Using Networks to Scale Improvement of STEM Undergraduate Education: A Comparative Study of Network Goals, Processes, and Strategies to Advance Organizational Change

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

This project will advance knowledge of organization-focused change networks as a potentially powerful lever for advancing improvements in undergraduate STEM education. This four-year project will examine how organization-focused change networks support and advance STEM undergraduate educational improvement. Based on a theory of change that networks can scale advances in STEM education, this research builds on and integrates knowledge from 3 different knowledge bases: organizational change, networks, and STEM education. Six networks that connect organizations or that connect institutional leaders working directly with organizational units or departments will be studied: the Advanced Technological Education Network; the Bay View Alliance; the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning; the Network of STEM Education Centers; the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education; and the Reinvention Center. The project will use cross-case analysis to identify lessons concerning effective strategies and processes for optimal network functioning and impact. During year 3, teams from each network will be convened in a knowledge exchange symposium to discuss emerging findings, exchange perspectives on network development, functioning, and impact, and identify important implications and lessons for other networks. The project will use rigorous qualitative methods, including document analysis, interviews, and site visits, to examine three aspects of each network. The first is the network's design, including its purpose and problem addressed, and the theory of change guiding its work, membership, and structures. The second concerns the network's lifecycle and processes, including stages of network development, strategies used to advance goals related to STEM undergraduate education, issues and challenges, and how those issues are handled. The third aspect is the network's outcomes, impact, and scale, including: metrics and processes used to provide feedback on progress, what outcomes and impacts are assessed to determine progress toward network goals, and strategies used to extend the reach and scale of the network.