As they have done historically, innovative institutions enrich the college ecosystem, helping the higher educational industry develop flexible resilience. The chapters in this book showcase perspectives, hard-won lessons, challenges and provocative ideas about how historically innovative institutions can contribute to the current discourse on innovation in higher education. The chapters in this book include case studies of innovative campuses and practices, as well as future-looking directions for innovation. Taken together, they ask, is there a way to consider how future trends can be navigated in effective ways, so that the most important features of higher education––student learning, the liberal arts, the cultivation of critical thinking––can remain central to tomorrow’s institutions?
As they have done historically, innovative institutions enrich the college ecosystem, helping the higher educational industry develop flexible resilience. The chapters in this book showcase perspectives, hard-won lessons, challenges and provocative ideas about how historically innovative institutions can contribute to the current discourse on innovation in higher education. The chapters in this book include case studies of innovative campuses and practices, as well as future-looking directions for innovation. Taken together, they ask, is there a way to consider how future trends can be navigated in effective ways, so that the most important features of higher education––student learning, the liberal arts, the cultivation of critical thinking––can remain central to tomorrow’s institutions?
Noah Coburn
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“The editors make a compelling case for the importance of innovative institutions to the long term thriving of higher education ecosystem and they have profiled an excellent set of exemplar innovators. All colleges and universities can benefit from the insights and experiments of these institutions.” (Mariko Silver, President & CEO, Henry Luce Foundation)
“Too often innovation in higher education is framed as something wholly new and different. This vital collection of essays challenges that assumption and helps to ground present day change work within a century of movement building, institutional intervention, and radical imagination. More than that, this book serves as a reminder to institutional instigators today that they are not alone. There are collaborators and co-conspirators in these pages!” (Adam Bush, President and Cofounder, College Unbound)
“The small colleges in this book are laboratories of big change. They are at once student-centered and socially-engaged. They offer students deep experiences of community and open spaces for exploration. And that requires both vision and pragmatism. The authors give us both: inspiring stories of innovation and clear-eyed discussions of the challenges of change. In this time of turmoil and change, that mix is just what we need. Read it." (David Scobey, Director, Bringing Theory to Practice)
“Most higher education professionals recognize the need for innovation and transformation in our sector, but how to do it is less obvious. This book offers detailed guidance on how a variety of progressive institutions have rewritten the text for how college can be delivered. They offer insights to the use of portfolios, narrative evaluations, non-graded courses, students’ ownership of their learning plans, equity, and more. While many of the featured institutions are small, the authors provide guidance for adapting these practices at scale.” (Roberta C. Teahen, Associate Provost Emeritus and Doctoral Faculty, Ferris State University, Michigan)