Innovation in higher education

1. Innovation in higher education Sarah Porter Head of Development JISC

2. What is innovation? Innovation is typically understood as the introduction of something new and useful, for example introducing new methods, techniques, or practices or new or altered products and services (Wikipedia)

3. Why do we need innovation? Some reasons to innovate • To improve practices • To improve quality • To respond to the changing needs of users • To respond to new opportunities • To respond to a changing external environment

4. Changes to the external environment for UK education • Learning and teaching • Changing student profile and expectations • Ref. JISC student expectations’ study • More competition for students – lower student numbers with classic 18-21 profile • Emphasis on the student as customer (particularly post 2009)

5. Demography – 18-20yr old entrants to HE Richer backgrounds 2005 2009 All 18-20yr olds Source: Office for National Statistics; HEPI report summary 22 – March 2006

6. Changes to external environment • New approaches to research assessment beyond 2008 • Government policy drivers • Widening participation and inclusion agendas (targets for student numbers) • Emphasis on skills and links with employment (Leitch review) • Changes to funding models and accreditation (Burgess review) • Etc.

7. Innovation and transformation models • Well-rehearsed literature concerned with adoption of innovation • Many explorations of how this applies to technology • Some explorations of how this applies to education

8. Technology Adoption Lifecycle • Classic model (developed at Iowa State College in 1957; originally based on purchase patterns of hybrid seed corn by farmers) • Further developed by Rogers in early 1960s; informed Moore’s ‘Crossing the Chasm’ (1991, 1999) • Identifies psychographic profiles for the take up of new products • Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggards

9. MIT 90s model • Produced by Ventraman from MIT / Sloan School • Influential model of technological change in an organisational context

11. UK context • Numerous initiatives to encourage strategic planning of IT within the educational system, for example: • Department for Education and Skills • Higher Education Funding Council • Scottish Higher Education Funding Council • JISC • Higher Education Academy

12. So why don’t we see more change? Higher Education is a complex, distributed system • A university is slow and difficult to innovate as a single system • To be successful, innovation needs to occur from the top down (strategy and policy) and from the bottom up (practice and experimentation)

13. Q: Why does the JISC exist? A: ‘to provide world-class leadership in the innovative use of ICT to support education and research’

14. How does the JISC support innovation?

15. Services that provide advice and resources to individuals and institutions on how to develop strategy, change policy, innovate and improve practices, benefit from new technologies Etc.

16. Funding programmes and providing services • Several hundred projects that fund activities in institutions to support and encourage innovation • Organised into programme themes that are planned holistically • E-learning programme, E-research programme, Information Environment programme, E-administration programme etc. • Leading to guides to good practice, exemplars, shared knowledge and experience, developing and supporting networks …

17. JISC e-Learning Programme • Working on 3 levels • Technology & Standards • Learning & Teaching practice • Strategy & Policy

18. JISC e-Learning Programme • Across 5 domains:- • Portfolio • Assessment • Learning Resources & Activities • Administration of Learning & Teaching • Physical & Virtual Learning Environments. • Responding to drivers of: • Institutional diversity, collegiate culture, mixed economies (home grown, commercial and open source) • Student centred, pedagogically sound, inclusive. • Lifelong learning, personalisation, widening participation and work based learning

19. ‘Bottom up’ evolutionary innovation • Supporting learners ‘In Their Own Words’ • Investigations of learner experiences in using technology across the education sector • Shared through reports, guides to good practice, videos

20. “In their own words” “...And because they [technologies] save me time, I can spend more time doing the research and getting everything ready, because I know when I put the whole thing together, it will come together quite smoothly.” “Gary”, 4th Year Medical Student – “In their own words” report, JISC ‘They [learners] have an expectation of being able to access up-to-date and relevant information and resources and see this as vital. They don’t see technology as anything special…just another tool to support their learning.’ LXP: Student Experiences of Technologies – Final report (Conole et al., 2006) www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning_pedagogy/intheirownwords

21. Supporting teachers • Design for Learning Programme • Studies exploring the relationship between pedagogy and technology • Good practice guides

23. Pedagogic planners

26. Supporting holistic change • Projects that require changes to practice, technology and processes • Holistic model that encourages re-use of project outputs (software and practices) by others • CETIS SIGs supported networking, exchange of ideas and increased the level of take-up

30. Cost savings and resource efficiency E-assessment meant marks for a cohort of 30 could be recorded in 2s rather than 10h. Replicated across subject area, this could save c. £7m in staff time Recruitment and retention Skills and employability University of Wolverhampton lowers nursing attrition rates – e-portfolios. 1% Improvement in retention would be worth over £132 million to institutions. 3D virtual case study in Glamorgan Business School simulates placement experience. Valued by students. Widening participation Aboriginal group use Sheffield Hallam online materials to escape eviction from land Specific needs Student achievement Derby Business course available in a variety of modes to suit student needs. Students with specific needs are underrepresented in UK HE, an untapped market worth £796m 10% improvement in student pass rates on implementing eLearning. Could mean 30000 extra graduates each year. “Tangible Benefits of E-Learning” (Ferrell, Kelly, McMahon, Probert, Quentin-Baxter, Riachi – for JISC, July 2007)

32. ‘Top-down’, revolutionary innovation • Need for more flexible, responsive systems, policies and processes • JISC has explored this agenda since 1994 • Information Strategies programmes (1994-2001) • Managed Learning Environment programmes (1999-2003) – led to Creating a Managed Learning Environment InfoKit • Scottish Institutional Transformation programme (2004-2007 – funded by SHEFC) • Forthcoming book: ‘The e-Revolution and post-Compulsory Education’ (Routledge) • Institutional Exemplars … just started

33. Institutional Exemplars’ programme • Solution to a well-recognised institutional problem • Projects that support existing institutional strategies • Relevant and transferable outside the originating institution(s) • Four areas: • Institution-wide systems integration • Alignment with institutional strategy and policy to support educational processes • E-administration • Sustainable development (green computing)

34. Key points • Active support of senior leadership required • Must be demonstrated in the bid • Senior manager must be available to engage with the project and the JISC • Implementation not just experimentation – want to see evidence of impact on technology, processes etc. • Technology focus – standards and service-oriented approach

35. Extending the learning • May be opportunities to build up networks of practice around (and to complement) the projects • Always challenging to transfer lessons about implementation from one institution to another (we’re all unique …)

36. Top-down and bottom-up at the same time • E-Framework for Education and Research • Standards developed through observing and mapping practice, systems and processes • ‘framework’ of approaches to coordinate what has been learned • Current investigation of high-level mapping of the education domain • Tension between standardisation and innovation • Though standards can support and enable innovation

37. Innovation needs to work at numerous levels and with multiple actors • Change is driven by a model that includes technology, policy and people • Enablers or ‘change agents’ working at different levels within organisations • And outside their organisations • Successful sharing of practice requires a complex model involving the right innovations (right time, right place), supported by appropriate, active human networks

38. (Secret) agents for change • Everyone in this room is a change agent • Enabling ... • Exploring … • Supporting change at different levels • How can we collaborate more effectively to learn from each other? • How can we support education to meet its new challenges? • How can we move from ‘pockets of innovation’ (Freds in Sheds) to an innovative educational sector?

39. Informal networks Communities of practice on themes e.g. CETIS groups COPs based on projects, software development, shared problems, ‘domains’ of operation Membership organisations based on shared job roles ? Formal collaborative activities Consortia to develop products and share practices Consortia based on collaboration Helping re-use ? Changing funding models e.g. Open Call for projects that fit programme themes ? Collaboration in a competitive environment