Conceptualizing Faculty Adaptability in Enacting Curricular Change

In this theory paper, we seek to conceptualize faculty adaptability as self-regulation during curricular change. We highlight the expanded set of responsibilities that faculty engage with as part of their effort to (re)shape the engineering curriculum. Based on the literature, we illustrate how adaptability is multifaceted; it has different aspects that are manifested differently in different contexts. Moreover, this research conceptualizes a university as an environment that represents dynamic contexts. Consequently, faculty do not have fixed tasks; rather, they engage in broad roles. Although knowledge about effective teaching and learning exists, and theories of change strategies are considered, the lack of the understanding of the behavior of engineering faculty as change agents, and as the unit of analysis, during the process of change, remains a major contributor against more robust change efforts. Without the comprehensive understanding of the adaptability of key change agents in the educational system, and as they respond to dynamic and changing contexts, the effective enacting of curricular change initiatives remains unfulfilled. Ultimately, we aim to use this conceptual model to compare faculty adaptability in different contexts of curricular change.