Institutions seeking 21st century curricular transformation require the strategic placement of highly skilled leaders that can navigate complex environments and help organizations be successful. As Strategic Learning Technology Consultants at UW-Madison, we’re those leaders. We’ll share our approaches that translate to other institutions undergoing large-scale transformation in teaching and learning.
Rapid change is the norm and universities must respond to the demands of a competitive, global higher education marketplace while producing students capable of succeeding in such an environment. As a result, many campuses are responding to this with significant curricular redesigns.
For administrators, faculty, and staff, this response requires a willingness to reexamine and coordinate the required “curriculum team effort.” This is no easy task. Transformational curriculum change requires faculty and instructors to use new and perhaps unfamiliar pedagogical methods, employ updated technologies to create, deliver, and assess learning experiences, and work with diverse professionals as part of the team effort. The challenges require faculty, staff, students, and administrators to embrace change – to let go of old ways of working, investigate fresh approaches, and to collaborate with colleagues that may or may not be in their organizational unit. As a result, these curriculum teams need an expert who not only understands curriculum redesign processes, but that can provide expertise and fluency in leading large-scale curricular change efforts; change that often involves social, political, technical, pedagogical, and cultural adjustments for team members.
Our session will explain how our central Academic Technology organization has re-envisioned the roles and the abilities of our experienced academic technologists to work with senior campus academic partners and co-lead these large-scale curricular changes. We will discuss the skills and acumen Senior Learning Technology Consultants need to be successful. They need to communicate effectively, plan strategically, maintain institution-level relationships, influence others, implement change management methodologies, and manage complex projects. Also, attendees will hear case studies of three different organizational models for pairing central senior learning technologists with key discipline specific campus leaders.
From our session, attendees will be able to:
1. Explain the key skills and knowledge that academic technologists need to facilitate curriculum transformation at the organizational level.
2. Understand how to situate and utilize academic technologists so they can be successful
3. Articulate a selection of organizational change process strategies for influencing curriculum transformation.
4. Begin strategizing a plan for developing and placing your academic technologists to lead curriculum transformation.