Making an Impact: Building Transportable and Sustainable Projects (formerly Dissemination) Webinar 4 of the Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Series Handout 1 1 Don Millard & John Yu April 17, 2012 Louis Everett & Susan Finger April 18, 2012

 Before you leave, please complete the assessment survey: 2

 Most of the information presented in this workshop represents the presenters’ opinions and not an official NSF position.  Local facilitators will provide the link to the workshop slides at the completion of the webinar.  Participants may ask questions by “raising their virtual hand” during a question session. We will call on selected sites and enable their microphone so that the question can be asked.  Responses will be collected from a few sites at the end of each Exercise. At the start of the Exercise, we will identify these sites in the Chat Box and then call on them one at a time to provide their responses. 3

 Learning must build on prior knowledge ◦ Some knowledge correct ◦ Some knowledge incorrect – Misconceptions  Learning is ◦ Connecting new knowledge to prior knowledge ◦ Correcting misconceptions  Learning requires engagement ◦ Actively recalling prior knowledge ◦ Sharing new knowledge ◦ Forming a new understanding 4

 Effective learning activities ◦ Recall prior knowledge -- actively, explicitly ◦ Connect new concepts to existing ones ◦ Challenge and alter misconceptions  Active & collaborative processes ◦ Think individually ◦ Share with partner ◦ Report to local and virtual groups ◦ Learn from program directors’ responses 5

 Coordinate the local activities  Watch the time ◦ Allow for think, share, and report phases ◦ Reconvene on time -- 1 min warning ◦ With one minute warning, refer to Chat Box to see if you will be asked for a response  Ensure the individual think phase is devoted to thinking quietly and not talking  Coordinate the asking of questions by local participants and reporting local responses to exercises 6

The session will enable you to design transportable and sustainable engineering and computer science education projects, based on an understanding of how faculty make decisions about their teaching. 7

After the session, participants should be able to:  Discuss the importance of project transportability ◦ Transfer or transmission model ◦ Readiness Change model ◦ Rational Faculty Model  Discuss key components of institutionalization at home institution ◦ Structural and cultural considerations  Discuss types of transportability and sustainability approaches ◦ Enabling, Facilitating, Encouraging, Collaborating ◦ Greater emphasis on designing for transportability than in the past 8

Reflect on a specific change you have made in your teaching (e.g., active learning, concept inventory, online modules, or any other changes) ◦ How did you first find out about it? ◦ What convinced you to try it? ◦ What aspects of the innovation (would have) made it easy to adopt? ◦ What support from others (would have) made it easy to implement?  Exercise min ◦ Think individually ~2 min ◦ Share with a partner ~2 min ◦ Report in local group ---- ~2 min  Watch time and reconvene after 6 min  Use THINK time to think – no discussion, Selected local facilitators report to virtual group  With one minute warning, look at Chat Box to see if you will be asked for a response 9

 Usually you have a specific problem to solve  You want to adapt or experiment with the change  It shouldn’t be too rigid or complicated  It should be compatible with your students, department, academic term, IT systems  You need different information at different times ◦ Evidence of student learning, assessment data ◦ Advice on how to implement ◦ Help processing “failures” and negative student reactions 10 Handout 2

 Reflect on your own experience to understand your audience and design a plan to ensure others will use your materials  What motivates you to change can ◦ Inspire the need for a project ◦ Inspire the project transportability and institutionalization ◦ Also inspires others to use your materials and approach 11

 Develop and disseminate model ◦ Transfer or transmission model  Developer (change agent) ◦ Creates instructional materials and strategies  Significant effort  Research-based ◦ Tries to convince other faculty to use them  Postings, presentations, publications  Short, one-time workshops 12

 Faculty may need more than one exposure to materials/ideas  Importance of local factors may be overlooked  Faculty are likely to need ongoing support when adopting materials of others 13

 Sequential change models ◦ Pre-awareness – Willing to read a one-pager ◦ Awareness – Willing to read longer summaries ◦ Interest – Willing to read journal or conference publication ◦ Search – Willing to attend a 2-4 hr workshop ◦ Decision – Willing to attend a 1-2 day workshop ◦ Action – Willing to implement ◦ Trial period ◦ Decision to continue or discard Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, 1995 Froyd, FIE,

