Impact Spectrum

The Education Collaborative Initiative views impact along a spectrum with different levels that are not hierarchical, but instead show depth and breadth of impact. Our impact model is based on Marina Kim’s article on Rethinking the Impact Spectrum, and as adopted by the Ashoka U network. Impact is viewed along four levels.

Direct Service

• The institution’s academic, non-academic, leadership, and management structures are optimized to provide the best possible student outcomes for its students
• Engaged institution focuses on themselves. The institution identifies areas not maximized for impact and works on the structures, processes, and culture, needed to improve and maximize the outcomes for students. Sets up to expand impact beyond own campus.

Scaled Direct Service

• Institution engages an efficient structure and process to share key models and learnings with peers in its region. Impacts others beyond its internal campus and stakeholders.
• Engaged as a mentor and supports peers, either at the unit level, or at the institutional level through sharing learning. The institution identifies key partnerships in the community, industry, regulators, and funders, and explores network to maximize outcome of partnerships.

Systems Change

• Regional network impact: Institution maintains influence among collective, supporting its mentees to mentor others and actively contributing to the efficient development and administration of systems for learning and tracking of impact in region.
• Institution’s engagement is toward the collective and developing inter-institution accountability and support regionally. Identifies stakeholders in policy, regulation, and funding with interests in region, and nurtures those relationships.

Framework Change

• Institution contributes to strengthening the connection to HE stakeholders in the region, and leads regional collective to persistently maintain quality and influence regulation and policy