Fostering a Culture of Academic Innovation in a Time of Crisis

Abstract

COVID-19 has thrust much of higher education into a liminal space, where norms and conventional wisdom no longer operate as they once did. While recognizing the devastating societal effects wrought by the pandemic, viewing higher education’s ongoing response in this way invites us to consider how we can embrace this moment as an opportunity for transformational change. This chapter addresses how institutions can leverage the massive and sudden move to remote teaching sparked by COVID-19 to foster a culture of academic innovation. It highlights one university system’s efforts to help a diverse, decentralized, and differentially resourced set of institutions pivot from a crisis response to robust, technology enhanced teaching and learning that is sustained past the crisis period.