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Shared vision is an important process for change projects, serving to amplify success, increase participation, and erode the divide between project leaders and constituents. Yet there are few empirical examinations of the process of building shared vision within academic departments. Using focus groups and participant observation, this study examines shared vision development within 13 large-scale change projects in engineering and computer science higher education. We find that teams of faculty, staff, administrators, and students built shared vision with stakeholders through co-orientation, formational communication, and recognition of stakeholder autonomy. Our results delineate practices for developing shared vision for academic change projects and demonstrate the benefits of inclusive stakeholder empowerment.
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Shared Vision for Change in STEM Education: Linking Research to Practice in RED Projects
This Research to Practice Work in Progress paper addresses the importance of creating shared vision for change in STEM education. While many educational reform initiatives accomplish their goals in the short-term, only systemic change can truly improve quality and inclusion in engineering and computing education. Developing shared vision is an often repeated recommendation for effective and sustainable change from organizational consultants and scholars of higher education). In our work, we have found that embracing stakeholders as full partners through sharing vision is a proactive way to expose concerns and incorporate a variety of viewpoints into the change process. Shared vision is a useful concept that can be made more accessible and actionable through social scientific research on how change-making teams engage and empower stakeholders to collaborate on their projects.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1649318
- PAR ID:
- 10208230
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2019 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 3
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE43999.2019.9028547
