by Wendy M. Smith, MTEP 2.0 co-principal investigator
MTEP 2.0 has used the annual Team Reports for myriad purposes: hub leaders and MTEP coaches use the information about what networked improvement communities (NICs) are doing to inform our annual reports to the National Science Foundation, plan NIC-Casts and other NIC supports, connect NICs with each other and answer MTEP 2.0 research questions related to how MTEP as a whole supports NICs in making local progress and connecting with each other. This year's Team Report survey was sent to team leaders on May 1 and is due June 30.
As we look forward to what’s next for MTEP, as grant funding ends but the community continues, we have updated the "future" step of the Team Report. Rather than just asking you about your NIC's plans for the coming year, we are asking a set of questions that we hope will inform the next evolution of MTEP. The questions specifically are:
- How are you planning to sustain your team in the next few years?
- Are there ways your team can/will contribute to sustaining the MTEP network?
- [Retrospective Question] Educational change takes time. As you look back, what is a lesson you might share with someone embarking on a change project today? What is a moment from your work that exemplifies that lesson?
- Finally, to help us tell the story of MTEP, including a fuller picture of the impacts of MTEP on individual teams/NICs, we are asking you to tell us the story of your NIC since 2020 (or since it began, if your NIC formed after 2020). We are happy to take your story in any form: paragraphs, bullet points, executive summary, narrated slides, video or podcast style recording (one person or a set of NIC members reflecting together), a journey map or something else. Parts you may want to include in your story include: goals/strategies and how those evolved over time; major accomplishments; people/institutions involved (and the impacts of turnover); challenges/barriers and how you dealt with them; and how being part of MTEP 2.0 supported your transformation efforts.
- A coherent and concise story of your NIC can be shared with administrators (particularly when requesting resources or recognition), included in annual faculty reports and be used in recruiting and/or onboarding new members.
- We anticipate there will be a group of MTEP people who apply for external funding for MTEP 3.0 (and beyond). Having a complete set of NIC stories from MTEP 2.0 will help make the case for future funding.
- Your story can be data included in an article or presentation as your NIC propagates your lessons learned to practitioners and researchers.