On October 2, James DeVaney, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan, kicked off Duke NextEd Festival with a talk entitled “Academic Innovation and the Compassionate Public Square.” DeVaney has shared his full remarks and presentation for the talk in a blog post published on Inside Higher Ed and the University of Michigan Academic Innovation blog.
In the post, “Is it Time to Scale College Towns? Reimagining Public Engagement through Agile Design,” DeVaney reflects on his comments at Duke and the University of Michigan’s efforts to find new ways to help learners construct their own understanding of the world.
At Duke, DeVaney described the story of the University of Michigan’s “Teach-Outs,” short, just-in-time learning opportunities that allow people across the world to engage with experts on various topics of national and international interest, for example “Hurricanes: What’s Next?” Modeled on the Teach-Ins of the 1960s, which physically brought people to campus for a short-term, intensive educational experience on a timely topic, Teach-Outs take advantage of current technology to engage learners where they are.
Duke NextEd Festival continues through the rest of October and the first week of November. To see a list of events and to register, visit the NextEd website.
