Innovation, Collaboration, and Implementation--ICI

Members

Faculty Chair:: Marybeth Mason, CGCC

District Support:: Naomi Story

Charge

ICI is charged with helping educators make a smooth transition into the 21st century through rewarding innovation in teaching and learning. This group will investigate stimulating and fostering innovation, rewarding collaboration, and causing meaningful change.

Discussion Highlights

Charting Change: Idea to Implementation

The Committee for Innovation, Collaboration, and Implementation (ICI) began the year under this new title, more appropriate for the charge of the committee, which was to continue to refine and reproduce for distribution the Chart for Change. The Chart had been designed as a result of careful research conducted by the committee the previous year. It is the hope of the ICI committee that the flow of change outlined on the fliers and posters we have produced and distributed will be used to help guide those who are interested in innovation and collaboration to be successful in their effort to implement new ideas.

Some assumptions the Ocotillo committee for Innovation, Collaboration, and Implementation made when designing this chart of change:

An "idea" is an innovation or concept that is new or for which a new approach or direction will be used with the intention of improving or enhancing an instructional or co-curricular program.
Implementing this new idea effectively takes time, and the amount of time required for this process depends largely on the complexity and breadth of the idea, as well as outside influences.
Depending on the outcome of the pilot project, any combination of stages in the process may become recursive rather than linear.
The results of charting change may be: integration (integrating the original idea to the point that it becomes routine); evaluation and revision (evaluating and piloting again based on adjustments made to the original idea as needed); broader implementation (expanding the idea beyond the original pilot to increase participation); spin-off (generating a new idea from the process of working through the original); and bail-out (deciding to abandon the idea because of unforeseen barriers).

Some conclusions the committee reached, outlined on the Chart for Change:

A successful innovation most frequently begins at the college level with faculty and staff who have identified an instructional need.
The innovative idea is supported by sound research and a clear rationale, and then it is formulated into a goal with obtainable objectives.
Without collaboration and support from others, which may include colleagues, staff, and administrators at the college and district level, the innovation may never get off the ground.
The idea must be piloted on a small scale and thoughtfully evaluated for someone to determine whether to complete the project, revise it, or "bail-out." Change is risky for everyone involved; therefore, it must be encouraged and supported with the understanding that "bail-out" is always viable.
Broader implementation demands the expansion of support financially and administratively, and a "buy in" by colleagues is often motivated by incentives.
On-going training, follow-up, support, and evaluation, sustained over a three-to-five-year-period, will help to ensure permanent integration of the innovation.

What next?

The Maricopa County Community College District has always been a leader in innovation. The ICI committee hopes that innovators in Maricopa will use this Chart for Change to steer them to successful implementation of new ideas in order to improve the educational services offered to our students.

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