The Integrated First-Year Engineering Experience

1. The Integrated First-Year Engineering ExperienceLessons in Change Purdue University 5 April 2001 Dr. Karan L. Watson (in collaboration with Jeff Froyd) Funded in part by the National Science Foundation through the Foundation Coalition

2. Presentation • Case Study- TAMU’s Integrated First-year • Ideas about change- How should we model the process of change • Major components of the Change Model • Discussion

3. Texas A&M University CURRICULUM INTEGRATION changed first- and second-year engineering, math, physics and chemistry for all students (6 coordinators) upper-division changes in CVEN, PETE, INEN, AERO, MEEN TEAMING & ACTIVE LEARNING faculty workshops, student profiles, industry diversity training TECHNOLOGY ENABLED ROOMS 13 redesigned classrooms

4. Texas A&M University INCLUSIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES Clusters- 70% first-year students & 25% second-year students, 94 faculty members Industry case studies with all first-year students Group Study Workshops ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION New professional staff, focus on faculty needs in course revisions

5. % Gain Greater Test than Traditional Standardized Critical Thinking 16% Force Concept Inventory 15% Mechanics Baseline Test 10% Calculus Concept Test 10% 0 5 10 15 20 Texas A&M UniversityPerformance Benefit: Grades & Standardized Tests When compared to equivalent students in traditional engineering programs, after one year, students in the new curriculum perform better on standardized tests and better in grades for follow on courses.

6. Texas A&M University FOCUS ON UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUPS Better retention

7. TAMU Integrated First-Year CurriculumConcerns • Pilot section size • 1994-95 Pilot: 50 students per section • 1995-96 Pilot: 100 students per section • Dividing four hours of PHYS 218 (Mechanics) across two semesters was not a good idea. Students seemed to pay more attention to the MATH 151 course (a four-hour course). • 1994-95 Pilot • PHYS218 (Mechanics) across two semesters • 1995-96 Pilot: • PHYS218 (Mechanics), Fall Semester (3 credits instead of 4) • PHYS 208 (E&M), Spring Semester (3 credits instead of 4) • Overloading students • Physics laboratories were done in-class using a “studio-like” approach. $$$$$

8. TAMU Integrated First-Year CurriculumConcerns • Flexibility • The availability of opportunities to students to “leave” the integrated curriculum without major penalties. An intervention program was offered to students who were failing in some of the subjects [9] but the cost and energy required to run this program was also questioned. • The lack of participation by the pre-calculus, honor students, and students who placed out of courses in the integrated program. • Faculty and administrators were very concerned about the “platform independence” of the piloted program. Could only those “zealots” teach it? • How will engineering faculty be selected for participation? • Chemical Engineering Department was concerned about the one-semester chemistry course

9. 1997 1995 1999 1993 1994 1996 1998 TAMU Integrated First-Year CurriculumVisualization of Momentum NSF Funding Formed Team Init. Planning Larger pilot Stable Team Pos. Results Decide Form Eval Tm. New pilot Implementation Excited Team Initial Results Excited Students Chng Team Little new Large Team Initial Planning Nothing’s Wrong Personalities Nothing’s New Poor Teaming Negative Anecdotes Nothing’s Wrong Personalities Negative Anecdotes Poor Advising Interface Mom. To Change Res. To Change Workshops to Address Fears Personalities Emphasizing Values Nothing’s Wrong Personalities Poor Advising Interface NSF Funding Nothing’s Wrong Personalities

