33. Empowering Faculty to Innovate: A Conversation with Perry Klebahn

In this conversation with EdUp Provost host Dr. Gregor Thuswaldner, Perry Klebahn of Stanford University’s renowned d.school and co-author of “Ideaflow: The Only Business Metric that Matters,” discusses the challenges of fostering innovation in higher education, particularly for provosts. He emphasizes the importance of overcoming thinking traps, utilizing the ideaflow framework to generate numerous ideas and prototypes, and engaging students in the course creation process. Klebahn also addresses the need for academic leaders to encourage risk-taking among faculty and staff while adapting to the rise of AI in education. In this conversation, Perry Klebahn discusses the integration of AI in education, emphasizing its role as an augmentation tool rather than a replacement for human effort. He highlights the importance of collaboration among educators to foster innovation and improve student engagement. The discussion also touches on measuring ideaflow in academic settings, balancing tradition with innovation, and the essential leadership qualities needed for provosts to effectively lead in higher education. Takeaways Innovation in higher education is often hindered by planning versus doing. Provosts can encourage creative problem-solving by recognizing thinking traps. The Idea Flow framework emphasizes generating many ideas to find successful outcomes. Engaging students in course creation can lead to more relevant and exciting classes. Creating a culture of experimentation can lead to significant improvements in academic settings. AI can help generate more ideas for problem-solving.