ERIC Number: EJ1292577
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1051-1970
EISSN: N/A
Using Strand Committees to Build Faculty Support for Departmental Change
Vandenbussche, Jennifer; Ritter, Lake; Callahan, Kadian M.; Westlund, Erik E.
PRIMUS, v31 n3-5 p330-342 2021
In this article, the authors propose a department-level curricular committee structure, called Strand Committees, as a mechanism to facilitate oversight and enact significant change to policies and practices in specific courses. The primary goal of the Strand Committees is improving both student success and instruction while upholding a high degree of shared governance. The focus of this paper is based around three recommendations encapsulating the philosophy of Strand Committees: increasing faculty buy-in for change efforts; capitalizing on the enthusiasm of a few faculty members to serve as change agents; and structuring the committees so participation is open, voluntary, and there is continuity to the work. The authors present the history and context of Strand Committees at a large, recently consolidated public university, highlight examples of successful and beneficial changes resulting from this work, and discuss how Strand Committees may lead to supporting improvements in teaching and learning in undergraduate mathematics.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Study, STEM Education, Educational Improvement, Educational Change, Committees, Governance, Participative Decision Making, Departments, Change Agents, College Mathematics, Mathematics Curriculum, Alignment (Education)
Taylor & Francis. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Georgia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A