Curriculum R & D: Incubating change in higher education

This mixed methods study examined incubation as a strategy for curricular change. The purpose was to examine the characteristics and effectiveness of curriculum incubation from a faculty perspective. The conceptual frame for this study proposed combining a grounded theory of incubation with concepts from organizational creativity to explain incubator processes. Findings concluded that while the incubator did engage is typical practices of nurturing, testing, and refining ideas, the salient characteristics of the incubator were most closely related to concepts of organizational creativity. The incubator examined in this study was in formative stages of development and data offered a thin slice of evidence supporting incubation as a mechanism of curricular change. Further study is warranted