From Evidence Base to Evidence Use: Operationalizing the Integration not Concatenation (InC) Paradigm for Instructor-Driven Course Redesign

Instructors in higher education are increasingly expected to integrate emerging content—such as ethical reasoning, artificial intelligence, or data literacy—into existing courses, often without adequate support, guidance, or alignment with evidence-based practices. This paper introduces a structured and research-informed paradigm for instructor-led course redesign: Integration not Concatenation (InC). InC equips instructors to revise their own syllabi, learning outcomes, and assessments in ways that embed new material coherently and evaluably, without disrupting the cognitive architecture of their courses.The InC paradigm is grounded in two cognitive-science-informed models of change: the augmented Diffusion of Innovations (aDOI) and the augmented Theory of Change Management (aToCM). These models reframe curricular change as a cognitively demanding process and offer practical guidance for supporting instructors through message framing, knowledge transfer, alignment, and feedback. The paper details how InC operationalizes these models in a multi-phase intervention—the Hackathon of Educational Materials—that builds instructional agility, coherence, and evaluability.We synthesize research from curriculum theory, backward design, cognitive load theory, and cognitive complexity to support InC’s theoretical and practical claims. Outcomes include alignment of course elements, enhanced instructor confidence, and support for higher-order student learning. The paper concludes with implications for broader adoption, including use in faculty development, general education reform, and evidence-based instructional design. InC offers a fidelity-focused, scalable, and actionable strategy to support instructor-led change—bridging the persistent gap between educational research and pedagogical practice.