Please note that the strategic plan is not set in stone. As we begin to implement it, we will also continue to modify it based on our experiences, member feedback, and so forth. 
–From email to NOSSMi members
20 December 2019

Earlier today, the Leadership Team for the Michigan Chapter of the National Organization for Student Success (NOSSMi) released a two-year strategic plan.

Earlier in the week, as I drafted the email we sent today, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a strategic plan for my classes?” I realize that many would argue that the course schedule is the strategic plan for the course. However, I think that there is a significant advantage to having a strategic plan over a course schedule.

Course schedules can be adjusted for snow days or other unexpected events. Yet, the idea of a schedule is that it is fixed insofar as the assessments or other activities are concerned. They can be rearranged, but not changed. Strategic plans are not so fixed that, if the class hits an iceberg, our only option is to rearrange the deck chairs instead of boarding the lifeboats.

I use the metaphor of a calamity because course schedules are constructed with the idea that they will not be altered unless some significant factor forces a change. Strategic plans are more dynamic in their flexibility.  In fact, the ability to grow and change based on experiences, member feedback, and so forth is at the heart of NOSSMi’s strategic plan. Likewise, the strategic plans I have already begun building for next semester’s classes will be modified based on class personality, campus events, student feedback, and more.

I am resistant to course schedules because they must be developed before I meet the class and know the personalities, interests, and backgrounds of my students. For the courses I teach, there are many effective ways to meet the course competencies. Therefore, I like to design the course assessments and other aspects of the course in conjunction with students. For example, last Winter semester, my Introduction to Film students wanted to make films in a class that does not have a competency for film production. Creating films is simply outside the scope of the course. Yet, it was possible for the students and me to redesign the course to make sure that the competencies were met while students produced their films.

If I had a standard course schedule, such a modification could not be made without violating the implied contract which is embedded in the schedule. Yet, a strategic plan implies modification and can be more easily updated.

Because I have already mastered writing vague course schedules that both meet the college requirements while also providing me with the flexibility I desire, why implement a strategic plan next semester? Or, as the cliché advises, “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” If I didn’t believe in continuous improvement, I would take the advice and do nothing new next semester. But even thought it works, I know that I can improve on what I am currently doing with students.

Discussing a written strategic plan will help students better understand my philosophy of student involvement in the course. Providing updated strategic plans throughout the semester will also give students one more tool to visualize how the course is progressing.

Having a written strategic plan will facilitate student transformation in a similar way that the strategic plan released today will help NOSSMi transform. Working with my colleagues in NOSSMi to develop a strategic plan for the organization has provided me with an additional tool I can apply to the classroom.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Image Credit: Climbing to the Heights, from my Promoting Student Transformation at the Community College which will be published by HASTAC on 3 February 2020..

---

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.