Owens et al, 2018; Reinholz & Apkarian, 2018). We share our experience with a theory-based model to support institutional changes to the teaching and learning environment on our campus. This manuscript addresses the need to demonstrate the use of “a theory as a lens or guide that directly informs specific components” of STEM education reform efforts Reform efforts include the transformation -based practices, community values, and the institutional policies and structures associated with teaching and learning in higher education. Our results provide guidance for change efforts at other institutions
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