Increasing instructors’ teaching innovation: a significant role of leaders in higher education institutions

Abstract

In the society of high-speed operation and extreme uncertainty nowadays, innovation becomes a pivotal contributor to enable us to keep up with the advancement of the changing world. In China’s universities, how to cultivate innovative talents has become a focus of education. Since the university is the place where instructors may be the most direct influence factor in the process of student training, their abilities in teaching innovation, which is affected by various factors including leaders who are the key decision-maker, are worthy of attention. Nevertheless, leaders, in reality, tend to place themselves in the secondary position of teaching innovation and neglect to provide necessary resources to support the learning. This paper infers the crucial role of university leaders in improving teaching innovation by analyzing the connotation, the importance, the influencing factors of teaching innovation, and recommendations. The recommendations provided for the university leaders to support instructors in consolidating the importance and procedure of teaching innovation through “GISS”, a guide of action that includes goal-setting, implementation, supporting, and sharing.