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Recognized as one of the “Most Innovative People in Higher Education” by Washington…
Articles by Dr. Bridget
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(My)Tough-Love Advice Edtech Needs to Hear
(My)Tough-Love Advice Edtech Needs to Hear
By Dr. Bridget Burns
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Innovating Together for Student Sucess.
Innovating Together for Student Sucess.
By Dr. Bridget Burns
Contributions
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Here's how you can use your creativity and innovation skills to drive positive social change.
To drive real innovation, lead with genuine curiosity and start showing up and listening to others who are already working on an issue that you are passionate about. Rather than parachuting in to save the day, you'll build relationships, learn insights from those who have already committed to work on that problem, and you'll avoid creating resistance among those who have knowledge, relationships and insights to support innovation. Humility and curiosity are essential to the initial problem identification. Many founders are hunting for a problem to build a business solving and skip this step, limiting the advocates you'll some day need in your corner.
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Here's how you can use your creativity and innovation skills to drive positive social change.
Use your skills and influence to support a culture of empathy generation and learning in your organization. Before identifying problem, or prototyping, ideating or brainstorming- you need to ensure you invest in listening and generating empathy insights from key constituents. Don't assume that you get to pick the problem worth solving, instead focus on ensuring you and others are listening to the needs of various groups to surface the problems in need of solutions. Too many organizations are focused on being innovative and miss the lesson that building a culture of learning leads to smart and continuous learning & innovation.
Activity
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Register this week before it sells out!
Register this week before it sells out!
Shared by Dr. Bridget Burns
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Next Thursday, 9/12/24, Dr. Timothy M. Renick is set to deliver the keynote address at the South African North-West University /…
Next Thursday, 9/12/24, Dr. Timothy M. Renick is set to deliver the keynote address at the South African North-West University /…
Liked by Dr. Bridget Burns
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Thrilled to join the Google.org team for todays Impact Summit. Awesome to be with EDSAFE AI Alliance Steering Committee members Project Evident…
Thrilled to join the Google.org team for todays Impact Summit. Awesome to be with EDSAFE AI Alliance Steering Committee members Project Evident…
Liked by Dr. Bridget Burns
Experience
Publications
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Fostering Change in Higher Education
Trusteeship Magazine
Institutions Need Room to Experiment—and Fail—in Order to Succeed. This article identifies practical tips gathered from decades of work supporting innovation and change across a multitude of universities, and identifies the ways trustees should engage to support innovation.
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UIA Monthly Newsletter
University Innovation Alliance
The UIA Monthly newsletter is a monthly dose of inspiration, perspective, recommendations, fantastic reads, and important strategic insights from the front lines of innovation, leadership and student success in higher education. With over 10,000 subscribers, and a nearly 40% open rate, we strive to create value for every reader and ensure this is the one email you never want to miss!
Other authorsSee publication -
Higher Education needs to get comfortable with trial and error
Hechinger Report
Better outcomes and graduation rates are possible for underrepresented and low-income students if we work together and share what we’ve learned.
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Closing the college-employer communications gap
Working Nation
Colleges can no longer allow career services to exist in oft-forgotten siloes on campus. To better prepare students for life after graduation — and help restore public confidence in the value of higher education — colleges and universities must reimagine the role and relevance of career services on campus and in the workforce.
The good news is that promising strategies and prototypes already exist, as does a growing body of research into their efficacy. Emerging technologies, from…Colleges can no longer allow career services to exist in oft-forgotten siloes on campus. To better prepare students for life after graduation — and help restore public confidence in the value of higher education — colleges and universities must reimagine the role and relevance of career services on campus and in the workforce.
The good news is that promising strategies and prototypes already exist, as does a growing body of research into their efficacy. Emerging technologies, from digital badges to virtual internships are helping institutions to bridge the gap. And, as it turns out, institutions may find that career services professionals have lots of great ideas about how to do this work, and have been patiently waiting for a chance to help ensure that fewer students miss their career connection.Other authorsSee publication -
These big universities put rivalries aside to raise graduation rates for low-income students
The Hechinger Report
Institutional leaders have discovered that creating a culture of collaboration starts best at home. Institutions ready to work with one another often begin by giving faculty members and administrators more time to be creative, to reflect, to challenge conventional methods — and to share and build on one another’s ideas.
