Innovation in university teaching and other educational practices is considered to be vital if universities are going to continue to play their pivotal role in developing people for a world that is becoming ever more complex and challenging.
This meeting of the International Forum of Innovators in University Teaching is convened by the University Vice Presidency for Studies, Development and Academic Accreditation, represented by the Deanship for Development of University Education at the Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 'The forum aims to disseminate experiences of creative university teaching and its methods of development, and contribute to providing real teaching experiences as a step towards the promotion of innovation and excellence in university learning and teaching practices. The forum also strives to create appropriate means to ensure the transfer and exchange of excellent teaching experiences and practices among all interested in applying modern and effective methods of university learning and teaching in universities inside and outside Saudi Arabia'.
'The Wicked Challenge of Changing a University:
Stimulating Bottom-up Innovation through Strategic Change'
Universities are inherently conservative and risk averse when it comes to changing what they do, 'yet to play its indispensible function in the new competitive environment, the typical university must change more quickly and more fundamentally than it has been doing' (Christensen and Eyring 2011: xxiii). In order to change universities need to stimulate, harness and focus the collective imaginations, energies and creative capabilities of their staff. But accomplishing strategic change in a university is a 'wicked problem' (Rittel and Webber 1973). The problem of how to change is often ill-defined and ambiguous, it is usually contested, and it is typically associated with strong moral, political, ideological and professional opinions and values (Richie 2011). Trying to bring about significant change in a university can be a messy and emotional business.
Drawing on a recent study of how a university attempted to engage with this challenge through a three year strategic change programme (Jackson in press), the presentation will try to provide some insights into the process, practice and results of bottom-up innovation in a university engaged in strategic change. A combination of determined and consistent leadership, facilitative management and additional resources, attracted and empowered teachers (faculty) and service providers to engage in innovation aligned to a vision that people could interpret and embody in their own practice. Most innovators encountered difficulties as they interacted with existing procedures or systems. Resolving these points of conflict, what Holland and Lave (2009) call 'local contentious practice', is important in accomplishing strategic change. But tinkering with institutional systems is not enough to bring about significant strategic change - new business systems and processes may need to be put in place in order to achieve and sustain strategic ambition.
From this study twenty two factors were identified as being important to the innovators when trying to accomplish significant change in a university. At the organisational level, these factors are subsumed within an overarching set of twelve factors that seem to be important in accomplishing strategic change in which the emergence of bottom-up innovation is a desirable objective. The key question: are these factors generalisable to other educational/cultural contexts?
References
Christensen, C. M. and Eyring, H.J. (2011) The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out. Jossey-Bass: San Fancisco
Holland, D. and Lave, J. (2009) Social practice theory and the historical production of persons. Actio: An International Journal of Human Activity Theory No. 2:1-15.
Jackson, N. J. (in press) The Wicked Challenge of Accomplishing Strategic Change to be published by Authorhouse.
Ritchie, T. (2011) Wicked Problems: Structuring Social Messes with Morphological Analysis Swedish Morphological Society. Available at:
Background Paper & Powerpoint Slides
This meeting of the International Forum of Innovators in University Teaching is convened by the University Vice Presidency for Studies, Development and Academic Accreditation, represented by the Deanship for Development of University Education at the Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 'The forum aims to disseminate experiences of creative university teaching and its methods of development, and contribute to providing real teaching experiences as a step towards the promotion of innovation and excellence in university learning and teaching practices. The forum also strives to create appropriate means to ensure the transfer and exchange of excellent teaching experiences and practices among all interested in applying modern and effective methods of university learning and teaching in universities inside and outside Saudi Arabia'.
'The Wicked Challenge of Changing a University:
Stimulating Bottom-up Innovation through Strategic Change'
Universities are inherently conservative and risk averse when it comes to changing what they do, 'yet to play its indispensible function in the new competitive environment, the typical university must change more quickly and more fundamentally than it has been doing' (Christensen and Eyring 2011: xxiii). In order to change universities need to stimulate, harness and focus the collective imaginations, energies and creative capabilities of their staff. But accomplishing strategic change in a university is a 'wicked problem' (Rittel and Webber 1973). The problem of how to change is often ill-defined and ambiguous, it is usually contested, and it is typically associated with strong moral, political, ideological and professional opinions and values (Richie 2011). Trying to bring about significant change in a university can be a messy and emotional business.
