President Joseph E. Aoun on Tuesday took part in a webinar hosted by The Chronicle of Higher Education to discuss the disruptions colleges and universities are facing. Joined by Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education and Jeff Selingo, contributing editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, they talked about innovation in a knowledge economy.

Here’s some of what you missed:

Aoun: “Now is the opportunity for higher education to start thinking about output measures. The danger of output measures is only focusing on a short-term basis, such as six months after graduation. We need to look at the entire life of the learner. Long-term perspective is important.”

Broad: “We can’t become self confident that our operating model is going to remain static in a world that is experiencing dramatic transformation.”

Aoun: “Many people now who are questioning higher education [are people who] have the means to do whatever they want. When you tell someone that education is not important and that they are in a very challenging economic environment, that is an argument a rich person would make.”

Broad: “This is what leadership is all about; if it is perceived that the goal of your innovative action is going to support the institution’s values then I think it is a risk worth taking.”

Aoun: “Whenever there is a change in culture, you have three groups: early adopters, the people who are not going to accept it all, and the large majority are the people who are neutral. You have to lead with the early adopters. They become the ambassadors and they will provide the community with proof of concept and successes.

Selingo: “Two-thirds of university presidents are more optimistic about the general state of the economy compared to a year ago. But that same percentage, about 66 percent, think higher education is going in the wrong direction.”

Aoun: “When students return from their experiential learning opportunity, it’s not just about the debrief of their experience, but also how to integrate that experience in the classroom.”

(keep an eye on @Northeastern on Twitter, we’ll share the full webinar soon)