Thomas Carey is co-Principal Catalyst for WINCan and Executive-in-Residence for the British Columbia Association of Institutes and Universities and the Monash University Faculty of Arts .
Anahita Baregheh is an Associate Professor at Nipissing University’s School of Business and WINCan’s Research Coordinator.
In a previous post we listed three new initiatives being explored as WINCan 2020 projects in Ontario:
Applying recent U.S. research on sustaining innovation in mature corporate organizations, with adaptations to public sector partners and to innovation for teaching and learning in higher ed. You can find out more about this initiative in Part I of this two-part series.
Collaborating with small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to mobilize research on developing Human-Centred Workplace Innovation within their workforces
Leading a Green Paper study on new across-the-curriculum learning outcomes in higher education to better prepare graduates for the Future of Work.
In this post we’ll describe the potential projects with SMEs in Ontario and with incorporating Human-Centred Workplace Innovation as a cross-curricular graduate capability in higher education.
Collaborating with SMEs to Mobilize Research on Human-Centred Workplace Innovation
Our Workplace Partners in Ontario have initially been from large companies and public sector agencies. We recognize that many small-and-medium size organizations could also apply new practices in Human-Centred Workplace Innovation to advance their missions and the quality of work life for their workforce.
In 2020 we’ll be exploring these needs with Ontario partners in the social/community sector and with regional economic development organizations, on innovative collaborations to mobilize research evidence and exemplary practices in Workplace Innovation with small-and-medium size enterprises.
We welcome expressions of interest or inquiries about this project, to either Anahita or Tom. Our model for this work is the Workplace Innovation Europe Not-for-Profit created in 2017 to mobilize research results from EUWIN, the European Union Workplace Innovation Learning Network. Their knowledge mobilization methods with corporate, SME and public sector enterprises (in the U.K. and Europe) include practical Guides to Workplace Innovation and highly interactive Masterclasses and Discovery Days – see the adjacent agenda excerpt.
Our work plan includes an August 2020 application for support from the SSHRC Connections program.
Exploring Capability in Workplace Innovation as a Signature Graduate Attribute in Higher Ed
Tom is currently preparing a Green Paper for an Ontario planning group which is exploring how new programs within a region-serving university can be globally exemplary in teaching and learning. This builds on past work addressing the question of How Can a Regional Undergraduate Institution Really Stand Out for Teaching and Learning?
“There is a fundamental need to know how to distinguish
or differentiate yourself in the market, and it starts with evaluating the viability of new business models and potential areas of specialization
Can the Universities of Today Lead Learning for Tomorrow?
”
Every university aspires to develop exemplary capabilities in traditional transferable competencies – critical thinking, communication, collaborative teamwork, etc. – and many target specific work domains for excellence. However, innovative transferable capabilities are emerging for the Future of Work which a new program could highlight as signature learning outcomes for all graduates. For example, the MIT study on New Engineering Education Transformation highlights the Systems Thinking capabilities emerging as signature learning outcomes in the ground-breaking engineering program at Charles Sturt University in Australia.
Several potential themes for these signature outcomes have arisen in the Green Paper study, with a particular emphasis on their potential impacts as catalysts for regional economic and social development. Each of these is increasingly important as a critical aspect of the Future of Work. Beyond these economic implications, each is also a critical aspect of social development and environmental sustainability in our roles as community members and global citizens. Examples include Sustainable Systems, Digital Networks and Technology Stewardship, and Human-Centred Workplace Innovation.
As our WINCan research has demonstrated for Workplace Innovation, each of these themes can be lived out in our higher education teaching and learning environments. For example, member institutions in the Association for Sustainability in Higher Education integrate initiatives for sustainability in campus plans and operations with ‘sustainability across the curriculum’ in education.
Similarly, higher education institutions involved in developments like Domain of One’s Own and Learning Analytics for Learners are embodying in their own practices many important concepts about ownership and stewardship of information in digital networks. This “practice what you preach” approach also creates work-integrated learning projects within the campus environment.
Sketching out a plan for Human-Centred Workplace Innovation as one of these potential themes has provided us with the opportunity to adapt our WINCan ideas to the planning of new programs. If this particular theme moves forward to the White Paper stage – no higher education institution can simultaneously tackle more than one or two of these, at least not in a globally exemplary way! – that opportunity will extend into an iterative prototyping and testing process.
Interested? We’ll be posting periodic updates to share what we learn in exploring these two initiatives and what plans may emerge to engage additional partnerships and support. If you want to contribute to the design, prototyping or initial implementation activities, feel free to contact Anahita or Tom directly.