Successful propagation of educational innovations: Viewpoints from principal investigators and program

Abstract

We are beginning a project to help developers of educational innovations promote adoption of their work at other institutions through deliberate propagation strategies. To gain a better understanding of the current situation with regard to the spread of educational innovations, we analyzed a web-based survey of 1284 Principal Investigators (PIs) in the NSF Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM (TUES) program and held focus groups with NSF TUES program directors (PDs). Overall, PIs tend to think of spreading their innovations through one-way transmission methods, such as publishing a paper. On the other hand, PDs think that interactive methods, such as multi-day workshops, are more effective. We conclude by advocating the need for increased explicit attention on planning and enacting propagation strategies by both PIs and PDs.

Learning About Educational Change Strategies: A Study of the Successful Propagation of Peer Instruction

“…We highlight this quote because the actions differ dramatically from that of usual practice; we know that principal investigators often leave dissemination for the end of the grant and then, once the grant is over, stop work on it entirely [10].…”

“…Mazur gave a talk at AAPT in 1991 about using computers to teach physics (it hinted at using ConcepTests) and this was the beginning of many more talks to come. Whereas we know from surveys of principal investigators that they expect other faculty to adopt their innovation based on brief exposures to the work [10], the typical conference talk was just the beginning when it comes to the widelypropagated Peer Instruction. For the audience, the talk functioned as a brief advertisement for physics faculty to invite him to go into more detail [16].…”

“…Support: The Peer Instruction book, freely available to physics faculty, provides adopters a set of resources to use, rather than needing to come up with materials themselves [7,15] Also, the team makes propagation through personal assistance and continual innovation a priority, which it has in common with other cases [10].…”

“…Our propagation model is based on prior work [10] as well as the study discussed in this paper. Although the evolution has been ongoing, three important versions of the model are given below.…”

“…Prior work [10] was used to develop this three-step model for successful propagation with emphasis on active involvement with the target audience ( Figure 1, version 3). As an idealization of a messy process it is important to keep in mind that in reality, these stages overlap and may also be revisited.…”