Innovating in Education, Educating for Innovation

Innovating in Education, Educating for Innovation OCTOBER 15, 2009 The European School 2.0 – The seventh EDEN Open Classroom Conference EDEN – European Distance and E-Leaning Network

How can we incubate creativity? How can we develop in our children the capacity for innovation?

After more than 25 years of experience in the use of technologies in education why have we progressed so little in developing creativity and innovation in our schools?

1. TYPES OF INNOVATION 2. INNOVATING IN EDUCATION 3. EDUCATING FOR INNOVATION 5. CONCLUSIONS 4. A SOLUTION

1. TYPES OF INNOVATION If we mix them up, innovation doesn’t happen Two radically different types of innovation: incremental innovation disruptive innovation

Incremental innovations build on existing thinking, products, processes, organizations, or social systems INCREMENTAL INNOVATION They can be routine improvements or they can be dramatic breakthroughs but they address the very core of what already exists 1. TYPES OF INNOVATION

INCREMENTAL INNOVATION
Airplanes that fly farther
Batteries that last longer
Televisions with clearer images
Computers that process faster
Examples of incremental innovations:
Schools where students learn better by regularly using the Net
1. TYPES OF INNOVATION

Disruptive innovations are addressed to people who do not have any solutions DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION They take root in simple, undemanding applications that are not breakthrough People are happy to use them, in spite of their limitations , because no other solutions exist They do not compete with anything 1. TYPES OF INNOVATION

But as they gain strength in the realm of non-competition DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION they evolve very fast and end up replacing the traditional solutions 1. TYPES OF INNOVATION

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION The personal computer is an example of a disruptive innovation The first personal computers (like the Spectrum and the Apple II) were ridiculously limited, and completely out of that market. An example of disruptive innovation: In the 1970s the professional computer market was occupied by 100,000 € minicomputers produced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Data General and HP. 1. TYPES OF INNOVATION

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION But they quickly grew up, in this unexplored market Ten years later, in the 1980s, they were much more powerful, and starting to erode the minicomputer market Twenty years later, in the 1990s, the minicomputer market collapsed in favour of the PC market They were supposed to be used mainly as toys by children and their parents. DEC and Data General don’t exist any more 1. TYPES OF INNOVATION

3. INNOVATING IN EDUCATION educational systems are networks of actors that reinforce each other into stable configurations From the point of view of the sociology of innovation These stable configurations tend to prevent change

3. INNOVATING IN EDUCATION

2. INNOVATING IN EDUCATION it is impossible to produce innovations with lasting effects the inertia of the system dilutes or distorts the innovations Some experts in innovation claim that in such conservative echo-systems and converts them to the reigning uniformity It is like pouring water in the desert

2. INNOVATING IN EDUCATION Incremental innovation in educational systems has a high failure rate but it can be explored I don’t share this radical view if sound innovation strategies are crafted and managed relying on dependable social theories , Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005 such as Actor-Network-Theory

2. INNOVATING IN EDUCATION The promising path to innovation in the educational systems is through disruptive innovation that quietly grows in the margins of the system , unobtrusively until it starts changing it, irreversibly McGraw-Hill, New York, 2008 Clayton M. Christensen is an inspiring author on this topic

Courses provided on-line to a region
or a whole country, namely:
courses for gifted students
enrichment classes for special-needs children
optional courses in the languages, arts, humanities, economics
distant support to homebound and home-schooled students
private tutoring
Examples of disruptive innovations in the school systems:

Pilot schools trying out new school models
Special schools for students wishing to follow project-based learning
Experimental schools aimed at changing transformationally the degraded social communities to which they belong

2. INNOVATING IN EDUCATION These are examples of opportunities for disruptive innovation that don’t clash against the mainstream educational echo-system In this way, innovation can incubate at leisure until it matures up to a level where it can be transposed to the mainstream system

3. EDUCATING FOR INNOVATION Educating a creative and innovative generation requires other concerns besides those related to language, maths and science Ten years ago , in the early days of the Blair government, a commission led by Sir Ken Robinson produced

3. EDUCATING FOR INNOVATION Educating a creative and innovative generation requires other concerns besides those related to language, maths and science Ten years ago , in the early days of the Blair government, a commission led by Sir Ken Robinson produced NACCCE, UK, 1999 a 240-page report on how to make progress in the creative and cultural development of young people

3. EDUCATING FOR INNOVATION Unfortunately, the report has been ignored since then Last May, the BBC celebrated the 10 th anniversary of its neglect Studies and research reports keep being produced all over the world insisting, for instance, on the importance of the epistemologies of Design and of the Visual Arts Arts Council England, UK, December 2008

3. EDUCATING FOR INNOVATION The formative role of the engineering paradigms are also being stressed The distinct epistemologies of science and engineering “ science explains what exists ” “ engineering creates what never existed ” and their complementary roles in education have been stressed National Academy of Science, USA, 2009 namely in the United States

3. EDUCATING FOR INNOVATION Very innovative experiments , engaging thousands of teachers, are under way But they all have one thing in common : Yale University Press, 2008 such as those conducted by Kieran Egan ’s Imaginative Education Research Group (IERG)

3. EDUCATING FOR INNOVATION If they remain at the margins of the conventional educational echo-system they succeed following a disruptive path or if they are based on very cautious, strategically managed, incremental innovation and produce lasting effects

3. EDUCATING FOR INNOVATION Otherwise they fail and that’s what we witness most of the time and leave no lasting effects HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THIS SCENARIO?

4. A SOLUTION How can we set up an organic , reflective follow-up process , Who teaches who? that analyses difficulties , assesses consequences , and clarifies how to progress ? STILL ONE PROBLEM: In a world that keeps changing , who knows how to progress ?

4. A SOLUTION MY ANSWER: By establishing lasting partnerships between research units and school communities in a reflection about how school curricula and pedagogical practices can evolve in this changing world around action-research and design-research projects conducted by mixed teams of academic researchers and school teachers

4. A SOLUTION These projects should be financially supported and assessed on the basis of their contribution to sustained :
enhancement of didactical approaches
system innovation and cultural change
improvement of educational practices

4. A SOLUTION The national and international publication and presentation of the results of these projects, by members of the mixed teams and the dialogue and mutual help : strengthens sustained reflective practices and further mobilizes all the parts
face-to-face (at conferences )
at a distance (in social networks )

4. A SOLUTION These projects also provide:
opportunities for MScs and PhDs “in the field”
“ authentic ” opportunities for teacher assessment
contextual alternatives to teacher training

6. CONCLUSIONS If we want lasting innovation in the educational systems and our children to be more creative and innovative we need to reinforce our emphasis on disruptive innovation projects These should be action-research and design-based research projects conducted by mixed teams of school teachers and academic researchers 2 1

Innovating in Education, Educating for Innovation OCTOBER 15, 2009 The European School 2.0 – The seventh EDEN Open Classroom Conference EDEN – European Distance and E-Leaning Network THE END The slides will be available at: http://www.slideshare.net/adfigueiredo My Webpage: adfig.com

Innovating in Education, Educating for Innovation

by European Distance and E-Learning Network on Oct 21, 2009

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