MISO (Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreach Through Data-Driven Decision-Making): Building and Evaluating a Community of Practice

Tracey Louise Collins; Eric N. Wiebe; Pam Van Dyk

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Conference: 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Publication Date: June 15, 2014
Start Date: June 15, 2014
End Date: June 18, 2014
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: K-12 Outreach and Out-of-School Time Engineering Programming and Research
Tagged Division: K-12 & Pre-College Engineering
Page Count: 14
Page Numbers: 24.908.1 - 24.908.14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--22841
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/22841
Download Count: 478

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Paper Authors

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Tracey Louise Collins North Carolina State University

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Tracey Collins is the Project Coordinator for the Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreach through Data-Driven Decision-Making (MISO) Project, at North Carolina State University. Her responsibilities include implementing activities of the project, coordinating efforts among K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach programs, and working closely with university enrollment management and data management professionals at The Friday Institute. Prior to working at NC State, Ms. Collins was the Online Learning Project Manager for NC TEACH and Project Coordinator for NC TEACH II at the UNC Center for School Leadership Development. Ms. Collins is a graduate of Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications and a Postgraduate Degree in Journalism.

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Eric N. Wiebe North Carolina State University

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Dr. Wiebe is a Professor in the Department of STEM Education at NC State University and Senior Research Fellow at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. A focus of his research and outreach work has been the integration of multimedia and multimodal teaching and learning approaches in STEM instruction. He has also worked on research and evaluation of technology integration in instructional settings in both secondary and post-secondary education. Dr. Wiebe has been a member of ASEE since 1989.

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Pam Van Dyk Evaluation Resources

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Pam Van Dyk is the principal evaluator at Evaluation Resources in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has been providing external evaluation and education research services since 1996.

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Abstract

MISO (Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreach Through Data-DrivenDecision-Making): Building and Evaluating a Community of Practice (other)This paper describes the second phase of MISO (Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreachthrough Data-Driven Decision-Making), a campus-wide project, funded by the Nation ScienceFoundation, at XXX University. The overall mission of the MISO project is to creatively engagethe outreach community across campus in data-driven decision-making, to help ensure thebreadth and depth of the future U.S. STEM workforce. This project seeks to both betterunderstand and support the collective impact of K-12 STEM outreach efforts of the university.Central to the work of the project is the creation of a Community of Practice (CoP) amongSTEM outreach providers on campus. During the first phase of the project, outreach providerswere brought together to develop a better understanding of their goals and strategies for theirprograms. During this time, survey tools were created and validated in consultation with theoutreach providers to measure student and teacher outcomes. These instruments have been usedover the past two summers by the outreach partners and project staff to help the outreachproviders engage in data-driven decision-making concerning the efficacy and impact of theirprograms. Over this past summer (the midpoint of the project), the external evaluator undertooka comprehensive review of how successful the project has been at fostering a community ofpractice using Wenger’s (2011) CoP model. This model describes five cycles of a CoP and wasused to frame a set of questions to be posed to the outreach partners in this project as part ofsemi-structured interviews. All key stakeholders were contacted with seven in-depth interviewsconducted.Described will be the analysis of these interviews and the lessons learned thus far for creating acampus-wide community of practice of STEM outreach providers and the development of data-driven decision-making tools to help support the continuous improvement goals of theseprograms. Findings from the evaluation indicate growth over many of the cycles of a CoP withstronger evidence found in the earlier cycles, but considerable promise of future growth. Thesefindings will be highlighted as well as the future strategies for building the community, asinformed by this evaluation.Wenger, E., Trayner, B., deLaat, M. (2011) Promoting and assessing value creating incommunities and networks: A conceptual framework. Ruud de Moor Centrum: OpenUniversiteit.

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Collins, T. L., & Wiebe, E. N., & Van Dyk, P. (2014, June), MISO (Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreach Through Data-Driven Decision-Making): Building and Evaluating a Community of Practice Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--22841

TY - CPAPER
AB - MISO (Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreach Through Data-DrivenDecision-Making): Building and Evaluating a Community of Practice (other)This paper describes the second phase of MISO (Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreachthrough Data-Driven Decision-Making), a campus-wide project, funded by the Nation ScienceFoundation, at XXX University. The overall mission of the MISO project is to creatively engagethe outreach community across campus in data-driven decision-making, to help ensure thebreadth and depth of the future U.S. STEM workforce. This project seeks to both betterunderstand and support the collective impact of K-12 STEM outreach efforts of the university.Central to the work of the project is the creation of a Community of Practice (CoP) amongSTEM outreach providers on campus. During the first phase of the project, outreach providerswere brought together to develop a better understanding of their goals and strategies for theirprograms. During this time, survey tools were created and validated in consultation with theoutreach providers to measure student and teacher outcomes. These instruments have been usedover the past two summers by the outreach partners and project staff to help the outreachproviders engage in data-driven decision-making concerning the efficacy and impact of theirprograms. Over this past summer (the midpoint of the project), the external evaluator undertooka comprehensive review of how successful the project has been at fostering a community ofpractice using Wenger’s (2011) CoP model. This model describes five cycles of a CoP and wasused to frame a set of questions to be posed to the outreach partners in this project as part ofsemi-structured interviews. All key stakeholders were contacted with seven in-depth interviewsconducted.Described will be the analysis of these interviews and the lessons learned thus far for creating acampus-wide community of practice of STEM outreach providers and the development of data-driven decision-making tools to help support the continuous improvement goals of theseprograms. Findings from the evaluation indicate growth over many of the cycles of a CoP withstronger evidence found in the earlier cycles, but considerable promise of future growth. Thesefindings will be highlighted as well as the future strategies for building the community, asinformed by this evaluation.Wenger, E., Trayner, B., deLaat, M. (2011) Promoting and assessing value creating incommunities and networks: A conceptual framework. Ruud de Moor Centrum: OpenUniversiteit.
AU - Tracey Louise Collins
AU - Eric N. Wiebe
AU - Pam Van Dyk
CY - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA - 2014/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - MISO (Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreach Through Data-Driven Decision-Making): Building and Evaluating a Community of Practice
UR - https://peer.asee.org/22841
DO - 10.18260/1-2--22841
ER -