• Open Access

Designing for institutional transformation: Six principles for department-level interventions

Gina M. Quan, Joel C. Corbo, Noah D. Finkelstein, Alanna Pawlak, Karen Falkenberg, Christopher Geanious, Courtney Ngai, Clara Smith, Sarah Wise, Mary E. Pilgrim, and Daniel L. Reinholz
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15, 010141 – Published 13 June 2019

Abstract

Cultivating institutional transformation has been of recent interest in education research. This theoretical paper presents six principles for supporting sustained change efforts at the department level. Considering change efforts at the level of “principles” is valuable because principles are grounded in theoretical and empirical knowledge, but are abstract enough to be adapted to many contexts. For each principle we argue for its value, drawing on previous literature in higher education, organizational change, discipline-based education research, and design thinking. We then give illustrative examples of how each principle was embodied within the Departmental Action Team (DAT) project. The DAT project facilitates the implementation of effective changes within university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics departments. We conclude with a discussion of how these principles can be applicable across a variety of institutional transformation efforts.

  • Figure
  • Received 28 November 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.010141

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Professional Topics
Physics Education Research

Authors & Affiliations

Gina M. Quan*

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, San José State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, California 95192-0106, USA

Joel C. Corbo, Noah D. Finkelstein, and Alanna Pawlak

  • Center for STEM Learning, University of Colorado Boulder, 393 UCB Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

Karen Falkenberg, Christopher Geanious, and Courtney Ngai

  • The Institute for Learning and Teaching, Colorado State University, 701 Oval Drive, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521, USA

Clara Smith and Sarah Wise

  • Academic Technology Design Team, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

Mary E. Pilgrim and Daniel L. Reinholz

  • Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, California 92182, USA

  • *gina.m.quan@gmail.com

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Issue

Vol. 15, Iss. 1 — January - June 2019

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