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There is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful of success, than to step up as a leader in the introduction of change. For he who innovates will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm support in those who might be better off under the new. (Machiavelli, 1950, p. 21)

Because of the delicate nature of change, so poetically expressed above by Machiavelli, Group A endeavours to create a functional change manual for the implementation of the Moodle LMS within the context of a University English department.

Oct 6th presentation script

Analysis **__ Root definition: __** Teachers implement online supplementary modules across all academic programs and courses in all departments by using Moodle to enhance the quality of learning and thus qualify the university to be internationally accredited. **__ Narrative: __** ABC University Administration is the driving authority that works on ensuring the university’s educational competitive value compared to national and international standards. The Admin’s latest initiative is full ICT-integration into all academic courses as a step forward into creating an innovative and effective learning environment. This is done by using Moodle as the university’s primary LMS. The university administration is hoping to improve educational outcomes by the new initiative. **__ Social agents/roles __** ** Roles: Formal Roles: ** the main formal roles are **__University Admin__** who is in direct connection with **__Deans of Colleges__** through meetings, emails, etc. The latter informs the **__Heads of Departments__** with the Admin’s decisions and plans and are given procedural instructions. Heads of departments meet with Faculty and discuss Admin’s proposed plans. Faculty and Head of Departments (HOD) discuss ways of implementing these plans in a way that aligns with the department’s educational goals, pedagogical practices and available expertise. ** Informal: “Role models”: ** Teachers as they are in direct contact with students are considered as role models. If they provide students with good role-models of change, students are more likely to respond positively. **__ Politics __** ** “Intellectual and experiential authority”: ** VC, VC deputies and Deans of Colleges are regarded as knowledgeable and the authority on what should work best for the welfare of the university and its staff and students. **“Reputation”:** the university’s high reputation is a product of the continuous hard work and efforts from the university’s administration and employees. However, reputation is mostly linked to the higher authorities quite overlooking the individual efforts that stand behind it. The reputation of the institution is hugely linked and interdependent with the reputation of its people. **“Policy Making”:** High authorities are the ones who have the power to initiate a new policy, change it or even cancel it. Other employees are sometimes given a say in the effectiveness of a policy, but they do not always have a noticeable impact on policy making. **“Access to powerful role-holders”:** This applies to Heads of Departments who have direct contact with Deans of Colleges who in turn have direct contact with University Admin. Access to powerful role-holders who are policy makers gives HODs and Deans higher impact on change practices. **__ Conceptual Justification of Guide __** ** 1- **** Why heads of educational departments as audience? **  Team A’s choice of HODs as the audience of the proposed change guide is not arbitrary. HODs, who are considered as the middle management of an organization, prove to have a pivotal role in any change process. HODs are the people “most likely to be in a position to shape the organizational conditions necessary for success, such as the development of shared goals, collaborative structures and climates, and procedures for monitoring results.” (Fullan ,1991, p. 76). Moreover, HODs, and unlike teachers, have access to information on ongoing innovations outside the scope of the classroom. This increases their chance of bringing in new ideas which could contribute to change in one way or another. However, HODs as “middle managers” and leaders have very complex and ambiguous roles. “Leadership relates to mission, direction, [and] inspiration. Management involves designing and carrying out plans, getting things done, [and] working effectively with others.” (Fullan, 1991, p.157). ** 2- **** Why introduce SSM as a methodology of change? **  However, Fullan claims with support from various studies that few of them succeed in their involvement in the change process due to lack of knowledge of “what” change is and “how” it happens (content and process of change). Therefore, team A thought of introducing SSM a methodology of change which deals with both content and process to serve as a reliable tool to understanding and dealing with change. SSM help in examining the context of change, e.g. different change agents and their perspectives of change, which is a necessary prerequisite to carrying out change successfully. ** 3- **** Professional development for change ** Staff preparation for change is a key theme prior to and during implementation of change (Fullan, 1991). This is because change is oriented around learning and gaining knowledge of new ways of doing and viewing things. Thus, equipping staff with the necessary new skills and knowledge to cope and assist in carrying change through professional development is vital. However, many change leaders misunderstand the concept of professional development for change and orient its application to small and short workshop //before// change itself. This professional development should include aspects of curriculumn and paedgogy as well since teaching through an LMS requires different skills from traditional teaching. **__ Narration of completed artifacts __** This is a short description of the artifacts we have created thus far. We are using a wiki via wikispaces as our workspace. The table of contents for our change guide is divided into pre-adoption, implementation and evaluation phases. The guide will comprise change strategies, tools, systems models/archetypes, evaluative criteria, case studies etc. **__ How we intend to proceed here onwards __** We shall continue to fill up the content of our change guide while bearing in mind that this is an iterative process. As we research further and learn more, our mental models will shift and what we once thought was appropriate at the start of this assignment might not seem that way now. Thus we are open to re-conceptualization and shall do our best to balance the strive towards a better product and the time constraints. **__ Optional - difficulties, insightes/eureka moments __** In the collaborative process we seem to have better success by assigning explicit writing tasks rather than roles. Perhaps this is more efficient as we do not have to shift our thinking with each role change.

**__ Root definition:  __**

Teachers implement online supplementary modules across all academic programs and courses in all departments by using Moodle to enhance the quality of learning and thus qualify the university to be internationally accredited.

ABC University Administration is the driving authority that works on ensuring the university’s educational competitive value compared to national and international standards. The Admin’s latest initiative is full ICT-integration into all academic courses as a step forward into creating an innovative and effective learning environment. This is done by using Moodle as the university’s primary LMS. The university administration is hoping to improve educational outcomes by the new initiative.
 * __ Narrative:  __**

**__ Social agents/Roles __** Informal roles – Teachers as role models **__ Politics __** **__ Narration of completed artifacts  __**
 * 1)  University Admin
 * 2)  Deans of Colleges
 * 3)  Heads of Departments
 * 1) **  Intellectual and experiential authority  **
 * 2) **  Policy Making  **
 * 3) **  Access to powerful role-holders  **

This is a short description of the artifacts we have created thus far. We are using a wiki via wikispaces as our workspace. The table of contents for our change guide is divided into pre-adoption, implementation and evaluation phases. The guide will comprise change strategies, tools, systems models/archetypes, evaluative criteria, case studies etc. **__ Change manual Table of contents  __** ** http://edpc5024-groupa.wikispaces.com/E.1+Guide-Table-Draft ** **__ How we intend to proceed here onwards  __**

We shall continue to fill up the content of our change guide while bearing in mind that this is an iterative process. As we research further and learn more, our mental models will shift and what we once thought was appropriate at the start of this assignment might not seem that way now. Thus we are open to re-conceptualization and shall do our best to balance the strive towards a better product and the time constraints.

**__ Optional - difficulties, insightes/eureka moments  __**

In the collaborative process we seem to have better success by assigning explicit writing tasks rather than roles. Perhaps this is more efficient as we do not have to shift our thinking with each role change.