Using the Change Dashboard to Conceptualize Change Projects for Campus Reforms

Planning for successful institutionalization of effective instructional strategies and policies in undergraduate education requires understanding the complexity of the system under consideration and purposefully coordinating the key change strategies. Infographics, dashboards, visual communication and data visualization may seem like a new trend, but these and other visual tools have been widely used for years to represent and communicate business strategies and objectives. These types of strategic planning and decision-making aids have the potential to support faculty and administrators in achieving undergraduate education reform. The Change Dashboard is one such tool. It enables change agents to organize and align information about their project goals with their change strategies, tactics, and project activities. The purpose of this workshop is to help campus change agents (e.g. faculty PIs, project directors, department chairs, provosts) understand how to use the Change Dashboard to plan for successful sustainable change. The Dashboard is one of the core tools used to guide team planning during the Accelerating Systemic Change Network's (ASCN) annual Systemic Change Institute (SCI). Each year SCI involves institution-based teams who are seeking to create sustained change on their campus. The Change Dashboard takes a systems perspective of change, meaning that any successful change must consider multiple levels of an institution. It visually scaffolds change agents to articulate the gap between the desired state of the institution and the current state of the institution. Once this gap has been articulated, strategies and tactics are introduced to bridge the gap. The Dashboard allows change agents to see whether strategies are sufficient, aligned, or in conflict. The Change Dashboard is not a static image and should be updated. It can serve as visual artifact for the team, help team members to work towards a shared vision, and support structured conversations around project implementation activities.

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Workshop materials available here: bit.ly/ASCNDash19