It's About Learning

I consider myself a student of learning which means I MUST also be a student of innovation. I follow a Blog called Innovations and the archived post Six Things That Innovative Companies Do Well caught my eye. I have modified these six things to suite academia rather than business. Here is my take on the Six Things That Innovative Universities Do Well:

1. Question Everything – I agree with article’s author, that this is the most important factor in innovation and the most difficult to embrace. Like corporations, Institutions create big political and organizational impediments to change, making any challenge to the status quo a risky proposition. Innovative [institutions], on the other hand, reward challenges to conventional wisdom and take pains to position change as a positive part of the [institutional]/corporate culture.
2. Accept failure — Without the willingness to be wrong or to even fail innovation will never happen.
3. Don’t leave the innovation to the engineers/consultants – simplicity is often the best option for meeting the needs of learners. Engineers/consultants/specialists are great at designing elegant solutions to complex problems but these solutions often lack the elegance of simplicity. Faculty have the closest contact with the learner and will most ofen have the best solutions.
4. Learn constantly – If you don’t prepare people to do their work/teach/learn differently, they’ll never change. It’s human nature for people to avoid situations that may embarrass or humiliate them. Businesses [Institutions] that ask people to embrace change without preparing them to handle it set themselves up for failure at best, revolt at worst.
5. Try, try again – Institutions too often bail out of good ideas because they don’t succeed quickly.
6. Be wary of market research – Innovative institutions are in touch with their learners. Use research on the desires of the learner to validate your assumptions, but not to create your courses and services. The consumerist attitude of the learner should NOT drive the learning environment development but is should influence how we communicate with learners.