Education is at a Crossroads: Building a Culture of Innovation

Fred Hills, Vice President of Instruction and Student Engagement at McLennan Community College

Fred Hills, Vice President of Instruction and Student Engagement at McLennan Community College

Technology continues to open new doors for educators, making available a vast array of tools to share information, build realistic and interactive assignments, and expand the availability of instruction to all students. These changes have provided opportunities for educators to be more flexible, adaptable, and innovative in reaching a broader audience, including those parts of the audience who have come to expect interactive and readily available instruction that meets their lifestyles. Unfortunately, technological innovation has also accelerated the rate of change, a challenge to educators who are often overwhelmed, underfunded, and/or underprepared for change. Educational leaders, therefore, must step up to this challenge by building and promoting a culture of inquiry, ensuring safety for experimentation, and rewarding innovation among the faculty and staff to help them adapt to the changes in order to remain relevant to the evolving needs of society.

There are a number of factors to consider in this process. First, as educational leaders, we need to ensure faculty know that innovation has become an expectation both in curricular and extracurricular efforts. Our role as educational leaders is to build this expectation into the culture by recognizing and rewarding those faculty and staff who try new and innovative solutions to best meet students where they are and help them attain the knowledge and skills we, as educators, expect them to achieve. This also calls for a supportive and safe environment for those faculty and staff who are unsure of their role in this new world. Part of innovation (and learning!) is failure, and we need to create an environment where we model our learning to our students.

A second part of the work is promotion of information literacy both to faculty and to students.

With rapid technological changes, most recently the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI), our society - our students, faculty and staff - face a barrage of information and misinformation daily that is daunting. Information literacy, to me, is more than knowing how to use the tools but, more importantly, building the ability to successfully and ethically navigate through the information landscape and not become victims of the information flood. This skill is crucial for students, faculty and academic institutions. A key ally in this work is our librarians, who are trained and well-poised to help all develop these skills.

"Change is and will continue to be the new normal for education."

Third, we need to help our faculty understand the changing demographics, needs, and expectations of our students. Having been a faculty member, I realize we often teach the way we were taught. As the (societal and educational) landscape has shifted dramatically in the last few years, most recently in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, educators need to find new ways of teaching, stepping out into unknown territory to find new educational methods and techniques to reach all our students. As administrators, it is crucial to provide support and professional development opportunities for faculty to learn, grow, and embrace the changes and challenges. Educational leaders need to encourage faculty as they explore the unknown and learn about new ways of educating students. For example, although not a recent change, one major change is the role of the faculty in the classroom: are faculty “sages on stage” or “experienced facilitators” or coaches? Thanks to technology and the prevalence of information on the Internet, students do not need faculty members to access content or knowledge. What students need is an experienced guide to help them grasp the important concepts and use them effectively as they embark on their educational journey. This may be a hard change for many to embrace as we realize that our strength is not solely being the most knowledgeable but instead being the experience guide who can lead students along their educational path.

However, at the same time, we need to remember that technology does not drive the education process. Technology is a tool that offers faculty greater opportunities to expand on their role as an educator, but technology does not replace the faculty’s skills and experience in building and delivering curriculum in their area of expertise.

Change is and will continue to be the new normal for education. As educational leaders, our challenge will be to help our institutions learn to adapt and look forward through a culture focused on innovation and inquiry, essentially being willing to experiment and learn along with our students.