Workshop delivered at the 2019 Northeast OER Consortium.

1. Begin an OER Strategic Plan
Considering Context & Interpersonal Dynamics of Change

2. Jeremy Anderson
Deputy Chief of Academic & Administrative
Technology
The American Women’s College at Bay Path
University
Jillian Maynard
Reference Librarian at University of Hartford
Leader of Campus OER Initiative

3. Our initiatives
Bay Path University
● OER Committee (cross-institutional)
● Piloted stipend model (trad, grad)
○ Adopt $
○ Adapt $$
○ Author $$$
● OER first strategy (TAWC)
○ 31% of catalog OER or no-cost
○ All high-enrollment courses
○ $484k savings in AY18-19
University of Hartford
● Started in 2016 as a subcommittee of the
Information Technology Executive council
(ITEC)
● 2017-2018 OpenStax Institutional
Partnership Program
○ Ran a grant program for five projects
○ Planned and hosted an OER workshop for
faculty, staff, and surrounding institutions
● 2018-2019 SPARC Open Education
Leadership Program Fellow
● Led an OER Textbook Review Workshop
for 9 faculty
● Slowly gaining adopters, but more of a
grassroots transition, other than two intro
courses fully moving over

4. What we’re going to do
Identify transformational layers that facilitate change
Summarize levers in transformational layers
Characterize adopter categories in diffusion research
Identify communication tactics during diffusion process

5. Change Model

6. Adapted from Burke & Litwin (1992)

7. Adapted from Burke & Litwin (1992)

8. Mission & Strategy
Public Institutions
Serves local area
Undergraduate excellence
Liberal arts
Civic duty/service
Teaching centered
Prepare for world
Private Institutions
Liberal arts
Civic duty/service
Diversity
Student development
Prepare for world
Rigorous academically
Morphew & Hartley (2006)

9. Leadership
Who is primed to support?
Who would benefit from supporting?
Who has funds to support?
Who tends to endorse and champion t&l initiatives?

10. Organizational
Culture
Adapted from O’Reilly, Chatman, and Caldwell (1991)

11. Diffusion of Innovations

12. Adopter Categories
Rogers (2003)

13. Adopter Categories to Target

14. Finding the Early Adopters
Personal Characteristics
Higher social status
On an upward trajectory
Come from larger units
Greater empathy
Less dogmatic
Abstract, rational thinkers
Communication Characteristics
More social participation and communication
Cosmopolite
Interact with change agents (you!)
Seek information
More knowledgeable of innovations
Opinion leadership

15. Adoption S Curve
Time
Cumulative
Adoption

16. Communication Tactics
Time
Mass communication tactics,
light 1:1 adoption support
Socialization tactics,
moderate 1:1 adoption support
Heavy 1:1 persuasion and
adoption support

17. Successful Change Behaviors
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Link change to faculty needs
Work through the opinion leaders
Be like those you hope to change
Increase the ability to evaluate the innovation

18. Further Reading
Burke, W. W. (2014). Organization change: Theory and practice (4th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.
Burke, W. W., & Litwin, . (1992). A causal model of organisation performance and change. Journal of
Management, 18(3), 523–545.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.
Summary of Rogers’ diffusion model (10 pp.)
Cable & Judge’s Organizational Culture Profile tool (appendix in article)

19. Activity 1 - Mission and Vision
1. Find and read your institutional mission, vision, strategy document
2. Sketch your OER initiative mission and vision on Planning Outline
3. Share
4. Whole group discussion - Similarities, differences, aha moments?

20. Activity 2 - Abbreviated SWOT
1. Complete the OER Readiness Assessment
2. Share as a group and write on large sticky
3. Circulate to review other groups' stickies, taking notes
4. Summarize on the Planning Outline your institution's greatest strengths/opps
and weaknesses

21. Activity 3 - Strategies
1. Pair up and exchange documents so far
2. Consider the presentation and conversation
3. Brainstorm together strategies that you each could use
4. Share at table and/or whole group

22. Activity 4 - Stakeholders
1. Consider the presentation and review the Stakeholder Analysis Matrix
2. Brainstorm as a group: where are the executive champions and early
adopters? The potential resisters?
3. Fill out the Stakeholder Matrix for your institution - one champion, one/two
early adopters, one/two resisters
4. Transfer stakeholder matrix highlights to the Planning Outline: champion,
potential committee members, etc.

23. Activity 5 - Communication Plan
1. Consider the presentation
2. As a group, consider
a. mass communications for early in the process
b. network leveraging activities that will connect you (change agent) and early adopters to more
potential adopters
c. 1:1 strategies to work with later adopters who will need more guidance and support
3. Fill communication section of Planning Outline
4. Share to the whole room your table’s favorite strategies