Business Question

Post ID: 3536266

Week 6

Identifying Internal and External Influences

Many factors influence when, how, why, where, and if change happens in higher education. These influences may be internal or external and may be considered optional or necessary by internal and external constituents. Internal and external influences may be within our control or outside of our control and they may be considered positive opportunities or negative challenges.

As a higher education administrator, there will be times when you will be forced to react to a challenge to make an expected change and other times when you proactively initiate a change based on opportunities or challenges that present themselves within the institution or outside its walls. Either way, as you progress in your career it will be helpful to identify influences and examine how they impact changes and change management efforts while you also consider the implications to other university goals and objects such as student satisfaction or curriculum delivery.

Prompt

In Module Six, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by investigating internal and external influences, forces, and challenges that impact the institution. You will identify and examine internal and external challenges at the institution in your case that could impact change strategies. Remember that these challenges may be required or they may be self-initiated. They may present as opportunities or conflicts. Assess the impact, influence, and importance of these internal and external forces and predict how they influence change strategies at the institution. Consider how different delivery models impact student success, retention, and persistence. Defend your ideas about how the need for change is informed and influenced by both internal and external challenges. “Informed” and “influenced” may be described by using examples from similar change initiatives from other institutions, for example. Be sure to consider your conclusions from different perspectives as students may see the influence as a positive change effort whereas your colleagues in the case may view the influence imposing the change as a deterrent to other goals. This milestone submission addresses critical element III, section C (internal challenges curriculum delivery) and section D (external challenges impact change) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for these elements. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project.

As you consider the case study you selected and work through course content, identify ways to build on this milestone submission to expand your analysis, assessment, and application of these pieces of the project for your final submission in Module Nine. As you work on your milestone submission, it is important to note that not every critical element of the final project will be addressed by your milestone submission. When preparing your milestone and final project submissions, be sure to support your work with supplemental information and additional resources beyond the required resources and readings.

The following critical elements must be addressed in your paper:

Internal Challenges Curriculum Delivery: Identify internal challenges with the curriculum delivery model. Be sure to think about how different delivery models impact student success, retention, and persistence. For instance, how does student satisfaction drive curriculum delivery models?
External Challenges Impact Change: Describe external challenges of the institution that could impact change strategies. Be sure to address how the need for change is informed and influenced by external challenges.

What to Submit

Your paper must be submitted and formatted as per the APA Manual, as a two- to three-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format. Ensure you have a cover sheet and reference sheet. Cover sheet and reference sheet are additional pages.

WEEK 7

Assessment Tools to Inform Data Decisions

In higher education administration today, we often hear the term assessment being used in context much more than instruction. Demands are being made from internal and external constituents, regulatory and accrediting agencies and organizations, government affiliates, future and past students, and many others to request, encourage, and require colleges and universities to provide data to support decisions being made. Often, those decisions are based on change initiatives that are mandated, suggested, or brought as a completely new idea. Regardless of how the change begins, it must first be informed with data.

Many different assessment tools and strategies are used to provide qualitative and quantitative data required to develop informed change ideas, to support processes and policies used to communicate and initiate the change, and to provide information about how well the change is being managed over time. Data must be collected to support the reason for the change, the processes used to manage the change, and to determine whether the change is working as expected. Assessment tools provide the support required for the decisions made in higher education. As a higher education administrator in this class and in your career, your job will be to use those tools effectively to improve your chances of success.

Prompt

In Module Seven, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by investigating the use of data to inform the decision and the process used to implement the decision. You will describe data based strategies that would support and communicate the need for change at the institution described in your selected case study. Identify both qualitative and quantitative assessments that have been or might be used in the case study. Has the data collected been used to adequately support the decisions made? Are additional tools needed or have the tools not been effectively used to gather the correct data to support the decision and to overcome obstacles? Illustrate how the institution’s previous data-driven decisions are presented as obstacles to change in relation to student success, retention, and persistence. Think about the strategies that might be effective in ensuring implementation success and then offer examples of qualitative and quantitative data that might be used. Support your ideas for use of specific data-driven tools to overcome obstacles and support change strategies at your institution. This milestone submission addresses critical element III, section B (data-driven decisions) and critical element IV, section G (data-based strategies communicate change) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for these elements. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project.