 Faculty cannot be moved from Pre- awareness to Action with a single workshop  Change is not an event – it is a process Froyd, FIE,

 Matched to how faculty members actually change  Dancy and Henderson’s Rational Faculty Model ◦ Provide easily modifiable material  Users will customize ◦ Provide research ideas with material  Users understand the rationale  If not, risk inappropriate adaptation, e.g., clickers for attendance ◦ Make it clear what aspects will transfer under what conditions  Identify critical elements ◦ Recommend modification for different situations Dancy and Henderson, NRC Workshop Report,

 Can’t transform undergraduate education if TUES projects are not sustained at the home institution after NSF funding ends  This process is called institutionalization “when an innovation or program is fully integrated into an organization’s structure” 17 Curry, ASHE Report, 1992

What are some common reasons an education project fails to be institutionalized after NSF funding ends?  Exercise min ◦ Think individually ~2 min ◦ Share with a partner ~2 min ◦ Report in local group ---- ~2 min  Watch time and reconvene after 6 min  Use THINK time to think – no discussion, Selected local facilitators report to virtual group  With one minute warning, look at Chat Box to see if you will be asked for a response 18

 Enthusiasm wanes after grant ends  Money unavailable for personnel, supplies, travel, training, etc.  PI moves on ◦ Other teaching assignments ◦ Administrative responsibilities ◦ Moves to another institution  Multiple/new instructors less comfortable with format  Specially trained TAs graduate  Technology changes (equipment outdated, new computers/software)  Budget cuts reduce offerings of elective courses  Changes to curriculum impact student demand  Administrators unaware or not convinced of value, may move to other positions or change priorities 19

 Not just about money  Two aspects ◦ Structural  policies, curriculum, teaching load/assignments ◦ Cultural  becomes part of normal expectations of how we educate students (in topic X)  The most successful efforts address both structural and cultural 20

For an idea you are considering for a TUES proposal, what institutionalization strategies can you pursue that address structural and cultural aspects?  Exercise min ◦ Think individually ~2 min ◦ Share with a partner ~2 min ◦ Report in local group ---- ~2 min  Watch time and reconvene after 6 min  Use THINK time to think – no discussion, Selected local facilitators report to virtual group  With one minute warning, look at Chat Box to see if you will be asked for a response 21

 State learning outcomes and align to curricula and values  Collect and distribute convincing evaluation data  Publicize successes to deans, chairs, faculty and teaching assistants  Discuss at faculty and curriculum committee meetings  Adapt it to work for all students, faculty, departments (as appropriate)  Recruit other faculty to learn about it and use it in their classes ◦ Provide data, advice, incentives and moral support  Work to secure resources as needed: lab space, staff support  Work to integrate it into curricula (as appropriate) 22 Handout 3

Questions “Hold-up your virtual hand” and you will be called upon after we unmute your mike.

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 Most NSF education programs require project transportability (broader impact, dissemination)  Example –Review criteria for TUES Program include:  Projects should produce exemplary materials, processes, or models that can be adopted by other sites  Projects should involve a significant effort aimed at facilitating adaptation at other sites  Projects should have the potential to contribute to a paradigm shift in undergraduate STEM education In this section we discuss how to address these criteria in a proposal or project 26

As you work on your project (or develop your proposal) from the very beginning throughout the entire project think about:  Encouraging others ◦ Make others aware of and interested in your materials or approach  Facilitating others ◦ Help others use your materials or approach  Enabling others ◦ Designing your materials so that others can use them  Collaborating with others ◦ Engage others in improving your materials or approach 27 The next activities will help you understand what each of these means

How do you make others aware of and interested in your materials?  Exercise min ◦ Think individually ~2 min ◦ Share with a partner ~2 min ◦ Report in local group ---- ~2 min  Watch time and reconvene after 6 min  Use THINK time to think – no discussion, Selected local facilitators report to virtual group  With one minute warning, look at Chat Box to see if you will be asked for a response 28

