A blueprint for transformational organisational change in higher education : REAP as a case study

Introduction In this chapter we discuss a large-scale development project in a higher education institution, the REAP project (Re-engineering Assessment Practices), in relation to transformational organisational change. In earlier papers (Draper and Nicol, 2006: Nicol and Draper, 2008) we discussed innovation at the level of course redesign. Here we focus on change at the level of the whole institution. The following are the questions we wish to address: what are the obstacles to achieving transformational change in teaching and learning across a whole institution?; what were the strengths and weaknesses of the REAP approach in this respect?; what lessons have we learned and what advice would we now give to other HE institutions or to national agencies that fund projects to improve teaching and learning across a whole institution? We first provide some background, identify some barriers to institutional change and give a brief overview of the REAP project. We then discuss aspects of REAP that proved effective in addressing these barriers.