The most innovative companies in the world, after all, give their employees time to work on projects that are all about the future.
Savvy university leaders are…Institutional leaders have discovered that creating a culture of collaboration starts best at home. Institutions ready to work with one another often begin by giving faculty members and administrators more time to be creative, to reflect, to challenge conventional methods — and to share and build on one another’s ideas.
The most innovative companies in the world, after all, give their employees time to work on projects that are all about the future.
Savvy university leaders are making it clear that building successful careers at their institutions will require creative thinking and collaboration across departments and campuses. Their experience can inspire a new paradigm for collaboration throughout higher education.
Sharing simple ideas can have profound effects on outcomes. Many more current students will graduate from college if colleges and universities begin conversations with one another today.Other authors -
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College rankings need more focus on graduation rates of low-income students
Washington Post
If we’re going produce the college graduates America needs and give all students a shot at a better economic future, it’s time to measure what matters. As a nation, we need to know which colleges are serving low-income students well. The goal should not be to praise or shame, but to find out what’s working and then replicate it.
Three ways we can start measuring what we truly care about:
1. Publicize measures of low-income student progress to identify those schools that graduate…If we’re going produce the college graduates America needs and give all students a shot at a better economic future, it’s time to measure what matters. As a nation, we need to know which colleges are serving low-income students well. The goal should not be to praise or shame, but to find out what’s working and then replicate it.
Three ways we can start measuring what we truly care about:
1. Publicize measures of low-income student progress to identify those schools that graduate large numbers and percentages of low-income students. Colleges know this information already, but do not share it publicly.
2. Develop rankings that highlight and reward the kind of behavior our country needs more of. Rankings might, for example, showcase universities that admit and graduate (in four and six years) the highest number and highest percentage of low-income students.
3. Make sure that awards and accolades for serving low-income students reward scale, not exclusivity.
Transparency doesn’t require a massive policy shift. State and federal policymakers can start by asking university officials to share the retention and graduation gaps between their low-income and high-income students. This would push more data into the public sphere — where it would be accessible to parents, policymakers, researchers, and journalists — and encourage universities to close those gaps.
Data sharing would jump-start the process of unmasking differences in college success rates between low-income and high-income students. And it would begin to de-risk the efforts of institutions that are working to make a difference for low-income students. -
Using Process Mapping to Redesign the Student Experience
Educause Review
This low-cost, low-tech tool brings people together to improve discrete processes and cumulatively create broader change.
Processing mapping is a concept that was first introduced in the 1920s. Over time it has become common practice in business, yet the concept has had limited use within higher education institutions. In this article, we describe the approach and how our member institutions are applying it to better understand and improve existing processes that often get in the way of…This low-cost, low-tech tool brings people together to improve discrete processes and cumulatively create broader change.
Processing mapping is a concept that was first introduced in the 1920s. Over time it has become common practice in business, yet the concept has had limited use within higher education institutions. In this article, we describe the approach and how our member institutions are applying it to better understand and improve existing processes that often get in the way of student success.
Redesigning colleges and universities around students sounds like an enormous undertaking, but it is really the sum of many small interactions and changes in many small processes that, taken together, can have a huge impact on student success. At UIA, our institutions are working together to support each other as they make these changes, but any institution can achieve the same supportive, collaborative environment among its own internal communities.
Using process mapping offers a model that simultaneously targets small, essential process changes and builds collaborative community. It's a tool that not only is low cost but also lets you identify places you could actually save money, time, and energy on your campus. And, perhaps more importantly, it's a way for people in your campus community to come together and feel like they're making a difference.Other authorsSee publication -
Knowing- and Reaching Your Edtech Audience
Edsurge HigherEd
In 2017, I’m hopeful that entrepreneurs and developers will take a page from the Seuss playbook by engaging with a multiplicity of stakeholders to understand and anticipate the implications and application of their work. Where can instructional technology inform analytics efforts? How will data-driven insights transform instructional practice? What challenge is technology solving for? Can it serve many masters?
