Strand Committees and Course Coordination: Complementary Structures to Drive Evidence-Based Improvements

Abstract

ABSTRACT We leverage course coordination and a department-level curricular committee structure, called Strand Committees, to drive evidence-based departmental changes in the Calculus pathway. The Strand Committees and the course coordinators serve in complementary roles to improve the Calculus pathway and to support teaching faculty through policy and pedagogical changes in a way that enhances the department's culture. Using an established survey that assesses climate and culture together with faculty survey data from 2018, 2022, and 2023, we show that during the department's movement into better alignment with widely accepted characteristics of successful Calculus programs, and despite various disruptions, faculty sentiment related to professional support, collegiality, and responsibility for student learning has significantly improved.