Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This project will train faculty in the language of systems thinking in order to "break out" of their reductionist siloed way of thinking we've traditionally been trained, to translate complex, dynamic problems which cross cut scientific disciplines into digestible, transparent, and compelling stories and hypotheses, to test these hypotheses using cutting edge simulation, and to use these skills to lead to "break through" teaching, research, and/or extension programs of participating faculty.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary project, "Strengthening Faculty for Teaching the Next Generation of Wicked Problem Solvers", is to enhance faculty capabilities for teaching interdisciplinary problem-solving and conducting research grounded in systems thinking (ST) and system dynamics (SD). An extension of a previous Higher Education Challenge project (2018-70003-27664) this project is justified to (1) accelerate previous progress and expand the reach into AFNR science curricula by teaching faculty the principles and applications of ST/SD to reach greater number students than was previously possible, (2) to disseminate previously developed and new case studies to faculty across the country seeking to incorporate ST/SD approaches in their research and teaching, and (3) build capacity for excellence in systems thinking for AFNR-related disciplines. We will address two Educational Need Areas: 1) Faculty Preparation and Enhancement for Teaching; and 2) Facilitating Interaction with Other Academic Institutions with the following objectives: Objective #1: Create and execute a ST/SD faculty fellowship, "Systems Thinking for Wicked Teaching and Research", aimed at early- to mid-career U.S. faculty in agriculture, food and natural resources (AFNR) disciplines. By doing so we enhance faculty capacity to integrate and communicate knowledge and to conduct research across disciplines needed to improve interdisciplinary teaching effectiveness, enhance student mentoring and research advising, and (through fellowship participation) augment and accelerate collaborative research and innovation relationships across the country. In Objective #2, we will disseminate new and existing AFNR curriculum materials to fellows and non-fellows through virtual trainings on ST/SD-based case study integration into existing teaching material and mentor faculty in developing their own unique curricula, resulting in a case study library from which any instructors may draw upon. Objectives 1 and 2 will reach 15 faculty directly and >75 faculty and >825 students indirectly, produce >20 unique products (curricula, models, cases studies, etc.), and will build a foundation for our longer-term goals of building capacity for excellence in ST/SD for AFNR-related disciplines that becomes a nationwide educational resource and networking hub for all interested faculty.
Project Methods
The purpose of this project is to train two cohorts of faculty from various AFNR and AFNR-related disciplines in Systems Thinking (ST), at a minimum, and System Dynamics (SD) as an option. By training faculty in the process and application of ST and SD, we hope to reach the broadest audience of students in the classroom, through research mentorship, or both. In order to achieve our project's purpose, our specific steps will include: 1) Dissemination of learning materials for faculty training and classroom use; 2) Recruitment of faculty participants into each of our two cohorts; 3) Phase I training in Systems Thinking; 4) Phase II training in System Dynamics; 5) Improvement of learning materials to share with wider audiences of faculty; 6) Evaluation of program effectiveness and dissemination of final results.The project will be evaluated rigorously by the both internal and external project evaluators in order to provide timely, practical, reliable feedback that can be easily reported and used to improve the fellowship in "real-time". The external assessor we will hire for this project will provide feedback on any forms of learning assessment prior to their use. Our fellowship evaluation plan encompasses data collection at each Phase/sub-phase as well as longitudinal assessment of proficiency gains in ST/SD skills and abilities, faculty satisfaction with the program, and post-fellowship use of ST/SD. The development of all assessment tools will be done in cooperation with our external assessor and will be will reviewed for IRB approval (when applicable).Webinars during Phase I sub-phase 1 will be evaluated using registration and attendance rates as well as engagement rate based on the number of leads generated of individuals seeking to participate in subsequent fellowship phases, while ST-based knowledge transfer will be assessed using a variety of pre-assessment (to measure prior knowledge or familiarity with ST/SD), live polling and follow-up emails with participants to confirm/disconfirm retention of key learning outcomes. For faculty participating in the Armstrong Lectureship, each PD mentor will document fellows' proficiency in completing each step of the ST process using competencies identified by Shaffernicht and Groesser (2016). In addition, existing post-lectureship surveys will be taken as well as a lectureship "exit interview" to gauge the strengths/weaknesses and needs of fellows moving into Phase I sub-phase 3 (webinars 4-6 and initial individual mentoring). Sub-phase 3 will be evaluated using similar means as sub-phase 1.Mentoring activities in Phase I sub-phase 4 and Phase II will be assessed by building unique evaluations respective of individual fellows' goals, aspirations, and case study application areas in order to meet fellows' learning needs in a responsive manner during these phases but also to measure progress toward modeling proficiency by the end of the fellowship. Proficiency will be measured via similar instruments from our previous HEC Fellowship. Finally, the capstone conference will be an opportunity for fellows to reflect on their own learning progress and satisfaction with the overall program as well as measure their total proficiency in ST/SD (instruments here include a post-fellowship assessment mirroring the pre-assessment they completed in Phase I, individualized feedback from mentors and experts in ST/SD and DEI regarding the project-specific products created by each fellow, and a reflective questionnaire to self-assess progress, describe whether the fellowship met their goals and expectations as identified at the start of the fellowship, and identify goals and visions for using ST/SD in their programs). The impact of sharing fellowship learning materials will be measured from information gathered from our faculty fellows and from the online audience who engages with those materials. Fellows will be re-interviewed during the capstone conference event to evaluate progress toward their goals and visions and to document how they have incorporated our learning materials into their teaching and mentoring of students, what benefits those materials have provided, and how they could be improved.