Redesign Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum

Author: Kathleen Almy

In education, structural change is never a quick process. In fact, you might say that most of the time, it’s painfully slow. While this is true for most matters, it’s especially true for redesigns at colleges and universities. Redesign always takes longer and is more involved than we first expect it to be. With many unforeseen components, those simple suggestions to “improve a course” or “enhance a placement policy” don’t stop there. Instead, they’re simply starting points. As I often say, redesign has tentacles that can reach further and further than you’d ever expect. 

Redesign is something I’m incredibly passionate about. Because of it, you may have heard me talk about redesign numerous times on my website, in emails, and through my social media accounts. In 2007, as the developmental math coordinator for Rock Valley College, I led a comprehensive redesign of my school’s developmental math sequence. Since then, I’ve been on numerous committees and worked with many schools and even states to successfully implement math redesigns at scale. 

In this post, I give you practical information on the role of buy-ins, funding, and other impacted areas that will help you navigate your own redesign. 

The Role of Buy-in

Buy-in might not be a phrase that everyone likes, but it’s highly critical to any successful redesign. Buy-in not only refers to getting individuals on board to initiate redesign but keeping them on board as well. As this is an ongoing process, you’ll want your most affected stakeholders, such as math faculty, to support the project. Having faculty be a part of the process is critical. When you have faculty in the mix, listening to their concerns plus addressing those concerns can bring successful and long-lasting change in whatever you’re trying to do. The tough conversations have to be had, and that’s with the most affected people. That includes those that are front-facing with the curriculum. 

One thing that you have to keep in mind is that not everything will be pretty. Faculty and administrators, often, all have the same goal. With that said, that might not mean that both parties see it happening in the same way. My advice is to have these hard conversations even though they may bring differing opinions, conflict, etc. The key is to be respectful and open to ideas that you can live with. This keeps the redesign moving forward. As I have been a part of numerous redesigns, I can attest that not everyone will be entirely on board with every decision. But for the sake of reaching that end goal, compromise is necessary.

Funding Redesigns

There are several misconceptions when it comes to funding for redesigns. There’s the idea that you can’t start if you don’t have funding, that if you have funding, such as a grant, you’re golden, and that if you have both the buy-in and the interest, but you’re missing the money, you can’t move forward. First, let me start by saying the above scenarios are all false. Now, let’s look at what we can do in all three of these situations. 

“The absence or presence of money doesn’t guarantee anything”

The absence or presence of money doesn’t guarantee anything. Let’s repeat that. The absence or presence of money doesn’t guarantee anything. I have done redesigns with zero funding or very little funding. While it helps in situations, it doesn’t necessarily motivate people. Doing something that they believe in, can contribute to, and get behind is a great motivator. Of course, we want to compensate people for their time and expertise, but simply having stipends does not elicit buy-in.  

Don’t get me wrong. Having the funding needed for a redesign is beneficial when it comes to planning. If you have the budget, you can decide whether you can bring in experts, send your people to conferences, have someone in your group go on a sabbatical, and pay for those working on the project. It’s great to have that funding, but you can’t let it stop you from starting that conversation. As I mentioned before, as with everything in education, funding takes time, and that’s where buy-in plays a significant role. It’s going to come down to commitment and engagement. 

If your lack of funding is something that’s stopping you, I want to share something. I was hired in several different positions throughout my career where the position and funds did not exist. In every case, the money was found. There’s always a chance that you can find that funding, whether that’s by using a little creativity on your part, such as securing it on a phase-by-phase basis (based on your budget) or by using appropriate budgets that have funds. 

The point is that if you want it, it can be done.  

The Function of Additional Impacted Areas

Other areas of the college, actually many of them, are affected by a redesign. My advice is to include them early and often. Some requests may consist of data inquiries from institutional research and digital infrastructure changes that require support from IT. Another could involve educating advisors and counselors on the redesign changes. Whatever the case, each additional area impacts your timeline. Stay proactive, educate advisors and counselors as soon as possible, ask about IT updates yesterday, and look for creative ways to gather your data quicker. This may involve you doing some of the grunt work, such as pulling and processing data yourself. This is where math faculty can be incredibly useful, as they have the background in making sense of data, including statistical testing. 

As they say, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. The same can be said about redesign. If you’re thinking about it, it’s time to move forward past the conversation phase. 

The Next Steps

So, what next? If you want to start piloting a redesign in the near future, you need to start sooner than you think. The word “near” in the world of redesign means about nine months. You can do it in six months, but it depends on the time of year you begin, how much buy-in you have, and the success of all the other additional areas we talked about in this post. 

If you’re aware of all the different aspects of a redesign, change can absolutely happen. If you’re prepared for the obstacles but are still struggling, don’t let them derail you. If you need help, reach out to me. We love to work with schools to help them make successful changes that last.

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