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

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

3. 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?

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

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

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

7. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. 3. INNOVATING IN EDUCATION

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

21. 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

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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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)

28. 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

29. 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?

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

31. 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 ?

32. 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

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

37. 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

38. 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