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College of Education

Innovation

We leverage cutting-edge research and innovative educational practices to create transformative experiences for learners and develop new educational tools.

We are committed to continuous improvement and leveraging the skills, expertise and experiences of our faculty, staff and students to build a culture that champions innovation in the field of education. Through an intentional expansion of immersive, applied learning opportunities and the integration of technology into educational settings, we provide our students with unparalleled learning experiences that prepare them for success as educational leaders in a rapidly evolving world. Furthermore, our commitment to innovation extends beyond the classroom and educational systems, fueling our dedication to producing deeply impactful research. We empower our faculty, staff and students to push boundaries, develop cutting-edge methodologies and pedagogies and generate knowledge that positively influences the broader education discipline, fostering an environment that encourages experimentation, collaboration and creative problem-solving.

Strategic Priority 1.1: Promote innovations in teaching and curriculum design that provide best-in-class student learning experiences and enhance student success in the College of Education. (Wolfpack 2030: Goal 1)

Key initiatives:

  • Expand the offerings and programmatic integration of impactful learning experiences for all College of Education students.
  • Effectively utilize cutting-edge technology to prepare College of Education students to succeed in their careers.

Strategic Priority 1.2: Foster a culture of excellence, continuous improvement and innovation that promotes creativity and advances the field of education. (Wolfpack 2030: Goals 1, 2, 5)

Key initiatives:

  • Create dedicated time for and integrate recognition of creativity and innovation in teaching, research and educational partnerships into existing structures, including evaluation.
  • Develop structures to share, highlight and amplify faculty and staff work in innovations that impact student learning, research, commercialization, outreach and engagement.

Strategic Priority 1.3: Design and resource an internal infrastructure that supports creativity and exploration. (Wolfpack 2030: Goals 2, 5, 7)

Key initiatives:

  • Identify areas of research priority for the College of Education and create organizational structures with resources to foster research, collaboration, knowledge building, technology/tool development and translation of these areas into practice.
  • Expand state, national and international collaborations, including postdoctoral researchers and visiting scholar programs, facilitated research collaborations and faculty, staff or student exchanges.
  • Increase partnerships with technology-based clusters and university-wide academies and initiatives.
  • Integrate emerging technology into educational instruction, research and professional development experiences.
  • Number of students who participate in impactful learning experiences during their credential or degree programs
  • Number of courses with innovative technology integration
  • Enrollment*
  • Instructor satisfaction with support to improve teaching*
  • Creation of, affiliation with and productivity of innovative organizational
  • structures
  • Square footage of available and utilized research space
  • Number of state, national and international collaborations
  • Number of innovations created by faculty, staff and students
  • Faculty, staff and student satisfaction with research support*

*Denotes direct alignment with Wolfpack 2030: Powering the Extraordinary strategic plan metrics.

innovation in action

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Two Projects Funded through College of Education’s New Innovation Fellows Program Will Address Future Teachers’ Wellbeing, Use Technology to Improve Literacy Outcomes

College of Education researchers are working to improve future teachers’ wellbeing and harness new technology to address literacy outcomes through two projects funded by the NC State College of Education’s Innovation Fellows Program.

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College of Education Awarded $9.1 Million in Grant Funding From July to September, 2024

Faculty and researchers at the NC State College of Education, including the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, were awarded $9,140,684 to support 14 projects from July 1 to Sept. 30, 2024.