Every year, thousands of young graduates leave university without having a clear idea for their future employment/career pathways.  Higher education’s role in preparing students to be well-rounded and ready for the workforce is becoming a mounting concern (Denman & James 2016), yet few data are readily available to indicate how teaching (course content) (Seely-Brown et. al 2001), employer needs, and additional learning and assessment needs work together to prepare graduates for the world of work (Scott 2016).  Arguably, the alignment between education and employment is important if not vital for students being future-ready for the workforce.  The value proposition of a higher education degree begs the question of the ‘global thinker’ and what that may entail.  Notwithstanding the concern of what jobs will exist in five to ten years, students and prospective employers are actively seeking out what specialised skills they will need to possess for the foreseeable future.

Similarly, there have been a number of concepts proposed throughout the years that address the ‘innovative’ mind.  But instead of building a well-rounded and strong liberal arts background using the familiar works of leading scholars in the disciplines, the emphasis is shifted towards the development and application of skills over time.  Learning analytics to date have yet to consolidate and synthesize knowledge and experience through themes, patterns of development, and approaches.

This presentation begins by exploring emerging themes and patterns associated with sociocultural perspectives of the global thinker and innovation. It is believed that personal attributes such as creativity, communication, problem solving, analytical thinking and reflective thinking help to construct paradigmatic dimensions of human potential that identify and define the ‘global’ and the ‘innovative’ mind using a sociocultural lens. The exploration then presents a case study analysis of undergraduate and postgraduate students in Australia, China and Sweden in an attempt to capture a comparative sample of social and cultural engagement in the classroom and community-at-large. These case studies contribute to a stream of evidence demonstrating how certain attributes provide a coherent and consistent theme or pattern that reflects how innovation is interpreted within localised contexts. The case studies are used to frame the tensions and dilemmas arising in defining and compartmentalising expansive learning theory that incorporates development of global thinking and innovation.

After several decades of study on innovation, and contribution from many different disciplines and perspectives, there are still many aspects of how we can develop the global thinker and innovation about which we know very little. The investigation of global thinking and innovation still has much to deliver; important questions remain unanswered and many problems still require solutions. There is a glimmer of hope that education could be recalibrated to consider ideas development based on strengths rather than competency development based on a deficit model of skills. The study raises a further question of whether we should be simply training our graduates for employment or rather developing them as well-rounded 'global thinking' individuals who can contribute to society and its changing needs.

Denman, Brian D., & Rosalind James, (2016). Cultural ecology and isomorphism applied to educational planning in China’s Inner Mongolia: A new rubric. International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, Vol 18, No 1, Emerald Group Publishing, Bingley, UK: 40-52. Scott, Donald E., (2016). Assessment as a Dimension of Globalisation: Exploring International Insights. Assessment in Education. Implications for Leadership. Shelleyann Scott, Donald E. Scott, & Charles F. Webber, eds., Springer International Publishing. Seely-Brown, John and Paul Duguid (2001). Creativity versus Structure: A useful tension. MITSloan Management Review (15 October 2001). Accessed 30 March 2021, http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/creativity-versus-structure-a-useful-tension-2/