Drawing on a recent study of how a university attempted to engage with this challenge through a three year strategic change programme (Jackson in press), the presentation will try to provide some insights into the process, practice and results of bottom-up innovation in a university engaged in strategic change. A combination of determined and consistent leadership, facilitative management and additional resources, attracted and empowered teachers (faculty) and service providers to engage in innovation aligned to a vision that people could interpret and embody in their own practice. Most innovators encountered difficulties as they interacted with existing procedures or systems. Resolving these points of conflict, what Holland and Lave (2009) call 'local contentious practice', is important in accomplishing strategic change. But tinkering with institutional systems is not enough to bring about significant strategic change - new business systems and processes may need to be put in place in order to achieve and sustain strategic ambition.
From this study twenty two factors were identified as being important to the innovators when trying to accomplish significant change in a university. At the organisational level, these factors are subsumed within an overarching set of twelve factors that seem to be important in accomplishing strategic change in which the emergence of bottom-up innovation is a desirable objective. The key question: are these factors generalisable to other educational/cultural contexts?
References
Christensen, C. M. and Eyring, H.J. (2011) The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out. Jossey-Bass: San Fancisco
Holland, D. and Lave, J. (2009) Social practice theory and the historical production of persons. Actio: An International Journal of Human Activity Theory No. 2:1-15.
Jackson, N. J. (in press) The Wicked Challenge of Accomplishing Strategic Change to be published by Authorhouse.
Ritchie, T. (2011) Wicked Problems: Structuring Social Messes with Morphological Analysis Swedish Morphological Society. Available at:
Background Paper & Powerpoint Slides
| changing_a_university.pdf |
| ifiut_presentation_norman_jackson.pptx |
Powerpoint Slides with notes
Handout - Factors and Conditions that Encourage and Facilitate Strategic Change and Bottom-up Innovation
| handout_factors_supporting_strategic_change_and_bottom_up_innovation.pdf |
Acknowledgement
I am very grateful for the opportunity to visit Saudi Arabia to participate in the conference. The visit holds particular meaning for me as I began my career as a university teacher in Saudi Arabia. I spent four enjoyable and professionally rewarding years teaching at King Abdul Aziz University Jeddah and then four years working as a geologist for the Saudi Arabian Directorate General of Mineral Resources between 1977-85, where I helped train yound Saudi geologists. The experience had an important influence on the way I view education, learning and development.
International Forum of Innovators in University Teaching (website link)
Vision : Leaderships in excellence in teaching
Objectives
I am very grateful for the opportunity to visit Saudi Arabia to participate in the conference. The visit holds particular meaning for me as I began my career as a university teacher in Saudi Arabia. I spent four enjoyable and professionally rewarding years teaching at King Abdul Aziz University Jeddah and then four years working as a geologist for the Saudi Arabian Directorate General of Mineral Resources between 1977-85, where I helped train yound Saudi geologists. The experience had an important influence on the way I view education, learning and development.
International Forum of Innovators in University Teaching (website link)
Vision : Leaderships in excellence in teaching
Objectives
- Presenting the experiences of faculty members from all academic disciplines in innovative and excellent university teaching
- Introducing strategies, methods, and approaches to excellent and innovative university teaching
- Discussing experiences related to learning and teaching; focusing on excellence in teaching; identifying recent trends in university teaching; and introducing mechanisms to benefit from those trends
- Providing opportunities to hold scientific and academic meetings and exchange real innovative experiences among faculty members and those interested in developing university learning and teaching
- Planning innovative university teaching
- Creative strategies and methods of teaching
- Modern technologies in university education
- Methods and means of creative evaluation
- Excellent activities and practices of university teaching
- Excellence in managing university teaching
- Creative communication skills