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Overcoming Institutional Barriers to Innovation
Lessons from Ithaka S+R’s Case Studies

Last week, Ithaka S+R released a report on the findings of its first Higher Ed Insights survey. The survey collected the opinions of 96 higher education experts on the state of undergraduate education, and ways to make it more effective and affordable. One of the most interesting findings was that a high percentage of respondents identified institutional culture or structures as the most substantial barriers to innovation. While this finding struck me as interesting, it did not surprise me. In the work I’ve done on Ithaka S+R’s case study series of educational transformation, real progress in institutional innovation only came…

On Seams, Seamlessness, and Methodology

Earlier this month, I encountered a thought-provoking talk by Tim Sherratt making the very strong argument that seamlessness should not be our only goal in designing digital library systems. The talk is a year old but it is well worth reading today. I thank Donna Lanclos for tweeting about it recently. I have argued strongly that we need to reduce the barriers to the use of e-resources for the academic community (I’ve shared some of my thinking in both an issue brief and a presentation to a major group of publishers and platform providers). Library, publisher, and vendor systems introduce far…

Is Completion the Right Goal? The Public Wouldn’t Agree

The results of Ithaka S+R’s first Higher Ed Insights survey, released yesterday, provide a rich set of information about the views of a group of people deeply immersed in the sector.  In full disclosure, I was one of the survey’s respondents, and the questions encouraged me to ponder and articulate my views on a number of important issues and trends, as I’m sure they did for others. One thing that struck me about the survey and its results was the emphasis on the goal of increasing completion at the institutional level. The institutional completion goal seems reflexive to me, especially…

New Survey of Higher Ed Experts Finds Promise in Guided Pathways, Adaptive Learning

In fall 2015, Ithaka S+R invited a select group of higher education administrators and experts to join a panel of advisors. One activity of the panel, which consists of 110 members with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, is to take part in semi-annual surveys on issues of national importance in higher education. The results of these surveys will help guide Ithaka S+R’s research agenda. In addition, we will publish the results to inform the broader higher education community about the panel’s views on current debates, initiatives, and challenges. In Higher Ed Insights: Results of the Fall 2015 Survey, Rayane Alamuddin, Daniel…

Homework for Hiring

Last year, Deanna Marcum’s issue brief on talent management in academic libraries reflected in part on some of the challenges that academic libraries face in their processes for selection of library staff. Shortly thereafter, Meredith Farkas argued against using “fit” – that ambiguously dangerous catch-all – in hiring and in the workplace. Interviewing as a tool or methodology in a selection process is probably especially susceptible to the undesirable use of “fit” in selection. In some ways, John Lehner’s reflections on “personnel selection” (in Scott Walter’s and Karen Williams’s excellent The Expert Library) points towards some of the ways that…