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This conversation is with the authors of the chapter “Creating Transformational Change Through Learning Innovation Departments” in our new co-edited book, Recentering Learning: Complexity, Resilience, and Adaptability in Higher Education (JHU Press, 2024). The book (in paper and ebook form) is available for order from JHU Press and on Amazon.

Sean Hobson is the chief design officer and a clinical assistant professor at Arizona State University. Natalie Landman is a clinical assistant professor at Northern Arizona University.

Q: What main themes of your chapter would you like readers to take away and bring back to their institutions and organizations?

A: We discuss three big themes in the chapter:

  1. The need for transformational change: Institutions must move beyond incremental, organic change to adopt deliberate, transformational strategies that redefine their operations, values and culture to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. This can occur through the use of organizational design principles.
  1. The importance of design methods: Transformational change is rooted in design principles, requiring intentional strategies to align governance, leadership, resources and culture with institutional objectives. The instructional design process for change at the faculty level can be a microcosm for institutional-level change.
  2. The role of learning innovation departments (LIDs): Traditional service organizations are increasingly asked to support continuous innovation without a road map for evolving beyond their current set of functions. By blending traditional academic services with new business models, partnerships and technology integration, LIDs can provide universities with a structured framework that not only supports continuous innovation but ensures institutional resilience and evolution. The EdPlus model at ASU demonstrates how a well-designed, dedicated LID can help the academic institution navigate environmental disruptions and foster innovation through balanced service and R&D functions.

Q: What are potential opportunities and levers to recenter learning in research-intensive colleges and universities?

A: Potential opportunities include:

  • Building LIDs: Establishing departments focused on academic innovation, like EdPlus at ASU, allows universities to create scalable, student-centric teaching and learning environments from the inside out that balance services and innovation assignments. In addition to bridging the gap between traditional pedagogy and emerging learning models, LIDs can foster a culture of experimentation and agility, encouraging faculty and administrators to adopt forward-thinking approaches to teaching and learning.
  • Encouraging cross-functional collaboration: The integration of diverse perspectives and resources that come from partnerships among academic units, external organizations and technology providers enables the generation of new learning experiences that can extend the reach and social impact of academic institutions. Such partnerships, which can be shepherded within the context of an LID, can also create new sources of revenue and avenues for institutional growth.
  • Developing internal research and evaluation capacity: Prioritizing internal research and evaluation helps institutions better understand and address their unique challenges and opportunities, enabling ongoing academic innovation and improvement. Strengthening internal research capabilities also reduces reliance on external agencies and increases institutional agility to rapidly iterate and course-correct while maintaining control over its strategic direction and intellectual property.

Q: How might the rapid evolution of generative AI impact the work of recentering learning?

A: It certainly accelerates and personalizes components of the creative process. Where we see it working best is through the augmentation of human creativity and productivity versus as a replacement.

As tools for course design, development, delivery and support evolve, we are hopeful that the rapid evolution of these tools will help support our most important learning outcome, which is an equally distributed opportunity for learning across all demographic and income quartiles.

And so, with any integration of a new technology into the system, many things will change. It’s our role to keep our focus on how these tools/technologies can impact learning in a responsible way.

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