Which is more important? HOW to do something? Or WHY we should even do it in the first place?
Context Matters
When a solution is needed by a college and a provider has that solution, shouldn’t the rest be easy?
Innovation 101
Google it. Explore if through ERIC. Do what you do so well! Research the idea, the strategy, etc. See how other schools have done it, or alternatively, see if there are reasons schools have chosen NOT to do something. Look at the business stream in which the initiative was accomplished and then ask how it might be performed in a your specific higher education context. Ping your network and ask colleagues what they think. Go to Twitter or LinkedIn and create a post about it, looking for comments and feedback. Just noodle with it. Even if you finally conclude that it can’t work or if you never end up using it, the continual practice will help. See, as you collect more and more of those ideas, you’ll start to have a throng of options available when the right day comes.
I Can Name Innovation In Three Notes….
Is taking a solution used at another school…or maybe a hundred other schools, and implementing that solution at your school innovative? You can argue that every school is a completely unique context. After all, your school has your own ecosystem filled with nay-sayers, accreditation concerns, nuanced courses, niche enrollments, etc. So, if that is your definition of context (instead of education vs health care, etc), then I guess EVERY school is innovative. But that seems like an incredibly watered down version of innovation to me. I don’t think that is innovative.