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Session 2003-1892

Evolving Models of Curricular Change: The Experience of the Foundation Coalition

M. Carolyn Clark, Jeff Froyd, Prudence Merton, and Jim Richardson

Texas A&M University / Texas A&M University/ Texas A&M University/ University of Alabama

Abstract

This paper examines one aspect of the curricular change process undertaken by the Foundation Coalition, namely how the understandings about change held by the FC leaders evolved as they moved through the process of developing and implementing a new curriculum. We show how those change models became more complex as they struggled with three major issues: the role of assessment data, the limitations of the pilot for gaining full-scale adoption of the new curriculum, and the need for structural change to sustain the new curriculum.

Introduction

One of the more recent initiatives in improving undergraduate engineering education has been conducted by the NSF sponsored Foundation Coalition (FC), a partnership between six institutions that, starting in 1993, designed, implemented, and institutionalized innovative freshman and, in some cases, sophomore curricula. In this paper we focus on the FC’s evolving model of the curricular change process. Using examples from different partner institutions we will illustrate how three underlying assumptions about change held by FC leadership proved problematic at different stages of the change process. One assumption is that positive assessment data is sufficient to persuade the rest of the college that the curriculum should be adopted. A second assumption is that the information resulting from the pilot is sufficient in deciding how the curriculum can be improved for all students. And finally, there is an assumption that once the new curriculum is institutionalized, the job of effecting “systemic reform of undergraduate engineering education” is complete. This paper is one product from a qualitative study of the FC curricular change process.

Introduction

Since the earliest formal review of engineering education during the first International Congress of Engineering in Chicago in 1893 [1], engineers, engineering educators, and representatives from industry and government have been assessing every 20 years or so how well our educational institutions prepare engineers for current social needs. This periodic process of self-investigation, reflection and recommended curricular revision has led one British observer to proclaim American

Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2003, American Society for Engineering Education

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Clark, C., & Merton, P., & Richardson, J., & Froyd, J. (2003, June), Evolving Models Of Curricular Change: The Experience Of The Foundation Coalition Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--11896