It is very simple to do introduce things and do things. Too easy. Changes can be made on the spur of the moment, or with a few minutes thought. However, achieving success is not as easy. Most changes (e.g., changing the status quo in a continuous improvement approach) do not go as planned and 'fail' in some way. Most as in 90%. Success is not easy. One of the reasons changes do not work is that that they are not thought through. They are not planned. A holistic view is not taken. Poor decisions result and poor decision making usually leads to a bumpy road and failure. Always remember: just because you can does not mean that you should.

In this note, we provide a short overview of the key principles we follow when doing change management. The principles are not a magical incantation or will guarantee success, but they will improve the odds of a reasonable outcome.

Not all of the points apply to all changes, but many might. The more impactful a change might be, more of the points apply. There is a process and there are points which can be used as checklists during the process; things to consciously reflect upon when contemplating a change.

It basically comes down to planning, doing, checking, and adjusting. There are six key questions:

• Does the change make sense and is warranted?
• Do you understand what the change means and what will likely happen?
• Are you and the TAs ready?
• Are the students ready?
• Do you have the capacity for adapting and change as the future reveals itself?
• Do you have solid back-up plans in place?

In the beginning…

• Always include a cooling off period between the initial desire to make a change and proceeding. Let the adrenalin and emotions lower a bit, do not rush into a change when the situation is 'hot', allow time to think, get input.
• Need to know why you think you need to do a change? You are not ‘satisfied’ with the current status quo. Why? What is the evidence that suggests a change is needed?
• Have you done a root-cause, cause & effect thinking exercise to ensure that you are indeed working on the cause and not a symptom?
• Why do you think that the contemplated change will result in the effect you are seeking?
• Many changes have been attempted that were not well thought out and should never have been attempted. Think it through. You do not want to say later: ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’.
• As part of this, is the decision to proceed based on the needs of all stakeholders? All too often it is the squeaky wheel, or the enthusiast for a new learning approach, that drives the process, and that means that others, who may have different views, are not being represented.
• Be skeptical about the claims of others - all too often they want to put their own decisions in a good light.
• Have a clear vision. If you can't explain to others what you are going to do, and why, spend more time thinking about this some more before you proceed.
• Is the change being driven by extraordinary circumstances (e.g. covid) that won't be a problem in the longer term? How long have you had the desire to change? What about others who are familiar with the course?

Assuming that you think that you should do the deed…

• Be patient, do not rush. Do not do things that will spook, scare, frighten or stress the students.
• If the change is high risk or has any chance of going south, do not go it alone; ensure that the plans and concepts are agreed to by department’s teaching resource and the institution's Centre for Teaching. This is part of risk management. Just because you think it is a good idea, does not mean that it is, nor that it makes sense. If there are bumps and issues, you want to make sure that others also thought it was a good idea and that you were going about it in a reasonable way.
• As J. Sweet noted in 1885 in the A.S.M.E. journal, do not be surprised by the unexpected when dealing with new inventions. You should have some answers and plans in place that are fair to the students and which allow for a graceful, knowing recovery. They will know if you are doing improv. Improv is not good.
• Try to capture a baseline profile so that you know the situation before the change and if possible, establish outcomes so that you know what you are expecting to do, have something to compare to when done.

Doing the deed…

• Understand The Essence – The Type Of Change Matters
• Changes in delivery methodology and methods are different from changes in assessment methodology.
• Changes in advance of the course are not the same as making changes during the course; students will have expectations and some might have already planned and did activities anticipating what was originally in the course.
• What are you actually changing? What assumptions and existing comforts and skills are you challenging, tearing down, changing?
• The students will react differently. There are different issues and risks. Know your students. They are more open to change at some stages than at others; they have fewer preconceived notions as to what is appropriate and not in first year than in upper years. The magnitude is important too; 2% of a course grade is different than 40% of a course grade. If its an assessment, and its higher stakes, what sort of scaffolding should be provided? Students should experience nothing new in terms of techniques for the final exam or any large project. Don't throw them into the deep end before you have either taught them to swim, or have evidence that others have taught them to swim. And in the latter case, be sure to put in a check for swimming ability in case the prior experiences change.
• New assessment methods require more care and attention. The students will have preconceived ideas about what they have to do to get a certain grade, result. You are messing with that. Parachutes, do-overs, constructive failure, etc. are important.
• The methods might also be new to the TAs and they will need to be comfortable with them, and have experience with them before the students.
• Is the change sustainable? Is it something that the next instructor will have to have experience in? Understand? Agree with?
• Consider what can be done in stages. What can be rolled back? It is ok to take a few terms to implement a concept totally.
• Is anyone else relying on what you had and will not have (or do)? Are there any co-dependencies on the methods.
• Over-Confidence and Flight Checklist - Are You Ready?

