Sense-Making in the Evolution of a Character Education Framework in Higher Education

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Moral Character of Teachers and Character Education

Abstract

In this study, we examine the evolution of a framework for character education at one of the largest U.S. public institutions for educator preparation. Specifically, we investigate how the college’s stakeholders employed sensemaking as they negotiated the oftentimes contested role of character education in a multicultural institution. Building on Gioia and Chittapedi (1991) and Kraft, Sparr, and Peus (2018), we frame the evolution of the character education initiative at the college as a five-part sequence of sensemaking and sensegiving phases and identify an additional key leadership activity which we differentiate as “sensegathering.” These activities helped stakeholders navigate their differences and develop a framework for character education which was ultimately more expressive of the university’s institutional culture.

Authors

• Julie Nagashima, North Central College

• Norman Paul Gibbs, Arizona State University