The following critical elements must be addressed in your paper:

Illustrate how the institution’s previous data-driven decisions are presented as obstacles to change in student success, retention, and persistence. Be sure to think about various obstacles change agents must overcome while using data to drive decisions and direction.
Data-Based Strategies Communicate Change: Describe the data-based strategies that would communicate the rationale for change to both internal and external constituents. Be sure to think about how data can reinforce the need for change. You might consider how data can influence support for change.

What to Submit

Your paper must be submitted and formatted as per the APA Manual, as a three- to four-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format. Ensure you have a cover sheet and reference sheet. Cover sheet and reference sheet are additional pages.

WEEK 9

HEA 630 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

The final project for this course is the creation of a white paper.

Change is a constant in higher education, and successful institutional leaders of the future will be the ones that cannot only manage and justify change, but also predict change. In order for you to become a successful practitioner as either a change agent leading the change or to support your colleagues as agents of change, you will need a good understanding of change agents that have guided and continue to guide the evolution of higher education. Higher education administrators must possess the ability to apply empirical data and design strategies that foster innovative solutions both internally and externally, within higher education.

The final assessment of this course will require you to take on the role of a newly hired administrator and write a white paper to present to the institution’s board of trustees. You will select a case study, which will be provided within the course, based on your interest in the higher education environment and key issues of the study. You will use the case study of an institution in higher education as the foundation for your assessment, not to be used as a case study analysis but as a high level justification of the need for institutional change.

This assessment will allow you to focus on change agents and the impact of change on an institution from external and internal forces. You will also delve into the connections between the impacts of change and any empirical data presented in the study.

The project is divided into six milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven. The final product will be submitted in Module Nine.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

Analyze the need for innovative strategies in higher education by change agents for impact on student attainment, retention, and completion
Interpret the effectiveness and impact of change agent philosophies on curriculum delivery models for a diverse student population in higher education
Predict the influence of leadership styles on the role of change agents for facilitating change in mission and vision of an institution
Evaluate data-based continuous improvement strategies that inform change, both internal and external, within an institution
Apply strategies that foster communication and stakeholder collaboration across institutional units for supporting change
Examine the impact of data-based decision-making on innovative strategies of change influenced by external challenges facing higher education

Prompt

You have been appointed as a new college president, who has been hired by the board of trustees as a change agent for your institution. The board has tasked you as the new president to facilitate institutional change in order to improve student success, retention, and persistence.

Choosing one of the case studies provided in the course, prepare a white paper report to the institution’s board of trustees, describing your vision for change and the anticipated outcomes of that change on student success, retention, and persistence. Your report will include information on how your leadership style and philosophy will facilitate the change, how you will use data-based decisions to drive the change, how you will enlist communication strategies to ensure stakeholder support for the change, and how external challenges will influence the change.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

