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This strategic plan outlines key challenges in innovation faced by the institution and proposes actionable strategies to embed innovation in the curriculum, foster critical thinking, enhance external relations, promote multidisciplinary studies, balance core and edge models, leverage technology for innovation, and enhance the student experience.
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Strategic Plan for Innovation ROUNDTABLE CHALLENGE STATEMENTS
Team Work Team 1: Innovation in the Curriculum. Team 2: Outside Relations. Team 3: Critical Thinking. Team 4: Multidisciplinary & Interdisciplinary. Team 5: Core and Edge Models. Team 6: FIT Technology for Innovation. Team 7: Innovation and the Student Experience. Team 8: FIT Innovation Showcase. Team 9: FIT Learning Tools for Innovation. Team 10: Advanced Topics in Innovation.
Table 1: Innovation in the Curriculum Challenge Statement: Throughout our discussions with the FIT community we have heard repeatedly about the need for “innovation” to be a specific subject of the FIT curriculum. We have explored various ways that this could be achieved – for example, through specific innovation courses, an innovation major or minor, but the emphatic recommendation of the Pop-Up prototype participants on this topic was that innovation must be embedded into the FIT curriculum so that it is pervasive and consistent across the student experience at all levels, Associate, Bachelor’s and Master’s.
Table 2: Critical Thinking Challenge Statement: Many of our interviewees expressed a concern that FIT students are not being sufficiently encouraged to (or expected to) develop skills in critical thinking, which we might define as the capacity to look beyond the surface to identify the important and hidden deeper meanings. Some of the identified barriers or gaps include lack of safety to experiment in developing them, lifestyle issues around how we get information in the digital age, and institutional barriers embedded in FIT itself, including the culture and curricula structure of FIT. Based on the view that critical thinking skills are indeed essential for all students to develop, we must assure that critical thinking is present throughout the FIT curriculum and pedagogy.
Table 3: Outside Relations Challenge Statement: FIT operates within a very large ecosystem of partner, supplier, and competitor organizations, and it is of great benefit to FIT students and to the school as a whole to manage its relations with all of these organizations to provide and enhance learning opportunities for students, which add important breadth and depth to their studies, and also help them build effective personal networks. There is general agreement that when external partnerships have pertinence to innovation, managing those partnerships is a specific mission of the Innovation Center so that there will be a more coherent and consistent approach, and greater benefits achieved for FIT.
Table 4: Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Curriculum Challenge Statement: Many of our interviewees mentioned that the FIT curriculum is relatively narrow and specialized, and that many (or most) students confine their studies within their primary field of study, and as a result they lack breadth of knowledge and an understanding of how adjacent or related fields may view the same subjects and topics. This leaves them vulnerable to shifts in industry structure and relatively ill-prepared to adapt to or innovate within a changing market economy. To address this concern it has also been widely agreed that the curriculum must include a much greater emphasis on multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies.
Table 5: Core and Edge Models Challenge Statement: Many different concepts have been suggested concerning what the future FIT Innovation Center could or should do, and what sort of activities and programs it should support. Broadly, one set of views suggests that it should focus on supporting and supplementing core curriculum by enabling broader student engagement in and understanding of innovation. A somewhat different view proposes that it should be a “free space” where students are free to explore the “edge” of existing practices and disciplines. Both approaches seem quite relevant, so how should the future Innovation Center’s purpose and programs be configured to assure that both core and edge thinking are fully enabled?
Table 6: FIT Technology for Innovation Challenge Statement: Technology is a major driver of change, and skills in advanced technologies are essential to the success of our graduates in the workplace. What are the technology requirements and skill sets that our students need to assure successful careers? As technology advances they will also need to know how to apply technology to create innovation, so how do we ensure that FIT stays at the leading edge of new technologies? What are the barriers that may inhibit us from bringing our technology infrastructure and curricula into alignment with emerging needs? And how can we best support innovative thinkers and innovation projects?
Table 7: Innovation and the Student Experience Challenge Statement: We all know that a great deal of the educational experience for our students takes place outside the classroom. Much of this is spontaneous and informal, but a significant portion is supported, organized, and even funded through clubs, activities and events. What role should innovation experiences play in the overall student experience? How should FIT organize and support official support for innovation that occurs outside of the curriculum?
Table 8: FIT Innovation Showcase Challenge Statement: Innovation is happening throughout FIT on a daily basis, but much of it occurs in isolated pockets and is not widely known in the FIT community or more broadly. The idea of an FIT Showcase for Innovation has been suggested as a way to make sure that people can see how much innovation is indeed occurring, and to hopefully encourage even broader enthusiasm for and participation in innovation activities of all types, including student-led, faculty-led, curricular, extra-curricular, and innovation for and with the broader community. What, therefore, are the key elements and aspects of such a showcase?
Table 9: FIT Learning Tools for Innovation Challenge Statement: There are many types of learning resources at FIT that serve a wide variety of student and faculty needs. The Library, the Computer Labs, the various resource centers, Print FX, the Museum at FIT, the Writing Studio, the Center for Excellence in Teaching all provide essential services. If we posit that innovation is going to be ever more fully embedded in the FIT curriculum and the community’s culture, then we can also consider that an Innovation Center may serve as a resource provider to these efforts. How we make sure that the Innovation Center complements the library and all the other learning tools and resources at FIT so it’s not redundant or competitive, but a welcome addition and augmentation?
Table 10: Advanced Topics in Innovation Challenge Statement: Some ideas for FIT innovation projects come from the day to day lives and experiences of students and faculty, and some are posed to FIT from the outside. If we consider that innovation skills and experiences will become progressively more important to the FIT student’s educational experience, then we may also want to steer or even direct the innovation interests of our community into certain topic areas that may be more fruitful and beneficial to pursue. These already include topics such as sustainability, technology in clothing design, manufacture, and customization, etc. What are the most useful and potentially interesting topics that we should be encouraging and enabling in both curricular and extra-curricular innovation endeavors?
