What goes into pursuing a collaborative self-study of undergraduate students' learning of quantum physics?

In this talk, I will reflect on my experiences co-chairing a collaborative team of physics faculty focused on assessing students' preparedness for and success in learning quantum physics in our undergraduate program. Our collaborative self-study approach involved orienting with curiosity toward understanding students' experiences in our department and considering what we could collectively do to improve students' experiences. This work draws from a "practitioner-as-researcher model," where "stakeholders produce knowledge within a local context in order to identify local problems and take action to solve them" (Bensimon et al, 2004). Physics departmental stakeholders engaged in collective inquiry to bring about individual and organizational change. In this talk, I will describe: (a) the various roles Physics Education Research (PER) folks may play in these spaces, (b) the tensions and dilemmas that arise, (c) the ways in which particular PER tools, theories, methods become relevant (or not) to the pragmatic work being pursued, and (d) the documented impacts on students. I emphasize the importance of coming to a shared understanding of the needs for change, building trusting relationships, and drawing on PER tools in a "just-in-time" way.