Stephen Downes

The diagram from this post was shared on LinkedIn today and it offers an interesting (if coincidental) companion piece to the 'authentic universities' paper also shared today. What I like is that it offers a look at their changing role - their 'third mission' without stating what they need to be (there's none of this 'deduplication' agenda). Indeed, making decisions up front and top-dopwn is exactly what universities shouldn't be doing. "Engaging stakeholders is often critical for addressing problems because we can't understand or solve societal challenges without their knowledge and action. It is also more likely that research ideas are adopted by stakeholders when we engage with them directly and build trust over time. There is a long history of participatory practice and extensive academic literature that lends rigor to this approach."