Cultivating innovative learning and teaching cultures: a question of garden design

Abstract

Calls for practitioners to ‘innovate’ are common within higher education and universities, which go to some length to cultivate innovative learning and teaching cultures. The definition of innovation, however, is not clear cut and understandings of how innovations spread and innovative practices should be supported differ. This study aimed to investigate how innovation learning and teaching practice is understood and practiced by a sample of ‘innovative’ academics and to explore to what extent their innovative work is supported and managed by their institution. Data from 16 in-depth interviews revealed drivers for innovation and the institutional factors that can facilitate or impede it. The findings suggest that while innovative cultures can be cultivated and shaped, universities should ensure that there is space for creativity to flourish.

Keywords:

• innovation
• learning and teaching
• culture
• diffusion

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Caledonian Academy for the funds that supported this work, Dr Chidochangu Mpamhanga for his encouragement and the two anonymous referees for their comments. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Society for Research into Higher Education Conference in Newport, Wales in December 2009.

Karen Smith is a Research Fellow in the Caledonian Academy at Glasgow Caledonian University. Her research interests include the language of higher education policy and practice, transnational education and the diffusion of innovative learning and teaching practices. She has recently co-authored a student guide to writing dissertations in the social sciences.