Innovating Inside the Box....

"Step outside of the box" is a cry to try something, new, different and dare I say innovative?  I question the suggestion that we must "step out" in order to make change.  It is not realistic for educators to leave the school house walls to bring about change, for change must come from the inside. We must use and reuse the resources available differently to help our students think creatively and critically.

In Learner-Centered Innovation, Katie Martin @kmartin says:

"If we want to create learning experiences that unleash the talent in all students, teachers, and administrators, we have to work together to push back against existing norms and traditions and intentionally design a culture that serves the larger goals."

To provide our students with the skills and mindset to tackle the future, we must push back against the box and make change from the inside out.

"We must rethink why, what, and how we learn in schools for students to thrive in the information economy of today and tomorrow, not yesterday."

  ~Katie Martin 

#IMMOOC, #LCINNOVATION

Ending the "we have always done it this way " mantra

Open-mindedness is critical in an innovation fueled educational environment.  The students and teachers must be willing to try new things -- to teach and learn in untraditional ways.  Students must not be afraid to tackle unstructured assignments, and take an active role in their learning.  Teachers must be willing to move away from a compliance educational culture and think outside of the box to create learning opportunities for their students.

School communities must be supportive of the risk takers, because they will fail; but that is all part of the learning process.  Both students and teachers need to feel supported, so that they are empowered to try new things.  As Katie Martin say in her book "Learner Centered Innovation":

"... if we don't empower teachers and create school cultures where people feel valued and free to take risks, we will miss out on our greatest opportunity to change how students learn"

Schools need to take a hard look at the world around them.  Things have changed exponentially and we can no longer all our practices to be decided by the mantra:

"This is the way we have always done it"

#LCINNOVATION, IMMOOC