10. TAMU Integrated First-Year CurriculumNumerous Integrated Models to Serve Students 2060 1570 1520 1480 1420

11. Precalc, Chem, Engr 0( 300 ) Independent Courses( 200 ) Calc 1, Phys 1, Engr 1, Engl 1 ( 100 ) Calc 2, Phys 2, Engr 2, Chem ( 300 ) 500 Calc 1, Phys 1, Engr 1( 600 ) Calc 2, Phys 2, Engr 2( 200 ) Calc 2, Engr 2, Chem( 300 ) Calc 1, Engr 1 ( 150 ) 1000 Independent Courses( 300 ) Independent Courses( 150 ) 300 Calc 2, Engr 1( 50 ) Independent Courses( 250 ) Numerous Integrated Models to Serve Students PRECALC CALCULUS 1 Clusters are offered to students at each level. BEYONDCALCULUS 1

12. Lessons from Foundation Coalition Curriculum Change Experiences • Focus on faculty behavior, not the curriculum or technology. • People outside the pilot groups need to be engaged from the beginning. • Assessment data is necessary but not sufficient. • Successful change requires energy and time. • Don’t become surprised or defensive when resistance appears. • Persevere through turmoil. • Zealous change champions cannot institutionalize the change by themselves. • Articulate an explicit process for the change.

13. Change - What is it?Reasons to Change • Anxiety 1: Fear of learning something new; fear of changing, based on fear of the unknown. • Anxiety 2: Fear that if I don’t change and learn how to learn, things will go badly for me. • Proposition 1 About Learning Anxiety 2 must be greater than Anxiety 1. Schein, Edgar H., Organizational and Managerial Culture

14. Change - What is it?Change: Ignorance to Action • Change occurs in stages • If you want to facilitate change, then you need to facilitate movement from one stage to the next. Don’t expect a person to change all at once. • Different people understand different things about change

15. Change: Ignorance to Action Ignorance Passive Information Gathering Awareness Interest Decision Commitment Active Information Gathering Action

16. Individual’s Approach to Change Energy for the Job Betrayal Search for Solution Denial Crisis Time

17. Group’s Approach to Change Search for Solutions Identity Crisis Denial Betrayal TIME

18. Concepts in Organizational Change Nature of Change Nature of Resistance Organizational Culture Leadership Change Dynamics

19. Nature of Change • Who has to change? • Behavior • Attitude • Belief • Value • What is the timeline for change? • What are the available resources to fuel change?

20. Nature of Change Profound Change “... we use the term “profound change” to describe organizational change that combines shifts in people’s values, aspirations, and behaviors with “other” shifts to processes, strategies, practices, and systems.... In profound change there is learning. The organization doesn’t just do something new, it builds its capacity for doing things in a new way--indeed, it builds capacity for ongoing change.... It is not enough to change strategies, structures, and systems, unless the thinking that produced those strategies, structures, and systems also changes.” Senge, Peter, et. al., The Dance of Change

21. Nature of Change Adaptive Learning vs. Generative Learning • Adaptive Learning (Senge) / Single-Loop Learning (Argyris) • learning that increases the probability of survival, i.e., coping or survival learning • focus: solution to a problem • e.g., passing a test, problem solving, engineering design • Generative Learning (Senge) / Double-Loop Learning (Argyris) • meta-level: learning that enhances my ability to create • recursive: improving personal algorithms, models, processes • focus: increased personal capacity • e.g., reflection, learning to learn, learning to improve Senge, Peter, The Fifth Discipline Argyris, Chris, “Teaching Smart People to Learn,” Harvard Business Review

22. Resistance • Resistance isn't an indication that something is wrong with what you are trying to change. It is an indication that something is happening. It is a good sign! If you treat everything you see as resistance, you can be wrong. It may be a lack of understanding of what you are doing as opposed to not liking what you are doing. The remedies for each are quite different. You will learn many important things from resistance, which will make your implementation planning go a lot smoother. James Hunt http://www.top7business.com/archives/management/20000208.html Jim Hunt, Principal James W. Hunt & Associates The "Change II" Management Consulting Firm Web address: www.jameswhunt.com

