Campus Technology Insider Podcast March 2022 Bonus
Listen: Building a Culture of Innovation
00:13
Rhea Kelly: Hello and welcome to the Campus Technology Insider podcast! I'm Rhea Kelly, editor in chief of Campus Technology, and your host.
Digital transformation is not just about implementing new technologies — it's also about people and the ability to embrace change. In fact, you might say that's the hardest part: Culture is often cited as one of the biggest barriers to digital transformation in higher ed. In February, our Campus Technology Leadership Summit tackled that very topic with a wonderful panel discussion on building innovation into the culture of a university. I spoke with Christine Whitney Sanchez, chief culture officer for the University Technology Office at Arizona State University, and Chris Dellarocas, associate provost of Digital Learning & Innovation at Boston University, about how they are working to transform institutional culture, incubate new ideas, support collaboration and experimentation, and more. Here's that conversation.
First, I'd like to ask each panelist to introduce yourself, your role and a little bit about the work you do. Christine, maybe we could start with you.
01:27
Christine Whitney Sanchez: Thank you so much. I, this is Christine Whitney Sanchez coming to you from Tempe, Arizona, where it is actually raining today. We've had super warm hiking weather out here. And it's nice that it's given us a little bit of moisture today. As the chief culture officer at the University Technology Office, my role is really to hold the well being of the entire organization and culture in particular. But I certainly don't do that alone. I do that with a huge group of volunteers who are in this work with me.
02:02
Kelly: And Chris, how about you?
02:05
Chris Dellarocas: Hi, everybody. Good morning. Good afternoon, depending on where you are. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Chris Dellarocas. I serve as associate provost of Digital Learning and Innovation at Boston University. I'm also a professor at Questrom School of Business of the same institution. My role is to facilitate and catalyze innovation in digital learning and education throughout Boston University: innovation in teaching and learning, innovation in the student experience in general. And also to promote innovative programs that make use of digital technology: online programs, hybrid programs, lifelong learning programs, experimentation with ideas, like MOOCs, I mean, used to be a new idea, not anymore, right? And innovative program formats. I have an office that includes our Center of Teaching and Learning, it co-reports to myself and the associate provost for Undergraduate Affairs. The Educational Technologies group of the university reports to me. And also we have an instructional designers team and a unit we call the Digital Education Incubator that I will be happy to talk about later on, if, if you ask me the question.
03:24
Kelly: Great. So when we're talking about a culture of innovation, I think it's important to define that. You know, what does that mean to you and your institution? And why is it important? Chris, maybe we'll hand that one to you first.
03:39
Dellarocas: Thank you. Well, to me, a culture of innovation is a culture where, I think as you said it yourself at your introductory sentence, I think people are not afraid of change. People embrace change. People view change with excitement and curiosity. And they get a dopamine rush out of trying something new as opposed to being afraid of it. Right? I mean, to me, that's, that's, which, which of course is a culture of continuous improvement. It's a culture of experimentation, it's a culture of occasional mistakes, which are viewed very positively and as learning moments. And this is important because the world doesn't stand still. The world is changing. In particular, in our field, the world of work is changing very, very rapidly. The expectations and needs of our students are changing very, very rapidly. Even the industry structure of education is changing very rapidly, with the emergence of a lot of private institutions, especially in sectors that have to do with upskilling, reskilling and lifelong learning. And education institutions cannot stand still, you know, if everything changes, so must we, and we can do this more effectively if we are embracing the process and have fun with it as opposed to when we are afraid and are dragging our feet.