This study aims to address how change agents assist engineering instructors in adopting new curriculum. During a two-day workshop, 16 mechanics of materials instructors from community colleges and universities around the Pacific Northwest developed hands-on activities and models that they later implemented in their classrooms. Five additional instructors became interested in the materials developed at the workshop through their interactions with some of the instructors that attended the workshop. After the workshop and during the academic year, a change agent was assigned to each instructor. The change agents communicated with their instructors on a regular basis in order to identify any needs the instructor had for implementing their new materials. Interactions between the instructors and change agents were tracked through the change agents' personal notes on their interactions and two semi-structured phone interviews held during and after the term in which the course was taught. Instructors most often requested assistance from the change agents in how to manage and use some of the materials. These interactions indicate that a change agent working in a pull-model approach encouraged the instructors to be more engaged in the change process throughout their entire course and therefore benefited their teaching and course effectiveness.
['Matthew Barner', 'Shane Brown']
Providing meaningful change in the engineering classroom