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| Wild Endeavors - Innovation |
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Wild Endeavors
When BSC's Office of Innovation was implemented in 2007, one of its first projects was to introduce a procedure for the campus to submit new and innovative ideas-whether to simplify a process already in place or to bring something totally new to campus. To get people to think totally outside of the box and maybe even a little wild submissions are dubbed "Wild Endeavors!"
Innovation at BSC is: people implementing new ideas that create value.
Three key components of this definition:
1. New ideas - innovation requires new ideas, new ways of looking at problems and opportunities. It is the development or adoption of new or existing ideas, the creation of new opportunities that are transformative.
2. People implementing them - Innovation is done by people; only people can generate and implement new ideas that create value for the purpose of improving policies, programs, practices, processes, products, services, delivery mechanisms, systems and personnel. Innovation is only finished when an idea has been put into action by people.
3. Value is realized by an external or internal customer through implemented ideas - for the organization, community or other stakeholders.
Innovation at BSC is to be employee driven. The Wild Endeavors process and funding was developed for the purpose of streamlining the budget and implementation process for those that have an innovative idea and are willing to champion the idea.
Recent Projects
Check out these recent projects that BSC employees have championed over the last year!
Mobile Lab - A lean office technique was put into practice when a faculty member and IT person began to digitize the student evaluation of faculty. By doing this, hundreds of hours of manual input were eliminated. The next step was to bring the computers to the students. This Wild Endeavor proposed purchasing 30 i-pads on a mobile cart that could be utilized within any classroom. Impact: Faculty and staff began using the Mobile Lab in February, 2011, and as the end of the semester arrived the lab was used three to four times a week, often several times a day. From February - May, 2011, the lab was checked out a total of 41 times.
BSC T-Shirts for Dual Credit Students - BSC's Alternative Learning Coordinator proposed the idea of giving high school students who take dual credit courses at the college a BSC t-shirt. The advantages of doing this are to reward the student for taking dual credits with BSC, encourage them to attend college at BSC when they graduate, and promote BSC to other students. The project was approved and implemented immediately. Impact: The dual credit program has become so popular that most of the inventory of shirts was given out during the first year.
Community of Learners Student Desks - After visiting other colleges that used this concept, a Wild Endeavor was submitted to purchase 20 roller lounge student desks. This allows more mobility and encourages group discussion and activities. The project was approved and the new student desks were placed in the English department for a "test run" during the 2010 Fall semester. Impact: Students did come to class early. As for the "thinking pods" - the students bonded with each other much better in pods, which helped to develop a stronger sense of community.
Classroom Management Software Wild Endeavor - Two IT employees put themselves into the roles of BSC faculty and realized the challenge and opportunity for technology use in the classroom. While technology can be good, it can also be a huge distraction in the classroom. They brought forth the idea of implementing LAN School software within the classrooms which would allow teachers to control the students' use of non-pertinent applications while in class. This will benefit both the students and faculty. The project was approved and implemented over the 2010 summer months. Impact: The Champions indicate, "LAN School is installed on 17 computer labs on BSC campus. There are 24 instructors that have the LAN School teachers console installed on their laptops along with about 4 IT staff. After a video on this project was done for World Creativity and Innovation Week there were a number of people that had commented to us that they thought it was a wonderful idea and project and thanked us for finding the product and making it available. We even had one instructor contact us to have the software installed on his laptop so he could start using it as well."
Faculty are saying:
"I am very impressed with LAN School. It is a valuable tool that can be used in a variety of useful ways, not only to reduce distractions by giving us more control of the lab, but also to enhance the learning environment. I especially like the features of being able to share the instructor's or an individual's output with the entire class. Being able to control web surfing is also nice. And as you know, there are many other useful features as well."
Mathematics Department
"I've really liked it. I feel I can help more students more quickly when they are working in the labs. In addition, I've found more students are staying on task, especially when I announce I have the monitoring software on."
Mathematics and Computer Technologies
"I really like the software!! I find it especially useful in monitoring the students when they are taking hands-on tests on the computer!"
Computer Technologies
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