EAGER: I-Corps for Learning (I-Corps-L): Curriculum Development and Implementation

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

This project addresses the problem of how to promote effective educational innovations so they become more widespread and therefore can have substantial impacts among students and educators. The principal investigators are developing an entrepreneurial approach to helping teams of educational innovators develop strategies to be more successful in scaling up their NSF-funded educational innovations. The project is called the NSF Innovation Corps for Learning (I-Corps-L) and is modeled after the successful NSF Innovation Corp (I-Corp) teams program. The current work seeks to improve the ability of the I-Corps program to accomplish widespread dissemination of NSF funded education activities. Thus far, desirable levels of adoption of educational innovations have proven difficult to achieve. This project is focused on redesigning the I-Corps program materials specifically for educational innovations. The principal goal of I-Corps-L is to foster an entrepreneurial mindset within the education community such that it has the potential to impact the way education innovations are designed and implemented. The intent of this project is to produce lasting instructional materials, strategies, and programs that can be used with future faculty and teams in the I-Corps program. The project work will be directed at several specific objectives. The materials developed for the NSF I-Corps program will be customized to better reflect the circumstances encountered within an education network. Examples and case studies will be developed illustrating the successful scale-up and sustaining of innovations in the educational domain. The project team will develop an instructional approach that maintains the earnestness of the entrepreneurial mindset, but builds on best practices in instructional design and current knowledge of how people learn. The enhanced I-Corps-L curriculum will be tested with a cohort of twenty-four teams. In addition to using new materials, the cohort will be developed using the established I-Corps application and selection process. The project plan is informed by earlier findings which made it clear that the I-Corps-L course materials and concepts should be illustrated with examples from educational enterprises, non-profits, or social entrepreneurial endeavors. This customization will allow participants to better understand what constitutes an educational ecosystem, and to more effectively understand and apply the entrepreneurial concepts. One significant output of this work is learning materials customized to the education environment that can be used for future cohorts and within the I-Corps network of nodes and sites. Outcomes will also include a comprehensive evaluation focused on formative, summative, and forward-looking outcomes of I-Corps-L. Outcomes of particular interest include a determination of the extent to which the I-Corps-L course motivates as well as prepares teams to effectively design learning innovations so they will be scalable and sustainable. Evaluation will also investigate what other actions are needed for the I-Corps-L approach to contribute effectively to scaling and sustaining learning innovations and promoting transformation in STEM education.