GEM boosts its pedagogical innovation projects thanks to a participative system

What is the BPI? How is this initiative different from the systems that may exist in other institutions?

D. Gatti-Urweiller : The BPI, Booster of Pedagogical Innovation, was born from a strong desire to optimize the learning experience of GEM students. For this reason, we quickly understood the need to promote, encourage and above all accelerate pedagogical innovation within our school. Our solution? To give the possibility to the entire "GEM community" (members of the administration, professors, partners and maybe next year students) to not only have an idea or a project proposal, but also to give their opinions and to be able to make a contribution. We have focused on collective intelligence and participatory innovation.

It is a new approach for working for a new state of mind

In concrete terms, we have opened a digital platform to collect ideas and projects. This space is interactive and completely open. During the ideation phase, there are no constraints on submitting a project proposal. Anyone can submit a proposal for educational innovation, comment on the ideas of others, or support a concept by voting. About 30% of the School's employees participated. The School is committed to boosting the ideas deemed most promising for the school.

How is it implemented?

E. Villiot-Leclercq : The BIP wants to offer a favorable environment to support pedagogical innovation among the School's teachers and avoid exhaustion. The implementation was carried out in four main phases: 

• In April and May 2019, we launched the call for projects and collected ideas on the participatory web platform. 21 pedagogical innovation projects were submitted.
• From May 17 to June 14, 2019, a pool of experts was asked to give an opinion on the potential of the projects proposed on the platform according to six criteria: to improve the learning capacity of the student; Bring new thinking to GEM practices and contribute to the achievement of the strategic goals and / or objectives of the Gem Learning Model; the importance of the resources required to achieve a deployable version; technical feasibility (IT, in-house expertise, ...); deployment and transferability potential; commitment of the bearer and the team; and suitability of the team in relation to the needs of the project.
  The group of experts is composed of about thirty people representing the different populations of the school (teachers, dean, members of the management committee, department heads, alumni, program management, Executive Education, etc). Some are members of the prioritization committee that has established a list of selected projects based on the results.
• On June 14, the pre-selected project leaders presented their action plan and roadmap to the prioritization committee. The selection was made in a collaborative fashion based on the criteria posted and in line with the school's overall strategy and the GEM Learning Model. 
• Starting at the beginning of the 2019 academic year, the "boosted" will enter the Incubator and will benefit from the proposed support (pedagogical, technical, methodological, etc.)
  and from the provision of allocated resources (time cleared in the timetable, external financing and internal budgets, technologies, workspaces, etc.)

How can the academic world become involved? 

E. Villiot-Leclercq : This initiative has many benefits for GEM teams. But our network and our academic partners could be very much involved. If they are interested in the process, they can contribute at several levels:

• we can give them private access to the BIP platform
• they can learn about the projects proposed by our teams and make a contribution
• they can create a team with a GEM person to propose a project
• they can participate in the project selection committee or the pool of experts, it would be particularly beneficial for GEM to have the external vision of one of our partners in the academic world.

Selected projects for 2019 / 2020

I will be there for you: meaningful projects to strengthen the GEM community (by Josiéna Gotzsch, GEM Professor)

The song "I will be there for you" ..., " because you are there for me too" is inspiring in itself and has its place in the educational context. What if … we could build a community with students willing to help one another, encourage one another in their studies AND in other activities. Ideally, students help other students to become better students, to be more open minded, to be healthier, to be better to others.

Certificate in responsible leadership and followership (by Taran Patel, GEM Professor)

Emphasis is placed on critical thinking to challenge the conventional understanding of the roles of leaders and followers in contemporary times (marked by an increase in nationalism, populism, territorialism) and to make students "responsible" for their own actions and futures.

Twist’Art: resolving managerial problems with art (by Marie-France Lefèvre, GEM Professor)

How to engage and motivate students or managers to imagine innovative solutions to solve managerial or societal problems? Designed as a work of art, the game will offer visual and sound experiences that will immerse the player directly into the artistic world in order to offer him a truly inspiring "side-step".

Meet'nTalk (by Carole Gally, GEM Professor)

The aim : propose the creation of an tandem for students and employees (linguistic and cultural) with common interests. New GEM students could find a mentor in order to facilitate their integration into the school or network with international students.