Enabling and sustaining educational innovation

Abstract

This paper reviews the responses to questions regarding innovation in engineering education posed to a nine-person panel assembled for The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's pre-conference workshop at the Frontiers in Education (FIE) 2000 in Kansas City. Questions were focused on the inspiration, enablers, and challenges for innovation. In addition, issues related to innovation institutionalization (or sustainability) and to evidence gathered by the panelists to assess and evaluate the institutionalizing process are discussed. Themes and commonalities of the responses are presented and related to literature on the diffusion of innovation.