Spring 2024 Webinar Series: Imagining the Innovative University of the Future

Institutions of higher education are facing numerous stressors and challenges in an evolving landscape of learner and employer needs. Newly established universities and colleges may have certain advantages to well-established institutions, in that they can focus their programs, curricula and pedagogies on what learners need now and will need in the future. How can established and respected institutions such as Duke evolve and innovate based on strong foundations, to expand their quality offerings to reach new audiences of learners, teach new skills and capabilities, and develop new ways of recognizing and tracking learner accomplishment? 

This webinar series highlighted some of the ways that innovation can and is happening in higher ed — at the university scale (macro innovation), program scale (mezzo innovation), and individual course scale (micro innovation). 

New Universities of the 21st Century

Friday April 5, 12- 1 PM EDT

Duke Associate Provost Noah Pickus and guests Sanjay Sarma and Bryan Penprase discussed innovative new universities of the 21^st century around the world. The discussion explored themes highlighted in Pickus’ and Bryan Penprase’s new book, “The New Global Universities: Reinventing Education in the 21st Century and how higher education can set new standards for teaching and learning and nurture a new generation of leaders. The session ended with commentary by Yakut Gazi.

Alternative Credentials and Modularity as Innovative Learning Pathways

Friday April 12, 12-1 PM EDT

Alternative credentials (AC) which are high-quality, portable, and recognizable inside and outside of an institution of higher learning can make visible the discrete skills, knowledge, and mindsets acquired by learners. The ability ACs provide to deconstruct and name not only large areas of content knowledge but also the more elusive yet highly sought after “soft” or “human” skills is a boon to students and employers alike. Pedagogically, ACs offer an opportunity for faculty to think deeply and creatively about learning outcomes across projects and assignments rather than entire semesters only, even integrating experiential learning that occurs beyond classroom walls. Further, due to their modular nature, the stackability of ACs can illustrate for students numerous learning pathways to achieving a specific goal, certificate, or even degree. Whether by providing on-ramps to courses or certificates, allowing non-graduating students to demonstrate–and eventually complete–their learning, or providing learner voice and choice, ACs are harbingers of a more equitable, student-centered, and creative way to assess and credential learning.

Applied Research and Classroom-Based Innovation

Friday April 19, 12-1 PM EDT

Teaching practice, just as any other scholarly activity, is an area about which you can form questions and hypotheses, gather data, and iterate based on the results of your study. Many faculty at Duke engage in applied educational research or scholarship of teaching and learning in which they routinely explore questions about teaching and/or student learning, innovate their own practice based on what they learn, and disseminate their results to grow the body of knowledge around teaching and learning best practices. This webinar featured faculty in different disciplines providing brief 10-minute overviews of their recent research and course-level innovations: Joan Clifford, Robert Duvall and Aaron Kyle.