Introduction: Describe your new institution as profiled within the case study. For instance, what is the state of student success, retention, and persistence within the institution? What is the mission and vision of the institution?
Need for Change
1. Explain why the board of trustees has hired a new president as a change agent. Be sure to address current trends in higher education. For instance, what concerns does the board have about the state of the institution? What drives an institution to seek change in student success, retention, and persistence?
2. Describe your concerns about the state of the institution that drive a need for change. Be sure to identify how your concerns impact student success, retention, and persistence.
Potential Obstacles to Change
1. Explain how the institution’s vision and mission can create an obstacle to change. In general, can an institution change without being informed by its vision and mission? Can the institution’s vision and mission be drivers for change?
2. Illustrate how the institution’s previous data-driven decisions are presented as obstacles to change in student success, retention, and persistence. Be sure to think about various obstacles change agents must overcome while using data to drive decisions and direction.
3. Identify internal challenges with the curriculum delivery model. Be sure to think about how different delivery models impact student success, retention, and persistence. For instance, how does student satisfaction drive curriculum delivery models?
4. Describe external challenges of the institution that could impact change strategies. Be sure to address how the need for change is informed and influenced by external challenges.
Approaches
1. Explain how your leadership style as the new president would impact the needed changes at the institution. Be sure to think about how leadership style influences culture. For instance, think about connections between change and culture of the institution.
2. Describe how your leadership philosophy can drive needed change at the institution. Be sure to address how leadership philosophy informs change strategies.
3. Recommend effective communication strategies that would make a positive impact at the institution. Be sure to explain how they could be implemented at your institution, supporting student success, retention, and persistence. You might want to think about how institutional culture informs the use of communication strategies.
4. Summarize how the recommended communication strategies can encourage stakeholder collaboration at your institution. Think about how the need for collaboration drives strategies.
5. Illustrate how your recommended communication strategies would support change across the institution. Be sure to explain how communication can strengthen a culture of change.
6. Identify how you will evaluate the strategies’ impact on institutional change. For instance, what data-driven decision making methods would you utilize? Think about how change agents ensure that they are implementing strategies that inform all functional units on a campus.
7. Describe the data-based strategies that would communicate the rationale for change to both internal and external constituents. Be sure to think about how data can reinforce the need for change. You might consider how data can influence support for change.
Conclusion
1. Summarize the need for change in student success, retention, and persistence at the institution. Think about how these three concepts impact the culture of the institution.
2. Summarize specific strategies targeting diverse student populations. Be sure to address the anticipated impact of change on student success, retention, and persistence.
3. Describe how the vision and mission of the institution might be impacted by change. What recommendations do you have concerning the mission and vision of the institution? How might your recommendations impact the culture of the institution?
4. Explain how institutional change is informed by predicted future external change. How does institutional action precipitated by the change influence external change?
5. Predict the impact of your recommended data-based strategies for the effectiveness of change on student success, retention, and persistence. Be sure to think about how the future impact of the change is going to be assessed. Are there new assessment metrics that will need to be developed as a result of the change?

Milestones

Milestone One: Selecting a Need for Change In Module Two, you will select one case study that interests you most since this will be the focus of your work for the final project. Throughout this course, this case study will frame your responses for all tasks related to the final project. As you delve into the case, your introduction of it will serve as a backdrop for the description of the need for change and why the change agent has concerns related to the change. This milestone submission addresses critical element I (introduction) and critical element II, section A (new president as a change agent) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for these elements. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Institutional Context and Change In Module Three, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by considering why institutional context is influential to change and by investigating how the institutional context of your case connects with the change process. You will consider the reasons why it is necessary for leaders in higher education administration to acknowledge the influence of institutional context for successful implementation of change. As you do so, use your selected case to explain how the institutional context can create an obstacle to change; assess whether an institution can successfully change without fully understanding its institutional context; assess whether this institution’s context will be an obstacle to the change and explain why or why not. This milestone submission addresses critical element III, section A (vision and mission) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for this element. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Determining Leadership Approaches In Module Four, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by investigating how institutional and individual leadership influences the need for the change and the way the change process is managed. You will assess the impact, influence, and importance of leadership styles and philosophy on change. As part of the final project, critique your selected case to assess the leadership style and philosophy exhibited by the change agent, first by determining who the change agent in the case is. This may involve more than one leader or change agent and it may or may not be a new president. Describe how the leadership philosophy influences and drives institutional change by providing examples that are described in the case or that you predict may be resulting from the leadership style. Offer specific ideas about the exhibited leadership style will impact the change initiative. Draw connections to institutional context to support your conclusions about leadership. Examples you find within the case or those that you predict can support your conclusions. Support your ideas with course literature and referenced sources. This milestone submission addresses critical element IV, section A (leadership style) and section B (leadership philosophy) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for these elements. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.

