Incremental Innovations: Changing the Culture of T&L (Ernst Mohr)

URL: http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm07/erm0755.asp?bhcp=1

Extracted Juice:

"...Based on our experience (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland), the following are some recommendations for continually changing the existing culture of teaching and learning at colleges and universities:

1. Provide information: continuous and trustworthy information, ranging from keeping the vision alive to connecting good practices
2. Communicate attitudes: measures that pertain to the attitude level and that lead to teachers becoming more interested, curious, and open to the topic of e-learning (within the framework of a communications strategy: e.g., marketing, events, sweepstakes)
3. Increase the willingness to take action: incentives that lead to teachers becoming more involved in the area of e-learning (e.g., announce e-learning projects, award premiums for good projects, implement project fundraising)
4. Organize educational events: all types of organized measures that impart knowledge and skills in various formats and levels of intensity (e.g., courses, workshops, presentations)
5. Design quality development with learning in mind: measures that monitor, secure, and develop quality support for the acquisition of competence within the scope of certifications or accreditations
6. Offer advisory support: support centers that provide help to the faculty in the planning, development, and implementation of e-learning, so that competencies and experiences are developed
7. Encourage exchange: all measures that support communication among faculty about new forms of using instructional media (e.g., encourage meetings between colleagues, set up work groups)
8. Evoke the desire to try out new approaches: measures that play a role in ensuring that the participants become involved and take on responsibility ("process ownership")

"...Clear strategical aims and visions communicated vigorously, bottom-up innovations facilitated and funded at a considerable scale, and an innovation center orchestrating, fueling, and reflecting the processes of change—these are the main ingredients of our innovation strategy. We call it "unbended flexibility": searching for new ways and methods in a highly flexible manner but at the same time sticking to the vision and major objectives of the innovation. Colleges and universities must spend their time inventing and planning for the future rather than defending the past. If they do not, they will end up like those frogs whose only choice is to die fast or to die slowly."

Have fun reading the whole article (URL above). Don't worry it is a short article! Though, watch out for the frog :)