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Reverse Engineering the Student Experience
Inside Higher Ed
Even the most well-intentioned colleges and universities have a hard time figuring out where to start on the path to improving student success and completion. Financial incentives that keep students on track toward graduation have, in many cases, proven effective, but they often don’t scale in an era of tight budgets. Emerging technologies promise transformation, but they can fall short in a world where financial or organizational challenges tend to stymie implementation.
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The Tough-Love Advice Edtech Needs to Hear
Edsurge
Technology can have a powerful impact on college students’ success. But progress is slow. Initiative fatigue abounds. At a time when the potential for technology to transform higher education has never been greater, university leaders can be increasingly skeptical of the hype surrounding “the next big thing.” And with good reason. While tech entrepreneurs are quick to bemoan Byzantine procurement processes and risk-averse campus cultures, higher education’s anemic adoption curve may have just…
Technology can have a powerful impact on college students’ success. But progress is slow. Initiative fatigue abounds. At a time when the potential for technology to transform higher education has never been greater, university leaders can be increasingly skeptical of the hype surrounding “the next big thing.” And with good reason. While tech entrepreneurs are quick to bemoan Byzantine procurement processes and risk-averse campus cultures, higher education’s anemic adoption curve may have just as much to do with tone-deaf pitches from entrepreneurs and a legacy of failed implementations.
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Innovating Together: Collaboration as a Driving Force for Student Success
Educause Review
In the often-contentious discussions about the future of U.S. higher education, one idea garners wide agreement: our institutions need to innovate. Since collaboration is the driving force for most innovation, it follows that developing a successful model for collaborative innovation—for innovating together—is the most sorely needed disruption in higher education.
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Big Data's coming of Age
Forbes.com
There was a lot of hype around big data in higher education in 2015. Colleges and universities, inundated with data from legacy systems and incentivized by renewed accountability pressures, have begun to link disparate information from across the campus. Historically limited to transactional data from registrars and student information systems, the application of data-driven decision making has begun to permeate all aspects of campus life and operations—as enterprising leaders harness…
There was a lot of hype around big data in higher education in 2015. Colleges and universities, inundated with data from legacy systems and incentivized by renewed accountability pressures, have begun to link disparate information from across the campus. Historically limited to transactional data from registrars and student information systems, the application of data-driven decision making has begun to permeate all aspects of campus life and operations—as enterprising leaders harness predictive analytics to tackle bottleneck courses, power advising initiatives and share best practices with their peers.
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We need to stop giving campus leaders the wrong advice
Educause Review
While much of the current conversation in higher education is focused toward what college and university presidents need to do differently to prepare for the future, there is not nearly enough focus on the value system imposed upon them or on how the rest of us in higher education can help them to be successful.
More activity by Dr. Bridget
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Join our team! ACS is looking for a project manager to coordinate our faculty & staff programs.
Join our team! ACS is looking for a project manager to coordinate our faculty & staff programs.
Liked by Dr. Bridget Burns
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Our latest Grantee Spotlight shares the story behind our partnership with Braven and their work in building bridges to better futures for countless…
Our latest Grantee Spotlight shares the story behind our partnership with Braven and their work in building bridges to better futures for countless…
Liked by Dr. Bridget Burns
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I know many practitioners, scholars, and leaders in student success and higher education. Here is an explainer about why our University Innovation…
I know many practitioners, scholars, and leaders in student success and higher education. Here is an explainer about why our University Innovation…
Liked by Dr. Bridget Burns
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Wonderful visit to ECMC Foundation HQ to meet with their fantastic President Jacob Fraire! Excited to talk about driving change across #Highered to…
Wonderful visit to ECMC Foundation HQ to meet with their fantastic President Jacob Fraire! Excited to talk about driving change across #Highered to…
Shared by Dr. Bridget Burns
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I'm still processing the last three months of back to back convenings and conferences...TOO MANY HIGHLIGHTS to name them all. #BarstoBooks, #HEPinTX,…
I'm still processing the last three months of back to back convenings and conferences...TOO MANY HIGHLIGHTS to name them all. #BarstoBooks, #HEPinTX,…
Liked by Dr. Bridget Burns
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