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Leading by Example: Leveraging Academic Innovation Centers in Times of Crisis

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Teaching in the PostCOVID-19 Era

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Abstract

Universities worldwide are increasingly investing in academic innovation centers that are designed to encourage their students to pursue careers focused on innovation and technology. This chapter explores the educational opportunities of these academic innovation centers during crisis situations by documenting how an academic innovation center at Florida State University — the Innovation Hub — was able to encourage university students to engage in creative problem solving through design thinking, emerging technologies, and experiential learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of these efforts demonstrate that academic innovation centers, during times of global crisis, have a unique opportunity to lead by example, enhancing their educational impact by connecting students directly with real-world challenges as creative problem solvers with the power to improve their communities.

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Albert Einstein

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to extend their deepest appreciation to the many people and programs that contributed their expertise to the campus-wide response to COVID-19:

  • Dr. Sally McRorie, FSU Provost, for her financial and political support.

  • Dr. Emily Pritchard, FSU College of Medicine, for facilitating the connections and distribution of PPE in our community.

  • Dr. Kassie Ernst, FSU College of Engineering, and Mr. Matt Hunter, FSU University Libraries, for their contributions with 3D printing for PPE production.

  • Mr. Rabieh Razzouk, FSU Learning Systems Institute, for the donation of twenty 3D printers.

  • The Coca-Cola Company for the donation of plastic for face plates.

  • The skilled staff at FSU’s Master Craftsman Studio for laser-cutting the face plates.

  • Mr. Alan Hanstein, Tallahassee Making Awesome, for acquiring plastic from Coca-Cola and serving as an excellent community partner.

  • Mr. Richard Ensor, FSU Art Department, for his assistance with PPE production.

  • Student Contributors: Jordan Wiener, Vivi Huynh, Gena Ferguson, Isabella Tocci, Estefania Touza Maya, Dani Proffitt, Ismael Fernandez, Mary Rufo, Orlando Kenny.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. FSU Innovation Hub, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Ken Baldauf

  2. Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Paul Marty, Rienne Saludo, Iskandaria Masduki, Eric Adams & Ebrahim Montazeri

Authors
  1. Ken Baldauf
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  2. Paul Marty
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  3. Rienne Saludo
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  4. Iskandaria Masduki
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  5. Eric Adams
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  6. Ebrahim Montazeri
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Correspondence to Ken Baldauf .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Project Director, Educational Technology, Yorkville University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

    Ismail Fayed

  2. Associate Dean Faculty Development, Yorkville University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

    Jill Cummings

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Baldauf, K., Marty, P., Saludo, R., Masduki, I., Adams, E., Montazeri, E. (2021). Leading by Example: Leveraging Academic Innovation Centers in Times of Crisis. In: Fayed, I., Cummings, J. (eds) Teaching in the PostCOVID-19 Era. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74088-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74088-7_2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-74087-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-74088-7

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