23. Resistance • Resistance is inevitable, not bad • People are at different stages in changing • People move from stage to stage at different rates • People move from stage to stage in response to different stimuli • Resistance is similar to turbulence • Ignorance facilitates resistance; resistance facilitates ignorance • Responses to resistance • Dismissal: “You’re an idiot.” • Bulldozer: “You just don’t understand and I will try again to convince you of the correctness of my approach.” • Let’s talk: “What you say has merit. Let me understand your concerns and let’s review how an alternate proposal might address your concerns.” • Anticipate: Don’t be placed in a position of selling a curriculum proposal; instead position yourself as responding to a felt need

24. Resistance How to Recognize Resistance • Confusion • Immediate Criticism • Denial • Malicious Compliance • Sabotage • Easy Agreement • Deflection (changing the subject) • Silence • In-Your-Face Criticism Maurer, Rick, Beyond the Wall of Resistance, Austin, Texas: Bard Press, 1996, chapter 2

25. How Intense is the Resistance • Level 1: The Idea Itself (primarily intellectual) • Communicating the Idea -- Relative Advantage -- Simplicity -- Compatibility -- Easy to Test • Involvement • Level 2: Deeper Issues (primarily emotional) • Listen for and address: Distrust, Bureaucratic Culture, Punishments and Rewards, Loss of Respect and Face, Fear of Isolation, Events in the World • Level 3: Deeply Embedded (viewed as enemy) • Pay attention and attend to issues around --Historic Animosity -- Conflicting Values and Vision Maurer, Rick, Beyond the Wall of Resistance, Austin, Texas: Bard Press, 1996, chapter 8

26. Response to Resistance What is your contribution to resistance? • “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself” Tolstoy • “We have met the enemy, and he is us” Pogo • “We must become the change we wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

27. Response to Resistance Touchstones in responding to resistance • TOUCHSTONE NO. 1: Maintain clear focus • Keep both long and short view • Persevere • TOUCHSTONE NO. 2: Embrace resistance • TOUCHSTONE NO. 3: Respect those who resist • Struggle for respect • Respect vs. trust • Listen with interest • Tell the truth • TOUCHSTONE NO. 4: Relax • Stay calm to stay engaged • Know their intentions • TOUCHSTONE NO. 5: Join with the Resistance • Begin together • Change the game • Find themes and possibilities Maurer, Rick, Beyond the Wall of Resistance, Austin, Texas: Bard Press, 1996, chapter 5

28. Change and Resistance Commitment to Change • Concerns, e.g., • Fear • Negative Assessment • Zealot Arrogance Possibly Improved Results New Learning Positive Impact Negative Impact

29. What is it?Culture “Culture eats change for breakfast” James Hunt http://www.top7business.com/archives/management/20000208.html Jim Hunt, Principal James W. Hunt & Associates The "Change II" Management Consulting Firm Web address: www.jameswhunt.com

30. What is it?Culture • Culture is the collection of lessons (which become unwritten assumptions) that a group has learned that have become applied so often that members of the group no longer question their correctness or even acknowledge their existence. “It just the way we do things here.” Frequently, these lessons were learned during the early history of the group and were often generated or espoused by its founder. • because it happened this way, it did not happen another way • because it was successful, it must have been the right way to do it • These lessons are communicated explicitly or implicitly to new members of the group.

31. What is it?Levels of Culture • Artifacts • visible organizational structures and process • easy to observe, difficult to decipher, ambiguous • Espoused values, rules, behavioral norms • strategies, goals, espoused rationalizations • articulated reasons for actions, (theories of action, Argyris) • Basic underlying assumptions • unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs • theories-in-use (Argyris) Edgar Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, second edition

32. What is it?Changing Culture • “You cannot create a new culture. You can immerse yourself in studying a culture ... Until you understand it. Then you can propose new values, introduce new ways of doing things, and articulate new governing ideas. Over time, these actions will set the stage for new behavior. If people who adopt the new behavior feel that it helps them ... The organizational culture may embody a different set of assumptions, and a different way of looking at things ...” Edgar Schein, in Senge, Peter, The Dance of Change

33. Leadership • “Leadership takes place every day. It cannot be the responsibility of the few, a rare event, or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Heifetz, Ronald and Donald Laurie, “The Work of Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 1997 • Leadership is too important to be left in the hands of the few people near the top of the organizational hierarchy.

