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One way that university mathematics departments across the United States are making efforts to improve their introductory mathematics courses is by implementing or increasing the level of course coordination. This can entail creating uniform course elements for multi-section courses and efforts to build a community of practice among the instructors teaching these courses. In this paper we explore coordinator orientations that implicitly (and in some cases explicitly) guide their work. In particular, we identified two orientations toward coordination, a Humanistic-Growth orientation and a Resource-Managerial orientation. Data analyzed in this manuscript consists of interviews with 19 course coordinators and 53 instructors from seven different higher education institutions across the United States. We introduce a framework that aligns two approaches to professional development with these two coordinator orientations and conclude with a discussion on how department chairs and others looking to implement or improve coordination may leverage this framework provided in this paper.

Mounting evidence of the effectiveness of active learning strategies has prompted many mathematics departments to start engaging in transformational change efforts. Change, however, especially change in instructional practice, is a challenging endeavor. Some departments are using coordination of multi-section courses as a vehicle to enact changes and have designated or hired course coordinators to oversee efforts to transform instruction via active learning. This study explores the role of coordinators as instructional change agents for active learning using data collected from five university mathematics departments, all of which are successfully sustaining such efforts. We use Shadle et al.’s drivers for change as a framework for examining data from five retrospective case studies of change. Specifically, we investigate how these speculative drivers connect to coordinators’ roles as change agents in each story. We argue that coordinators are positioned to leverage three key drivers for change: providing materials and tools, encouraging collaboration and communication, and encouraging (and providing) professional development. Coordinators must also understand the local contexts and culture in order to engage in effective processes for supporting departmental change. To conclude, we discuss implications of this research for departments seeking to transform instruction.