ABSTRACT

Digital-Age Innovation in Higher Education recounts the creation, development, and growth of an innovation unit within a major university. This single case study follows the development of the EdLab at the Gottesman Libraries of Teachers College, Columbia University, which was charged with developing new services and products at a time when digital technologies were markedly beginning to impact the sector. The major steps taken – recruiting staff in key skill areas, developing projects, collaborating across organizational lines, securing resources, delivering new services, and more – are covered in detail, illustrating the opportunities and challenges presented by innovation mandates in long-established organizations with stable operations and traditional academic values and practices.

chapter 1|14 pages

Wind Resistance

Why is it So Hard to Change Higher Education?

chapter 2|11 pages

The Land That Time Forgot

Approaching the Library

chapter 3|14 pages

Renovation as a Near Death Experience

chapter 4|9 pages

The New Normal

chapter 5|14 pages

Building a Lab in the Library

chapter 6|34 pages

Projects, Projects, Projects

chapter 7|26 pages

Collaborative Solutions

chapter 8|13 pages

Publishing

chapter 9|14 pages

Software Development

chapter 10|14 pages

Design

chapter 11|13 pages

Media

chapter 12|15 pages

Consolidation

chapter 13|17 pages

The Learning Theater Project

chapter 14|13 pages

Efficiencies in Educational Research

chapter 15|13 pages

Focus

chapter 16|16 pages

The Unfinished Agenda