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Did you know you can Making Radical Change a Reality Printer-Friendly Page
earn Sony products for 10 Tips for Implementing Curricular Innovation Email This Article
your institution? By James M. Danko
Get the details here. Comments
December 2008
Guides & Directories
Major curricular change—and the internal cultural shift required for such change to occur within higher
Consultants Guide education—is not easy. Over the past two years, the Villanova School of Business (VSB) has worked
Finance Guide to reinvent its undergraduate program. The school has successfully achieved this objective, and now, in
the fall of 2008, a bold new curriculum has been introduced to first-year students. The VSB community
High-definition video and has learned a great deal from this experience, and still has much to learn as the new curriculum
audio technologies for evolves.
higher education from
The highlights of VSB’s two-year curricular innovation process are captured below, in the form of 10
tips for institutions that may be considering a curricular redesign at this time.

Save the date! TIP #1: TIMING IS EVERYTHING.


EduComm 2009 Dramatic curricular change is easier if timed to occur at a point of exceptionally positive momentum in
June 16-18th, Orlando, your school’s history on the non-curricular side. Examples of such a point include:
Florida
-a new building or other major facilities improvement;
Topics in Higher Ed
-a major gift to the school or a marked increase in financial giving;
Technology
Finance -new leadership at the school; or
Facilities
Management & Admin. -a sharp increase in public recognition, e.g., through rankings or media coverage.
Enrollment & Financial Aid
Such momentum leads to positive cultural energy and excitement. Such an environment can foster a
Campus Security
collective attitude that deeper, larger-scale changes are both possible and desirable.

Education Jobs TIP #2: MAKE CURRICULAR CHANGE PART OF YOUR SCHOOL’S OVERALL STRATEGIC
View Jobs VISION.
Post a Job Identifying your school’s strategic priorities in a vision statement—and communicating this vision
statement clearly and repeatedly so that everyone in the community truly owns it—underscores the
importance of investing in these priorities. It also provides a larger strategic context for curricular
change. There is almost no incentive for implementing curricular change simply for change’s sake.
However, when such change is part of a larger strategic objective—and leads directly to the long-term
well-being of the school and its students—then there is a very real impetus to get it done. Related News
USF Trustees Agree to
VSB established a vision to “be a globally-recognized, premier business school, and to leverage its Contract With Faculty and
Ponder Tuition Hike
strong undergraduate program and multi-dimensional faculty to achieve as such.” This vision provided
focus to the community’s curricular innovation efforts. It highlighted the importance of investing Faculty Opposes Plan to
End Tenure for New Hires
resources and energy into a flagship program and established the importance of faculty within those
efforts. Studies Link Part-Time
College Faculty to Worse
Education
TIP #3: RESPECT THE SCHOOL’S TRADITION AND CULTURE. Faculty Association Plans
Even in the midst of dramatic curricular innovation, your school is defined and anchored by its to Sue UT Regents Over
Closed UTMB Meeting
fundamental tradition and culture. These differentiating attributes are likely to be, in large part, the very
reason that your students, alumni, faculty, and staff were attracted to the school in the first place. If Cal State Students, Faculty
Protest Proposed Cuts in
the nature and content of curricular changes—and the process by which they occur—reflect the Admission, Budget
distinguishing characteristics of your school, then they are much more likely to succeed.
Related Articles
For example, the Augustinian culture at VSB has always been one in which personalized education and Running Out of Room
holistic development of students—intellectually, personally, and professionally—is the highest priority. Who Cares About the
Respect for this cultural tenet was critical in making the case for dramatic curricular changes. Once Mission?
VSB faculty members were convinced that such changes would lead to higher educational quality for
their students, their support was easier to obtain. Ready, Set, Respond

TIP #4: KEEP A TRULY DIVERSE GROUP OF FACULTY AT THE HEART OF THE INNOVATION Small Steps to Safety
PROCESS.
Curricular innovation should provide new opportunities to faculty members with genuinely diverse Lecture Capture: A Fresh
Look
strengths, interests, research areas, backgrounds, and priorities, and such faculty should be

1 of 2 12/18/2008 11:41 AM
Higher Education : Articles, News, Blogs http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1187

empowered to make curricular changes and to vet these changes with the faculty at large. Through HR Directors Speak Out
faculty empowerment and self-regulation, turf battles tend to be resolved, mostly through trade-offs.
Innovation can thereby create a scholarly work environment that is more energizing for faculty, which in
turn can create an academic experience that is more energizing for students. Since faculty is the
primary source of imagination and planning behind your school’s educational offerings, they should be
the primary owners of the innovation process.

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