Twenty-first century teachers must embrace innovative practices and tools for relevant instruction that motivate and prepare students for the future. However, a gap between available technology, such as geospatial technologies, and those used for instructional technologies prevails. This study set out to discover if high school geography teachers'…

Culture plays a central role in the creative economy, not only in terms of developing creative products and services but also in terms of shaping the processes by which products are crafted. Among various pedagogical approaches for the development of creative products, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) emerges as a promising…

Bent on improving the teaching and learning experience, enhancing the productivity of researchers, and increasing the visibility of research outputs, libraries are redistributing staff, reallocating resources, and reorganizing internal structures, all to better partner campus-wide. Nowhere is the impact of this push for service innovation and user…

This study investigated the factorial structure of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) Figural Form A with an aim to find out whether the two-factor structure of creative thinking established by Kim and Kim, Cramond, and Bandalos holds true for the older participants. Data were gathered from 996 8th grade students and 748 11th grade…

Districts across the country are facing severe shortages of teachers--especially in certain subjects (math, science, special education, career and technical education, and bilingual education) and in specific schools (urban, rural, high-poverty, high-minority, and low-achieving). The severity of the teacher shortage problem varies significantly by…

How Extension fosters social change and innovation can be improved through the use of theory-based educational models. Educational models can serve as foundations for the conceptual designs of educational interventions. I describe, using examples from my own work, one such model: the awareness, solidarity, and action model. This three-part model…

Partnership as an ordinary, everyday way of doing business within Saint Paul Parks and Recreation (P&R) has often been limited to working with individuals, groups, or agencies through a contract, generally to provide fee-based programs or services. This approach does not encourage new ways of thinking about or working with other organizations…

Affordable, reliable access to high speed broadband is critical to U.S. economic growth and competitiveness. Upgrading to higher-speed broadband lets consumers use the Internet in new ways, increases the productivity of American individuals and businesses, and drives innovation throughout the digital ecosystem. As this report describes, while the…

This case study illustrates how DS106, a computer science course in Digital Storytelling from the University of Mary Washington (UMW) and accessible as an open course on the web, is being explored in a corporate environment at 3M, an American multinational corporation based in St. Paul, Minnesota, to build community, collaboration, and more…

Global demand is increasing for food, feed, and fiber; for additional agricultural outputs, such as biofuels; and for ecosystem services, such as clean water and outdoor recreation. In response, new agricultural enterprises are needed that produce more outputs from existing lands while meeting the "triple bottom line" of high performance…

The Mayo Innovation Scholars Program introduces undergraduates to technology transfer in biomedical sciences by having teams of students from multiple disciplines (e.g., biology, chemistry, economics, and business) analyze inventions in development at the Mayo Clinic. Over 6 months, teams consult with inventors, intellectual property experts, and…

Curricula content and structure that encourages interdisciplinary learning, inter-level organization, cross-institutional study supports innovation and inspires new ideas about curricular design in higher education. The purpose of this article is to discuss a collaborative effort of two classes on different campuses to map play in the culturally…

Purpose: Minnesota's Nursing Facility Performance-Based Incentive Payment Program (PIPP) supports provider-initiated projects aimed at improving care quality and efficiency. PIPP moves beyond conventional pay for performance. It seeks to promote implementation of evidence-based practices, encourage innovation and risk taking, foster collaboration…

This dissertation describes how entrepreneurial superintendents of educational service agencies (ESAs) recognize, determine and address common and distinct innovative characteristics within emerging or established regional educational environments. Because internal and external factors assist in recognizing innovative practices, this study…

If adversity brings opportunity, great opportunity may now be on the doorstep. The dual forces of an economy transitioning from an industrial focus to an innovation imperative, and a global financial downturn of massive proportions are leaving families, organizations,and communities scrambling for relief, solutions, and hope. Meanwhile, a…