 |
|
|
Bachelor's Of Innovation - can Innovation be learned?
Location: Blogs Rachael Taggart |
 |
| Posted by: Rachael Dalton-Taggart |
1/10/2007 5:58 PM |
Recently, The University of Colorado, at Colorado Springs, announced a new program - Bachelor's of Innovation. Calling it a BI (like we do a BA or BS), the programs available combine innovation and entrepreneurial skills alongside other major subjects such as Business Administration, Computer Science, Computer Security, Gane Desig & development, and Electrical Engineering.
The publicly stated aim of the program, using the BI in Computer Science as an example, is as follows:
"The Bachelor of Innovation™ in Computer Science will provide students with both the technical and business background to work on innovative computer-related projects, including the ability to: (1) recognize the broader issues in computer technology-related problems; (2) understand the technological, business, legal and societal constraints affecting this technology; and (3) have the ability to communicate the key issues, needs, potential options, and final solution to a challenge. The program seeks to prepare students for successful careers and lifelong learning. In addition to the technical competence expected of a graduate with a bachelors degree in computer science, students will develop the critical thinking skills, multi-faceted team oriented skills and basic business background to ensure that they can effectively compete in the changing computer career landscape for positions that are unlikely to be off-shored."
The other descriptions are all similar in nature. The apparent intent is to give students the tools to be able to innovative within a specified discipline, including having the skills and knowledge to develop teams that work well, communication skills, collaboration abilities and so on.
But can innovativeness be taught? No one knows the answer yet!
|
|
| Permalink |
Trackback |
Comments (1)
Add Comment
|
Re: Bachelor's Of Innovation - can Innovation be learned? |
By John Callen on
2/28/2007 12:49 PM |
Can innovation be taught? Absolutely. It is not magic. What is that old quote about invention being 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration? It really is all about stepping back from the myopic (or is it the microscopic?) view grasping a broader understanding of the problem space along with a more fluid traversal through the solution space being in a wide variety of experiences and resources with minimal pre-filtering. At university, I learned the concept of "satisfising" - where there is no absolute answer, but a series of solutions which exist which are equally valid, which equally satisfy the requirements (especially in a highly subjective problem space). Problem solving becomes the curriculum, multi-disciplinary study becomes the field, and collaboration becomes the medium through which projects are realized.
BTW, I was running through Amazon this afternoon and I happened upon an interesting list of books on innovation, many of which would be well known to the COFES community. Try out:
http://www.amazon.com/Tools-for-the-Strategic-Innovator/lm/R3DPWQRVS1D98D/ref=cm_lmt_dtpa_f_1_rdssss0/105-2786395-3468456
|
|
|
|
|
|