Milestone Four: Analyzing Communications Strategies to Influence Change In Module Five, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by focusing on communications that will be important in every stage of the change process. You will assess the impact, influence, and importance of communication strategies on change. As part of the final project, for your selected case, critique the communications strategies used to influence and manage the change. Think about what has been done, what has not been done, and what should be done. Recommend effective communication strategies that would make a positive impact for change at the institution outlined in your selected case; explain how the strategies could be implemented to support student success, retention, and persistence. Think about who should be communicating and to whom, how, when, where, and why. Predict how communications strategies can be used to build collaboration and support of the change at your institution and consider why this could be critical to successfully implementing the plan. Predict also how institutional culture influences what communications strategies will be most effective and consider why you have come to those conclusions. Illustrate how recommended communication strategies would support the change and possibly strengthen the culture of the institution. This milestone submission addresses critical element IV, section C (implemented communication strategies) and section E (communication strategies support change) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for these elements. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Four Rubric.

Milestone Five: Identifying Internal and External Influences In Module Six, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by investigating internal and external influences, forces, and challenges that impact the institution. You will identify and examine internal and external challenges at the institution in your case that could impact change strategies. Remember that these challenges may be required or they may be self-initiated. They may present as opportunities or conflicts. Assess the impact, influence, and importance of these internal and external forces and predict how they influence change strategies at the institution. Consider how different delivery models impact student success, retention, and persistence. Defend your ideas about how the need for change is informed and influenced by both internal and external challenges. “Informed” and “influenced” may be described by using examples from similar change initiatives from other institutions, for example. Be sure to consider your conclusions from different perspectives as students may see the influence as a positive change effort whereas your colleagues in the case may view the influence imposing the change as a deterrent to other goals. This milestone submission addresses critical element III, section C (internal challenges curriculum delivery) and section D (external challenges impact change) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for these elements. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Five Rubric.

Milestone Six: Assessment Tools to Inform Data Decisions In Module Seven, you will continue to provide support for the change effort by investigating the use of data to inform the decision and the process used to implement the decision. You will describe data-based strategies that would support and communicate the need for change at the institution described in your selected case study. Identify both qualitative and quantitative assessments that have been or might be used in the case study. Has the data collected been used to adequately support the decisions made? Are additional tools needed or have the tools not been effectively used to gather the correct data to support the decision and to overcome obstacles? Illustrate how the institution’s previous data-driven decisions are presented as obstacles to change in relation to student success, retention, and persistence. Think about the strategies that might be effective in ensuring implementation success and then offer examples of qualitative and quantitative data that might be used. Support your ideas for use of specific data-driven tools to overcome obstacles and support change strategies at your institution. This milestone submission addresses critical element III, section B (data-driven decisions) and critical element IV, section G (data-based strategies communicate change) of the final project, and it serves as an initial draft for these elements. Substantial instructor feedback will be provided for foundational support of the final project. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Six Rubric.

Final Submission: White Paper In Module Nine, you will submit a white paper. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded using the Final Product Rubric.

WEEK 10

HEA 630 Short Paper Guidelines and Rubric

With the knowledge gained through the course, try the Diffusion Simulation Game again.

Prompt

How do your results compare with those from earlier? What has made the biggest impact in the change? Reflect on lessons learned and analyze how this will influence your involvement in the predicted change considered in Module Ten’s discussion as a higher education administrator at Average American University. Offer connections with ideas suggested by Godin, Folds, Buckingham, and other leaders studied throughout the course.

As you write your short paper, be sure to address these critical elements: (a) provide a comparison of Diffusion Game Simulation results, (b) describe and identify the biggest impact for change, and (c) provide application of course content to predict personal influences on change.

What to Submit

Your paper must be submitted and formatted as per the APA Manual, as a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format. Ensure you have a cover sheet and reference sheet. Cover sheet and reference sheet are additional pages.