 Use a variety of strategies  Post, present, and publish it  Present workshops at your institution or at national meetings  Make personal connections to others’ needs  Post it on more widely accessed sites ◦ Connexions site (cnx.org) ◦ National Instruments (ni.com) ◦ NSF’s NSDL (nsdl.org) ◦ Search engine optimization  Use technology ◦ Videos ◦ Social media (YouTube, Face Book, Google+)  Provide a Information package (a “sales brochure”) ◦ Statement of need and importance, learning objectives ◦ Summary of approach ◦ Evaluation data, assessment evidence ◦ Stories, scenarios, advice for use and troubleshooting 29 Handout 5

How do you help others use your materials?  Exercise min ◦ Think individually ~2 min ◦ Share with a partner ~2 min ◦ Report in local group ---- ~2 min  Watch time and reconvene after 6 min  Use THINK time to think – no discussion, Selected local facilitators report to virtual group  With one minute warning, look at Chat Box to see if you will be asked for a response 30

 Continued support ◦ Organize a support group (a community of practice) ◦ Virtual workshops and support group ◦ Wikis ◦ Series of workshops  Share evaluation instruments and processes ◦ Formative as well as summative  Prepare a user’s guide ◦ Pitfalls ◦ Alternate approaches ◦ Video demonstrations  Use “open source” approach 31 Handout 6

What should you think about when developing your materials so that the final product can be used by others?  Exercise min ◦ Think individually ~2 min ◦ Share with a partner ~2 min ◦ Report in local group ---- ~2 min  Watch time and reconvene after 6 min  Use THINK time to think – no discussion, Selected local facilitators report to virtual group  With one minute warning, look at Chat Box to see if you will be asked for a response 32

 Build in flexibility, e.g. software platforms  Consider how the approach could be used: ◦ In other curricular models, other courses, or other disciplines ◦ With other teaching styles  State clearly the expected learning outcomes and link to needs  Minimize special equipment needs and implementation cost, consider virtual approaches  Collect convincing evaluation data  Summarize the approach’s rationale (the research-base, false starts, etc.) in a simple story  Provide options for gradual scale up  Recruit a few faculty at other sites that teach the course (potential future users) and ask them periodically to consider ◦ How well the approach fits their course and their style ◦ How could it be made more compatible ◦ What data would convince them 33 Handout 4

How do you engage others in designing and developing your materials?  Exercise min ◦ Think individually ~2 min ◦ Share with a partner ~2 min ◦ Report in local group ---- ~2 min  Watch time and reconvene after 6 min  Use THINK time to think – no discussion, Selected local facilitators report to virtual group  With one minute warning, look at Chat Box to see if you will be asked for a response 34

 Share control ◦ Allow others to develop pieces of the material ◦ Enable partners to contribute to the posted material ◦ Identify new partners at conferences and workshops ◦ Give credit to collaborators  Develop a common evaluation process and data base  Build in review and improvements at key points  Develop group approaches for engaging and facilitating others  Include collaborators as Co-PIs, advisory board, etc. 35 Handout 7

 Does your proposal or your project have a strong (sustainable, transportable) dissemination plan?  How can you improve it?  Take min ◦ Think individually ~2 min ◦ Report in local group ---- ~2 min  Watch time and reconvene after 4 min  Use THINK time to think – no discussion, Selected local facilitators report to virtual group 36

 Curry, B.K., (1992). Instituting Enduring Innovations: Achieving Continuity of Change in Higher Education. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 7  Dancy, M.H. and Henderson, J.C. (2008). Barriers and Promises in STEM Reform. Commissioned paper presented at NRC workshop on Evidence on Selected Promising Practices in Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education, Washington, DC. Retrieved from ionedPaper.pdf. ionedPaper.pdf  Froyd, J.E., “Developing a Dissemination Plan,” Proceedings, 2001 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference.  Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations. 37

Question s Hold up your “virtual hand” to ask a question. Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide 38

 To download a copy of the presentation- go to:  Please complete the assessment survey-go to: 39