Innovation in Action
On August 13, 2015, Delaware Technical Community College faculty, staff and administrators committed to building a culture of innovation. While some institutions can survive by doing things the same way for decades, community colleges don’t have that luxury. Community colleges must monitor the trends in the economy, respond to market demands, tackle new challenges and continually look for ways to help our students succeed. This year, our commitment is to build a culture of innovation in how we support student success. Accomplishing this task will require us to:
- Be intentionally innovative in how we support student success – every employee should engage in innovative thinking
- Be thoughtful – innovation requires sound planning and execution to succeed
- Be open to ideas and taking risks – this includes being open to failure as well
This webpage is designed to encourage creative thinking and empower you to embrace innovative ideas. It provides resources on institutional and instructional innovation, as well as an online form to submit your ideas for consideration and potential funding through the “Innovation in Action” initiative. Submissions will be judged based on innovation, plan, impact on student success, practicality/sustainability and measurability, then reviewed and discussed with your vice president. The top three ideas will be recognized at the 2018 Employee Recognition Event, and one winning idea will be announced. Eligible members of the winning team each will receive a $1,000 cash award.
I challenge each of you to think outside the box and identify things you can do—in your role—to create a better experience for our students by supporting student success. Resources and videos of previous winners to inspire creative and innovative thinking can be found on this webpage.
Looking forward to an exciting and innovative year ahead!
Sincerely,
Mark T. Brainard
Resources
TED TALKS AND OTHER VIDEOS:
- The surprising habits of original thinkers
- Want to innovate? Become a "now-ist"
- How frustration can make us more creative
- Teach teachers how to create magic
- Teaching Methods for Inspiring the Students of the Future | Joe Ruhl | TEDxLafayette
- Creative problem-solving in the face of extreme limits
- Innovating in the Classroom
- Ted Talks on Innovation
- Ted Talks on Innovation in Education
- From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able (Michael Wesch - TEDxKC)
- Every Kid Needs a Champion (Rita Pierson)
ARTICLES AND OTHER RESOURCES:
- 10 Ways You Can Innovate at Work Every Single Day
- 25 Ways to Keep Ideas Flowing in Your Workplaces
- How Failure and Solving Real Problems Helps This School Thrive | MindShift | KQED News
- Visualizing 21st-Century Classroom Design | Edutopia
- Why Continuing Education Programs Are Poised to Become Hubs of Innovation | EdSurge News
- New Teachers: Designing Learning Environments
- Makerspace Resources
- Disrupting College: How Disruptive Innovation Can Deliver Quality and Affordability to Postsecondary Education
- Disruptive Innovation and the Community College
- Design Thinking for Educators (IDEO)
- Pedagogy Wheel 4.0 (Allan Carrington)
- Educating to Innovate (Deba Dutta)
- 4 Tips to Transform Your Learning Space
- Lessons in Space
- Project-Based Learning vs. Problem-Based Learning vs. X-BL
INNOVATION IN ACTION AT DELAWARE TECH:
2017-2018 Closed
Before submitting innovative ideas, ask yourself:
- Is someone already working on this? Has this issue already been addressed in College planning documents such as the Student Success Blueprint?
- Are there proven best practices to support my idea?
- From whom do I need buy-in? Who can I work with to strengthen my idea and its execution?
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