Diana G. Oblinger Innovation Forum

conference attendees watching a presentation

Meaningful Innovation: The real transformation in digital transformation

Higher education's digital transformation (Dx) can lead to new business models, improved student outcomes, different teaching and learning methods, and new research capabilities. Dx requires agile and flexible IT leaders and organizations to enable the institution to innovate rapidly, efficiently and meaningfully. The 2019 Diana G. Oblinger Innovation Forum will explore how higher education is currently and can best achieve meaningful innovation. Higher education leaders currently immersed in innovation will share their insights, advice, and aspirations for the field. The forum will examine several models of innovation today in higher education, as well as specific topics such as accelerating student success, the role of data, and digital ethics.

Forum sessions will include:

  • Finding Step-Change Innovation: The Power of Perspective
    Digital disruptors often use a unique perspective to power their step-change innovations. Some disruptors are start-ups; other are incumbents. All are resetting the rules and customer expectations while reinventing processes and outcomes. This panel explores how to tap innovation, whatever its source, to catalyze digital transformation and actively shape the future of higher education.

    (Presenters: Diana Oblinger, President Emeritus, EDUCAUSE; Pierre Dubuc, Co-Founder and CEO, OpenClassrooms; Tom Dianisio, CIO, Southern New Hampshire University; Sarah Bauder, Chief Transformation Officer, PASSHE)

  • How to Induce Game-Changing Innovation
    Digital transformation is all the rage, but it's not about technology or products. It's about specific leadership competencies that induce as opposed to inhibit innovation. The unprecedented change in the business environment has resulted in a situation where what worked in the past will no longer work.

    (Presenter: Sunnie Gilles, President Quantum Leadership Group)

  • Innovation and the Last Mile of Student Success
    Many institutions' student success initiatives are moving beyond the low-hanging fruit to address the diverse facets of helping learners achieve their individual postsecondary goals. Innovation is needed. Data and analytics can fuel innovation, but bring challenges of their own: integrations, governance, algorithmic bias, and the difficulty of measuring complexities such as food insecurity and mental health. Today's panel of higher education and industry leaders will offer advice and inspiration for institutions to prepare for the last mile of student success.

    (Presenters: Mark Milliron, Co-Founder & Chief Learning Officer, Civitas Learning Inc; Laura Ipsen, President & CEO, Ellucian; Brendan Aldrich, Chief Data Officer, California State University, Office of the Chancellor; Pam Eddinger, President, Bunker Hill Community College)

  • Scaling Innovation that Matters: Redesigning College for the Students of the Future
    Hear about the most important things the UIA learned from five years of scaling innovation across the country. Learn how to engage failure, how to support new ideas, and the best way to ensure your campus is able to truly harness the potential of innovative ideas.

    (Presenter: Bridget Burns, Executive Director, University Innovation Alliance)

  • The Innovative Public: How States Are Leading Through Technology-Enabled Practice
    Public colleges and universities are fast becoming the most enthusiastic advocates for change and innovation in higher education management. Join a panel of experts and leaders from California and New York for a look at the rise of the innovative public and the next wave of innovative practice.

    (Presenters: Terah Amsel Crews, Partner, Entangled Solutions; Carey Hatch, Interim Sr. Associate Provost for Academic Services, SUNY System Administration; Ajita Menon, Senior Advisor to the Chancellor, California Community Colleges, Chancellor's Office; Andrew Kelly, Senior Vice President for Strategy and Policy, University of North Carolina System Office)

  • Kick-Starting Innovation from Within IT
    Saying we need our teams to be more innovative is easy; building the organizational competency of innovation is not. You need to know what you want to achieve, create the mechanisms that will help you achieve your strategy, and guide the organization to behave in an innovative way. This session will offer practical advice on how you can kick-start innovation in your team, as soon as you get back from this conference.

    (Presenter: Christie Struckman, Analyst, VP, Gartner)

  • The State of Digital Ethics in 2019: Excitement, Caution, and Hope
    Ethical concerns related to technology are hardly new. Today, however, the hype around technology innovation often masks nuanced, powerful, and sometimes grave ethical entanglements, and these concerns are likely to intensify. In this keynote, EDUCAUSE President John O'Brien will make the case for excitement, caution, and hope in this exceedingly challenging landscape.

    (Presenter: John O'Brien, President & CEO, EDUCAUSE)