34. Attributes of Effective Leaders • Inner drive/energy: necessary to initiate and sustain leadership of change over extended periods of time. • Intellectual capacity: necessary to listen to input from diverse sources and synthesize vision and strategy • Integrity: necessary to synthesize vision and strategy that benefits the organization first and the individual second • Mental/emotion health: necessary for self-confidence and interpersonal skills Kotter, John P., A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs From Management, New York: The Free Press, 1990

35. Change is hard work. Leadership begins with values Intellectual leads physical Real changes takes real change Leadership is a team sport Expect to be surprised Today competes with tomorrow Better is better Focus on the future Learning from doing Grow people Reflect Leadership for Change Sullivan and Harper, Hope is not a Method

36. Leadership for Change • “Get on the balcony”, get perspective • Identify the adaptive challenge • Regulate distress: not too high, not too low • Maintain disciplined attention • Give the work back to people • Protect voices of leadership from below Heifetz, Ronald and Donald Laurie, “The Work of Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 1997

37. Dynamics of Change Process • Unfreeze the system • Is the organization ready • Have you addressed concerns to get started • Institute a change • Recognize nature of change, resistance, culture • Target who will change and how to diffuse • Stabilize (refreeze) the system

38. Change DynamicsChange Ready Zone Kriegel & Brandt “Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers” Challenge Change Ready Zone Skill level req’d., Speed of change, Effort to learn Panic Zone Drone Zone Resources Competencies, Time, Reserves

39. Change DynamicsChallenges of Initiating • “We don’t have time!” • Challenge: control over personal time • “We have no help!” • Challenge: inadequate coaching, guidance, and support • “This stuff isn’t relevant!” “Why?” • Challenge: relevance • “They’re not walking the talk!” • Challenge: management clarity and consistency Senge, Peter, The Dance of Change

40. Change DynamicsChallenges of Sustaining Transformation • “This stuff is ____!” • Challenge: fear and anxiety • “This stuff isn’t working!” • Challenge: negative assessment of progress • “We have the right way!” / “They don’t understand us!” • Challenge: isolation and arrogance, true believers and non-believers Senge, Peter, The Dance of Change

41. Change DynamicsChallenges of Redesigning and Rethinking • “Who’s in charge of this stuff?” • Challenge: prevailing governance structure • “We keep reinventing the wheel!” • Challenge: diffusion, inability to transfer knowledge • “Where are we going?” • Challenge: organization strategy and purpose Senge, Peter, The Dance of Change

42. Change Dynamics Type and Distribution of Adopters Late Majority 34% Early Majority 34% Early Adopters 13% Laggards 16% Innovators 3% Rogers, Everett M., Diffusion of Innovations, fourth edition

43. Change DynamicsDiffusion of Innovation: Patterns • Innovators • Venturesomeness; more cosmopolite social relationships; innovators play gatekeeping role in the flow of new ideas into a system • Early adopters • More integrated into local system than innovators; innovators are cosmopolites, early adopters are localites; greatest degree of opinion leadership • Early majority • Interact frequently with peers; seldom hold positions of opinion leadership; unique position makes them an important link in the diffusion process; may deliberate for some time before completely adopting a new idea • Late majority • Adoption may be result of increasing network peer pressure; weight of system norms must definitely favor an innovation to help convince late majority • Laggards • Most local outlook; many are near isolates; point of reference for the laggard is the past; decisions often based on what has been done previously

44. Change DynamicsChange Reinforcing Processes Willingness to Commit to Change Growing Network of Colleagues • Possibly Improved Results • Personal Results • Organizational Results Investment in Change Initiative New Learning