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 National Science
Foundation Award #0451310 |
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New Forms of Higher Education: An Examination of the Learning Contract |
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| Investigator(s): |
Paul Goodman (PI)
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| Sponsor: |
Carnegie-Mellon University, PA 15213 4122688746
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| Start Date/Expiration Date |
2005-09-01 to 2008-08-31 (amended 2005-08-24) |
| Awarded Amount to Date: |
$150,001 |
| Abstract: Abstract - 0451310 Goodman
This study examines new, innovative forms of higher education. The
research questions include: what are the forms or structural properties
of these new institutions and how do they differ from traditional
research universities? What is the startup process of these new
institutions? How can the concept of the "learning contract" help us
understand the evolution of these new forms of higher education as well
as other learning organizations?
This multi-disciplinary research draws on the organizational change
literature, role theory literature, recent work on psychological
contracts, and the literature about innovative forms of higher education
institutions. The project includes four related studies of research
university startups. The first two studies will rely on rich
ethnographic methods including interviews and observation, as well as
archival records to capture the form of these institutions and their
processes during the startup phase. The third study will develop and
validate scales in a survey instrument, tapping the learning contract
construct. The fourth study will use data from the first three studies
to examine initial effectiveness indicators. These last two studies rely
on construct development, hypothesis testing, and quantitative methods.
The potential broader impact of this research includes: 1) helping U.S.
universities maintain their historically competitive edge while under
severe pressure to change due to environmental forces such as
constrained governmental support, escalating faculty recruitment and
retention costs, downward tuition pressure from skeptical constituents,
lower cost content delivery systems (e.g., e-learning), and
globalization of U.S. style education; 2) educational policy formation
for new and existing research and teaching universities; and 3) the
development of the learning contract within university settings will
provide institutions and policy makers with new frameworks and
measurement instruments to assess aspects of organizational effectiveness. |
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| NSF Org: |
SES - Division of Social and Economic Sciences |
| Award Number: |
0451310 |
| Award Instrument: |
Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
John L. Naman
SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences
SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
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| NSF Program(s): |
TRANS TO QUAL ORG PROG-PROGRAM |
| Field Application(s): |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
UNASSIGNED, 0000 |
| Program Element Code(s): |
8243 |
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