From Faculty to Change Agent: Lessons Learned in the Development and Implementation of a Change Workshop

Agents of change face opposition from multiple angles, yet see opportunity in unexplored corners. In higher education, pressures are mounting: the global economy is uncertain and dynamic, intellectual content is widely accessible, institutional costs are rising, and alternatives to a traditional degree are growing. In this paper, we describe the evolution of the Making Academic Change Happen (MACH) workshop, in which both faculty and staff learn to become effective change agents. The fundamental learning outcome from our workshop planning and development process was the realization that becoming a change agent requires the acquisition of skills outside the realm of typical faculty experience—strategic thinking, creating working partnerships, and garnering support for far reaching ideas. To be successful, faculty must intentionally learn these skills and practice them in advance of their deployment. As a result, MACH is a manifestation of the philosophy “you have to do it to know it” (i.e., practice and feedback help develop mastery). While we believe that the in-person MACH experience is invaluable for supporting change initiatives, we have identified key resources that individuals can utilize on their own. These resources are readily available, inexpensive, and outside the realm of typical faculty development, making them essential in the process of becoming a change agent.