CABLE - a process to support and implement change.

Presentation at the JISC Curriculum Delivery Programme Meeting May 2010 by Mark Russel and Peter Chatterton:

The CABLE team at Hertfordshire had used the HE Academy Change Academy approach with 16 schools and now 100 staff across the institution. An important aspect of the approach was to foster a partnership between staff in the unit and staff in the schools, they said. In addition, a two day residential allowed departmental teams dedicated time to develop a clear action plan for their projects. Outlining some of the techniques CABLE used, Peter introduced the reverse brainstorming technique, and asked projects to consider the question “How would you increase the student failure rate at your institution?” Projects were forthcoming with ideas which included:

• Don’t have any learning outcomes
• Reduce access to facilities
• Don’t give students any feedback
• Bring in unqualified staff half way through the course
• Change the timetable half way through the course
• Assess the students with one final exam.

It’s easy to see how the list above could quickly generate an action plan for improving the student success rate.