Plan how to broadly disseminate, maintain, and sustain the products of your DRK–12 and/or STEM+C project. Learn about common models, and share your own ideas and experiences.
This session, led by veteran PIs and co-PIs from Georgia Tech and Concord Consortium, provides a forum for participants to explore the pros and cons of different routes toward product sustainability. The session begins with a carousel activity in which participants respond to prompt questions about challenges and models for transitioning educational resources from research projects to sustained dissemination at scale. The session leaders then present lightning talks on the pros and cons of common models seen through the lens of the recent DRK–12, MSP, and STEM+C projects led by the presenters. Models include the creation of for-profit and nonprofit entities, the institutionalization of projects within universities, the publishing of software and educational resources via open-source approaches and through publishers, the expansion of alliances with school districts and state departments of education, and the solicitation of industry sponsorships. Participants gather in small groups and participate in a guided activity that prompts them to reflect on the applicability of each model to their own projects, and to explore next steps for their projects.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to
- describe models for transitioning projects (e.g., commercialization/I-Corps/SBIR, district and state partnerships, industry partnerships, open source) and understand how they have been applied to specific DRK–12 and STEM+C projects;
- articulate common challenges in transitioning the curriculum, hardware, and software products of successful DRK–12 and/or STEM+C projects into scalable, maintainable, and sustainable educational resources; and
- reflect on which models may be most appropriate for their own projects, develop plans for next steps, and receive feedback on those plans.