Lone Star College-Tomball's (LSC-Tomball) leaders recognized educational technologies that will revolutionize education and reshape teaching strategies and student learning experiences years before ChatGPT gained popularity. The Internet, social media, and a wide range of educational resources had widespread digital influence, presenting both opportunities and challenges for traditional brick-and-mortar academic environments (Wiesinger & Beliveau, 2016). The college strived to stay at the forefront of the newest trends and challenges, which prompted the development of proactive strategies to prepare for uncertainties in higher education (Bouchrika, 2024; Levine & Van Pelt, 2021; Sugrue et al., 2017).

It is critical for community colleges to conduct research on higher education trends and challenges while also encouraging innovative thinking. In fall 2019, LSC-Tomball formed a special committee to carry out a research and innovation project. Following research into similar centers at higher education institutions around the United States, the college launched a Research and Innovation (R&I) Center in October 2022 to serve LSC-Tomball students, faculty, staff, and community members.

The Story So Far

During the college's 30th anniversary, the LSC-Tomball leadership team came up with a novel idea that they believed no other two-year community college in the U.S. had implemented before. The vision was to encourage institutional agility in generating concepts to enhance students' experiences. The initiative kicked off after the college conducted a comparative analysis of efforts at community colleges and universities throughout the country, including, but not limited to, The State University of New York System’s research and innovation, Valencia College’s Centers for Teaching/Learning Innovation, Stanford University’s Center for Innovation and Design Research, and the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. LSC-Tomball modeled the R&I Center after the key infrastructure of these institutions, such as a collaboration and presentation space, funding support, library resources, professional development training, and computer equipment for digital research. This initiative focused on building a think tank where college members across disciplines can collaborate and brainstorm ideas to advance students’ skills in areas discussed in Joseph E. Aoun’s (2017) book, Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. The AI-resilient skills are data literacy, human literacy, and technological literacy, while the cognitive capacities include critical thinking, entrepreneurship, systems thinking, and cultural agility.

The R&I Center is a space for sparking novel thinking and turning creativity into reality. Through this unique center, LSC-Tomball cultivates a lively culture on campus and keeps college members informed of the latest educational trends. Additionally, the center helps the institution to carry out its mission to pursue research, foster innovation, and inspire work that advances the community college.

From left, Tim Mousel, Dr. Neil Gregerson, and Clark Friesen discuss
higher education trends in a panel discussion hosted by the R&I Center (2024).

Making It Happen

Successfully turning an idea into action requires vision, strategic planning, resources, funding, teamwork, and time. To implement LSC-Tomball’s vision, the R&I Center's launch plan included forming a committee, benchmarking colleges in the U.S., developing a framework, collecting and reviewing college member feedback, preparing for the opening, and promoting and launching the initiative. However, even with an impeccable plan, advanced tools, sophisticated teams, and sufficient funding, obstacles were inevitable. Due to the global pandemic, the R&I Center experienced construction holdups, supply backlogs, and social distancing requirements, which resulted in the delay of the center's originally planned opening in 2021. Regardless of all the difficulties, however, the R&I Center managed to launch just a year later than planned.

Following two years of operations and support from the college’s Strengthening Institutions Program Title III Grant Initiative, the R&I Center has become a brainstorming hotspot for students, faculty, and staff members at LSC-Tomball. Its programs focus on enhancing skills essential to the future workplace, developed out of ideas introduced in Aoun’s book. For example, the R&I Center:

• Built a room reservation system for college members to book the space for brainstorming sessions, group meetings, or class presentations. The system integrates survey forms with digital calendars that update the R&I Center’s web-based availability calendar. The R&I initiative’s operation team designed the space with a welcoming ambiance, themed it with inspirational decorations, and equipped it with computers for digital research.
• Worked with a local community library to provide cutting-edge equipment not available at the college. This collaboration benefits the college and community members alike.
• Collaborated with LSC-Tomball's VR Lab to roll out semester-long programs to accommodate students with different class schedules. Sponsored by the LSC System Mini Grant, the R&I Center purchased AI-powered language translators for the Connecting with the World Innovatively program to bring cultural experiences to students on campus by utilizing AI translators.
• Developed a website that offers research resources and tools, provides news on education trends, and curates its program recordings to reach a wider audience, including those who cannot attend life programs.

Over the course of two years, LSC-Tomball’s R&I Center earned a reputation of providing high-quality resources and served over 2,000 college and community members. Phase one of the center involved considering marketing strategies and dedicating time to promote the initiative. Understanding the needs of target audiences was also worth the investment, as it contributed to student persistence and retention rates as well as their exceptional learning journey at the college.

Innovation Club student Mathew Perry showcases
the robotic arm he built out of digital LEGO (2024).

What’s Next?

Since its inception, the R&I Center has received positive feedback and support from college members. A staff member participating in the Ed U Trends Talk program made this statement:

Each panelist brought something unique to the talk and I appreciated their efforts in helping the audience understand how such technologies can make a difference in a student’s life, or your everyday work. Thank you for this great event as I was able to gather personal advice about the field. I'd love to see more similar events and look forward to being engaged!

A student rated the Looking Sharp on Camera program a 5 out of 5 stars and commented, "Thank you for having me here. I really enjoyed the workshop we did. I hope to see you at other public speaking events.”

While the R&I Center transitions between phases after two years of operation, we envision serving college members by implementing novel ideas, such as discovering and integrating more tools and technologies for teaching and learning, with the aim of enhancing students' learning experiences and developing proficient professionals for the future workforce.

Bringing It Home

The LSC-Tomball R&I Center has shown how a dedicated space and intentional programs can effectively address challenges such as the rise of digital influence and technological advancements. It began with a pilot to provide learning opportunities, establish partnerships across the college, institute feedback mechanisms, and ensure accessibility for students, faculty, staff, and community members. By implementing a research and innovation initiative focused on enhancing students’ skills and keeping college members at the leading edge of notable trends and challenges, the R&I Center achieved a 9.75 percent participation rate among the total population of 8,857 students and employees at LSC-Tomball during the spring 2024 semester. LSC-Tomball envisions the R&I Center as a human-centered design thinking hub which will continue to serve college members with innovative approaches that support the college’s strategic vision and prepare students for an increasingly complex and dynamic world.

References

Aoun, J. E. (2017). Robot-proof: Higher education in the age of artificial intelligence. MIT Press.

Bouchrika, I. (n.d.). 11 top trends in higher education: 2024 data, insights & predictions. Research.com. https://research.com/education/trends-in-higher-education

Levine, A., & Van Pelt, S. J. (2021). The great upheaval: Higher education’s past, present, and uncertain future. Johns Hopkins University Press. Research and Innovation Center calendar. (n.d.). https://www.lonestar.edu/tomball-ric-calendar

Sugrue, C., Englund, T., Solbrekke, T. D., & Fossland, T. (2017). Trends in the practices of academic developers: trajectories of higher education? Studies in Higher Education, 43(12), 2336-2353.

Wiesinger, S., & Beliveau, R. (2016). Digital literacy: A primer on media, identity, and the evolution of technology. Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers.

Lead image: Phi Theta Kappa student organization president Malyse Domingue provides a tour during the R&I Center’s grand opening (2022).

Isabelle Chen is Coordinator III, Research and Innovation, at Lone Star College-Tomball in Tomball, Texas.

Opinions expressed in Innovation Showcase are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Leage for Innovation in the Community College.