This article was published in CAUSE/EFFECT journal, Volume 21 Number 4 1998. The copyright is shared by EDUCAUSE and the author. See http://www.educause.edu/copyright for additional copyright information.
Recommended Reading
Leading Change
by John P. Kotter
(Harvard Business School Press, 1996, $24.95, 208 pages)
ISBN 0-87584-747-1Reviewed by Doug Gale
The book Leading Change, by John P. Kotter, is a "must read" for any CIO or senior manager contemplating institutional change. It elaborates on the ideas contained in the author's widely read article "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail," which appeared in the March-April 1995 issue of Harvard Business Review.
The book identifies eight mistakes that cause transformational efforts to fail and then recasts those mistakes into an eight-stage process for change. For example, mistake number one, allowing too much complacency, becomes stage one, establishing a sense of urgency. The author argues that even though it's normal to operate in multiple stages at once, the process is sequential in that no stage can be skipped. Thus, it is difficult to make substantial progress in stages two through eight unless most managers believe the status quo is unacceptable.
The eight stages of Kotter's change process are:
- Stage 1: Establishing a Sense of Urgency. This stage calls for examining the market and competitive realities and identifying potential crises and opportunities.
- Stage 2: Creating the Guiding Coalition. Essential to the change process is putting together a group with enough power and cohesiveness to lead the change.
- Stage 3: Developing a Vision and Strategy. This stage considers creating a vision and developing strategies for achieving that vision.
- Stage 4: Communicating the Change Vision. The new vision must be communicated using every vehicle possible, and the guiding coalition must model the behavior expected of employees.
- Stage 5: Empowering Broad-Based Action. This stage considers the importance of getting rid of obstacles, changing structures that undermine the vision, and encouraging risk taking and nontraditional thinking.
- Stage 6: Generating Short-Term Wins. Visible improvements, or "wins," are essential for keeping the momentum of the change process.
- Stage 7: Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change. By using increased credibility, other systems that don't fit the vision can be changed.
- Stage 8: Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture. Finally, the change must be anchored in the organizational culture to endure. Processes must be developed to ensure continued leadership development and succession.
Change is inherent in information technology, and Kotter's eight-stage process forms an invaluable blueprint for successfully implementing change.
Reviewer Doug Gale ([email protected]) is Director of OARnet.
Teaching and Learning Materials and the Internet
by Ian Forsyth
(Stylus Publishing, 1998, $27.50, 192 pages)
ISBN 0-7494-2606-3Reviewed by Cynthia Golden
With the second edition of Teaching and Learning Materials and the Internet, Ian Forsyth has updated his handbook for delivery of instruction via the Internet, adding greater emphasis on the experience of the learner. The author provides an overview of both the educational as well as administrative considerations of delivering courses via the Internet.
An instructor venturing for the first time into the world of online teaching and learning will find that Forsyth offers a detailed and well-organized introduction, without the "for dummies" perspective we so often find in overview materials. The early chapters keep the focus on teaching and learning, and emphasize the appropriate use of technology in support of education, not the technology itself. Forsyth remains true to this throughout the book, spending little time on commercially available course tools, and much more on instructional design considerations.
Forsyth is careful to point out that while changes in technology are rapid and offer many possibilities, if we are not careful, we will repeat mistakes made in the past and end up with nothing but "electronic page-turning" and limited or no interaction between learner and instructor. As the role of the student changes from that of a four-year undergraduate to a lifelong learner, he advises the reader to consider the changing role of the teacher in the development of Internet-based courses. He sees the teacher's role moving away from face-to-face teaching and being the source of all knowledge, to serving as a mentor and facilitator for the learner, and he offers guidelines to achieve this. He follows with a review of how people learn and discussions of why and when one would consider using the Internet to deliver course materials: necessary background and instructional design preparation for those considering putting a course online.
Forsyth also provides practical advice and approaches for budgeting and planning, not only for the course developer and the institution, but for the learner as well. While minimum recommendations for student computer configurations become quickly outdated (he recommends "a lot of memory"--16 MB and a 500+MB hard drive), his recommendation to students about preparing themselves in terms of both computer literacy and information literacy skills is sound. An A-Z glossary of terms is included, but is only useful if the reader has read the entire book, and doesn't serve well for a quick look-up. Some definitions for terms presented are clear and well thought out, but others are cryptic and confusing (e.g., "spoofing: This is actually a surrogate site enabling people to access at the local level in their Internet access.")
The author writes in a conversational, first-person style, which some readers may enjoy. All in all, this book provides a good introduction to instructional design for the Internet and could be recommended to those entering the world of online instruction.
Reviewer Cynthia Golden ([email protected]) is Executive Director of Computing and Technology Services at Duquesne University.