• What do you have to learn in order to pull off the change with minimum ‘negative’ impact? Is this method/change new to you? Have you actually ‘done’ it, or have you just read about it, a few hours in a workshop?
• Even if you have done it before, or observed another doing it, you need to identify all of the differences between that previous experience and your proposed experience. What worked in a grad course may not work in your second year core course. If you can't list the characteristics that are different, and how you are going to deal with them, go back to planning.
• How much time and how many resources will be needed? Do you have enough of both?
• Who can you ask who has done this before? Walked the path before you?
• Can you observe, review the situation in context?
• Can you help, participate, learn from ‘hands-on’?
• Watch out for relying solely on student enthusiasm. Beware, when you find yourself saying I did this in a small amount and the students liked it. Students don't always know what is good for them. They will always ask for less work, more practice problems, and extended time to work on something.
• Environmental Check & Expectation Setting
• What are the direct and indirect relationships, assumptions, dependencies, co-dependencies – helps to make a list and think it through.
• Is this innovation also ‘new’ to the students? What do the students need to learn, practice, understand about the planned change? What are the assumptions being made about the student population – skills, expertise, motivation?
• The more ‘new’ things are, the longer the ramp up, learning curve will be, and the more likely some practice and trial activities will be needed before ‘real’ assessments should be attempted.
• Transparency & Communication
• Students will know what a course was like before and if there are key changes being made. The students need to know how any significant change will impact learning outcomes and course grading.
• Explanations are necessary – what was, what will be, and why. Debrief and discuss the changes (if they are new methods to the students) as the course proceeds.
• State what is known. State what is uncertain. It is better to prepare students for uncertainty than to just have things suddenly change when they though it would be stable. Sometimes people don't want to admit things are uncertain because they think then students won't have confidence in them. If you can't find a way to make students confident about a change when uncertainties are being disclosed, you haven't done enough work on backup plans and mitigation strategies.
• Build a relationship based on respect with your students and they are more likely to trust in your judgement to manage change. If the trust isn't there, spend some time building it first.
• Confidence and Credibility
• Students will not like to be experimented with and they will want to know that you know what you are doing. Need to deliver without fear and without wavering.
• Risk Management - VERY IMPORTANT
• Measure three times, cut once. Do not RUSH the change.
• Have a ‘buddy’ that will ask the hard questions, go through checklists, ask what needs to be asked, not what you want to be asked; tell you what needs to be said, not what you want to hear.
• Need to dry run, get any kinks out of it.
• Consider only one major change at a time.
• Allow time to stabilize between changes. You need clarity on each change; what caused what.

• During the change, have observers, extra help to observe students, understand.
• Do not do sudden changes, at ‘peak’ or stress related times.
• If the change is extended, have periodic checks during the change to ensure that things are on course.
• Contingency Management
• Blame yourself first for any bumps. Do not blame the students. It is your responsibility to create a situation in which the students will succeed and not the other way around. Be the grown up.
• Have a back up plan. Spend a more than a few seconds or minutes thinking about what can go south and what you might need to do.
• If students have lost time or effort because of the issue, consider bonus marks or other ways of making things right.
• Monitor the process and be prepared to do an intervention if necessary.
• Do not book everything to the last minute, allow time in the plan for oopsies and recovery.
• Post Review
• What went as expected. What went better? Why? What went worse? Why? What was supposed to happen that did not? Why? What happened that was not expected? Why?
• What was learned about the process of change?
• What was learned about the actual change? Student side? Instructor side?
• What would have been done differently in hindsight?
• What should be changed moving forward?
• Note near misses - things that were okay, but are risk points in future offerings. Watch out for wanting to push the envelope further in future offerings without going back and considering the risks again.
• Be honest in your assessment, and don't be afraid to seek critical reviews. Nothing is worse than having someone who will only look at the successes and then paper over the cracks.
• Watch out for interactions - if minor problem X and minor problem Y both occur one has catastrophe Z. Interactions might not be linear.
• Think about what sorts of permanent safeguards should be in play - not just the ones in place during the change.
• Think about the handover - is this change only reasonable when implemented by you, or can it reasonably be handed over to another instructor who might be teaching the course in future. If it isn't in a state to be handed over, you are not finished with implementing the change.

Further reading

• https://asq.org/training/guide-to-process-improvement-and-change-gpic
• https://www.ciodive.com/news/change-management-accenture/588849/