Christian Wandeler

Research and Professional Interests

Organizational Change, AI, and the Future of Work

My current work examines how organizations, teams, and educational institutions can adapt to rapid technological and organizational change while remaining human-centered, participatory, and focused on learning.

• AI adoption and organizational change, including how organizations build AI capability, encourage experimentation, and develop sustainable AI learning cultures
  
  
• AI in higher education, including faculty adoption, institutional readiness, responsible implementation, and the integration of AI into teaching, research, and administrative work
  
  
• Professional development for higher education faculty and staff on AI, with a focus on building practical capability, confidence, responsible-use practices, and meaningful integration into everyday work
  
  
• Designing and evaluating faculty development programs that support AI implementation, moving beyond one-time training toward sustained learning, experimentation, peer support, and organizational change
  
  
• Understanding differences in faculty AI readiness, attitudes, confidence, and patterns of use in order to better tailor professional development and institutional support
  
  
• Developing AI learning cultures in colleges and universities that encourage experimentation, knowledge sharing, continuous learning, and responsible innovation
  
  
• Exploring how leadership, organizational culture, policies, incentives, and local context shape AI adoption and implementation in higher education
  
  
• Applying Agile and Scrum principles to education, organizational development, and change initiatives
  
  
• Self-managing and self-organizing teams in workplace and learning environments
  
  
• Human-centered and participatory approaches to organizational transformation
  
  
• The role of leadership, culture, psychological safety, employee agency, and sensemaking in successful change
  
  
• The evolving future of work, including changing roles, skills, organizational structures, and human-AI collaboration
  
  
• Applying self-management principles to organizational design, leadership, and team development (Expert in the organizational cultures at Semco and Morning Star Tomato Company)
  
  
• Preparing people to become increasingly effective orchestrators of teams, technology, and AI agents
  
  

Positive Development, Motivation, and Learning

• Development of hope, sense of belonging, grit, agency, and growth mindset among youth and college students
• How educational environments can help students develop the capacity to turn goals and visions into action
• Student motivation, engagement, and psychosocial development

Teaching, Teacher Development, and Educational Assessment

• Teacher training and professional development
• Assessment of teaching competency
• Psychometric development and validation of the FAST 2.0, one of California's teacher performance assessments for credential candidates
• Fairness, validity, and equity in educational testing and student tracking

Education, Civic Development, and Career Preparation

• Civic education in middle schools
• Vocational education and training
• Preparing students for changing workplaces, entrepreneurship, collaboration, and self-directed work

Program Evaluation and Applied Research

• Evaluation of after-school and youth-development programs
• Evaluation of programs and shelters serving survivors of sex trafficking
• Using research and evaluation to support organizational learning, program improvement, and evidence-based decision making