# Presentation: 372768

## Dissemination Strategiesfor a Hub and Spokes ModelMentoring Institution with Adaptors

- Based on presentation notes
-  by Laurie Schreiner, Eastern College
- at the annual FIPSE Project Directors’ Meeting, November 2000
- lschrein@eastern.edu
- Edited by Rosemary Wolfe, former FIPSE program officer

## If you’re thinking of disseminating your program....

- Do you have a **documented** measurable track record of success?
- Strong evaluation data based on student learning and performance
- Measures that are objective and go beyond self-reporting and participant attitudes

## Disseminating your program....

- Do you have committed, active, and competent team leaders in your program?
- Including all relevant levels of the campus community
- Administrators, faculty, staff, students

## Disseminating your program....

- Do you have strong commitment from adaptors?
- How will you sustain the program’s dissemination and scale-up to a national level?

## Select Adapters Carefully

- Communicate clear expectations to adapting institutions
- Institutional buy-in is essential
- Encourage recruitment of team members who
- are capable of implementing the program, have credibility, and possess excellent interpersonal skills
- Research the systems, infrastructure, and capability of the institution
- not only to implement the program but also to continue to support it beyond the grant period

## If you plan to adapt a proven model....

- consider these conditions for successful reform on your campus

## Four Key Conditions Conducive to Adapting a New Model at Your Institution

- Institutional Buy-In
- 2.  Clear Implementation Goals
- 3.  Capable Team Members
- 4.  Sound Infrastructure

## 1.  Institutional Buy-In

- secure commitment from the president and administrators in positions to “get things done”
-  include the VP and other key administrators on program planning teams
- build on previous collaborations with the mentoring institution that form the basis for continuing relationships

- Adapting a New Model
- 			 at Your Institution

## 2. Clear Implementation Goals

- Detailed expectation of all partners
- what are they supposed to do?
- what is their commitment?
- Outcomes clearly defined
- what will success look like?
- how will you measure success?

## 3. Capable Team Members 

- The “doers” with good interpersonal skills
- “people power” to help others understand the program and want to be part of it
- Enthusiastic participants who believe in the program
- NOT reluctant appointees

## 4. Sound Infrastructure

- Available equipment?
- Cost share for overhead contributed?
- Support for continuing and institutionalizing the program after funding?

## Disseminating the Program:  Collaboration Strategies That Work

- Build on previous research collaboration and needs assessment
- Conduct workshops at mentoring institution
- Establish contact procedures
- Site visits to adapting institutions

## Collaboration Strategies That Work

- Establish partnerships
- Individual work with each campus
- Campuses working with each other
- Replicate key program elements
- Adapt to campus needs

## Collaboration Strategies That Work

- Active and regular communication
- Regular “face” meetings with community building activities
- Flexible approach to unique approaches and systems on different campuses

## Obstacles to Successful Dissemination

- Team turnover
- Team leader not empowered to act
- Insufficient communication (on campus, as well as between adaptor and mentor)
- Campus systems are too complex for change or are incompatible with grant goals
- Campus politics

## Dealing with Obstacles

**Team turnover**
- breadth of support is important:  with many on campus informed and involved, someone can step in if a team member leaves
- encourage teams to meet regularly
- establish stable teams with a two to three year commitment to the project

## Dealing with Obstacles

**Team leader not empowered to act**
- determine if the problem is with leadership skills or with delegation of authority
- consider adding a co-leader or substituting an alternate
- talk with higher-level administration to empower or replace leader

## Dealing with Obstacles

**Insufficient communication**
- regular meetings scheduled in advance
- communicate with teams rather than with individuals only
- have team co-leaders at each site

## Dealing with Obstacles

**Campus systems are too complex or incompatible with program goals**
- have administrator on each team who can cut through the “red tape”
- find out ahead of time about hardware/software systems available
- identify campus system support offices and policies for grants, finance, publicity

## Dealing with Obstacles

**Campus politics**
**Team leader must be highly credible**
**Provide advance publicity of grant activities and purpose**
**Maintain full support of upper-level administration**
**Recruit energetic team members with broad-based campus support**
**Conduct site visits that include faculty workshops**
**Intentionally address issues of faculty territoriality and workload**

## Dissemination Beyond the Adapters

- Communicate through print and web with
- Newsletters, web sites, national conferences
- Published compendium of best practices and sample syllabi
- Establish a home-based resource for training and follow-up
- Campus visits based on interest in the program
- Market plan for independent sustainability

## For more ideas.....

- Check the abstracts on FIPSE dissemination projects
- Read “Lessons Learned” for best practices
- www.ed.gov/FIPSE