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"Obviously a lot can change in 15 years. We all know this, but these images put that reality into perspective for me. It makes me wonder about things. It make me ask myself, "If that's what was on the movie of the summer, what was in our classrooms? How much has changed with technology? What about in our classrooms?" Why innovate? Here's my worry: Schools that don't innovate are going to look like this, and it likely won't take 15 years to happen. In all likelihood, it's probably happening more places than we'd like to admit right now. If we don't change, we're going to end up looking like that picture appears to us now-irrelevant, a relic of the past. For some (maybe even many) what we were doing now will be nearly unrecognizable in the not so distant future. In hindsight, some of what we understood as best practice not too long ago seems that way. We can't control the fact that our schools will continue to grow, but if we don't start getting some movement now and gaining momentum today, we're going to end up so big and so settled in that our own inertia will keep us from moving forward. With each day that passes without innovation, we only make it harder to make change happen in the future."

"When it comes to education, it seems no matter where in the world you are from, the same innovative practices bring us together. This week at Microsoft's Partners in Learning Global Forum hundreds of educators from more than 80 countries came together to showcase, learn, discuss and think about innovative teaching, learning, and leading practices. "

"This case study report provides concrete guidance and information resources to support other School District leaders faced with the challenge of determining how they can get their own innovations to 'stick' and achieve their goals. The CEA Selection Jury of Canadian innovation leaders was most impressed with how the OCSB leads with a focus on learning and teacher support first, followed by the technology. This School Board has been implementing their innovative strategy over a number of years, incorporated all partners - including teacher unions and support staff - and built a budget in support of this collective vision, with ongoing parent and student voice that continue to inform these changes. "

"We are already 14 years into the 21st century, and most of us are just catching up with existing technology - like the internet, social media, touchscreens, digital files etc. We are starting to discover the applications of these inventions in our lives, and realising which are the important innovations, which are simply gimmicks, and which are merely improvements on existing systems. But have our values really changed? In this post I will attempt to provoke and challenge our conceptions of innovation, and I hope to raise more questions than I can answer."

" "Why are we okay that management hasn't seen innovation in a 100 or 50 years, but we demand innovation in every other aspect of our lives?" Jamie Notter As we continue to look at teachers, students, and learning becoming more "innovative", it is important that leadership changes. As administrators often set the tone for their district or their building, if they are saying the same, it is not likely that things are going to change in the classroom. Leadership needs to not only "think" different, but they need to "act" different. For leaders to be effective in changing a school or an organization, they need to change themselves first. It is way too easy to go a leadership conference and get ideas of things that you are going to do with your staff. What is important is changing your own practice first. So along the lines of what is happening within "pockets" of classrooms around the world, leaders must embody the characteristics that they seek. As my good friend Jimmy Casas says, "what we model is what we get.""

"This A to Z of Creativity and Innovation Techniques, provides an introduction to a range of tools and techniques for both idea generation (Creativity) and converting those ideas into reality (Innovation). Like most tools these techniques all have their good and bad points. I like to think of these creativity and innovation techniques as tools in a toolbox in much the same way as my toolbox at home for DIY. It has a saw, spanner, hammer, knife and all sorts of other things in it, they are all very useful, but you have to pick the right tool (creativity / Innovation technique) for each job. This site will try and provide a little guidance along with each tool to let you know whether it's best used for cutting paper or putting in nails."

"On the surface, it seems like big companies and startups are worlds apart. Startups want to disrupt existing markets. Established organizations want to squelch the competition. But in reality, the big company-startup marriage may actually be the secret to sustainable innovation. It used to be that a key success factor of business partnerships was cultural fit. If the companies were too different, thing would fall apart. In today's world where disruptive innovation is the name of the game, you want to embrace differences of all kinds - in organizational culture, technology, business models, and anything else that will advance the business."

"Google's policy of 20 percent time-giving employees plenty of free time work on whatever they want-is world famous for being the birthplace of innovative products- most famously, Gmail. But what would happen if schools gave students a similar amount of unstructured free time and allowed them to take control of their own learning? This spring Matthew Bebbington, a high school physical education teacher in the U.K., decided to find out. He organized a school-wide "Innovation Day" that let 80 students between the ages of 11-15 choose what and how to learn. B"

"Cultivating an innovative culture inside your classroom and enhancing your students inquiry-based approaches to learning is not an easy task particularly in the light of all the surrounding distraction coming from digital media. It is probably one of the major challenges facing educators and teachers in the 21st century classroom. However, no matter how big the challenge is there are always ways to come to grips with it. Our colleague Mia MacMeekin from anethicalisland has designed this beautiful graphic where she featured 27 ways teachers can help their students be innovative."

"In our opinion, one of the biggest misconceptions in education is the idea that "the basics" must precede innovation. While foundational skills such as literacy and numeracy will always be necessary, there's no reason why we can't teach them alongside innovative practices."

"Educator Mia MacMeekin made this infographic about ways to inspire students to think more deeply about how innovation applies to them. It's a helpful way to begin a conversation about what it means to innovate, a word that sometimes seems to belong in the adult domain of business and is estranged from how students think about living their lives."

In a recent webinar, more than 90% of school leaders responded that they were leading an innovative school as a result of the implementation of technology. At the end of the webinar, when polled again, only one leader claimed to be leading an innovative school. The complete reversal was due to a presentation of the Six Questions that you will read about in this article.   This list of questions was developed to help educators be clear about the unique added value of a digital learning environment.

"Having taught in various grades, and spending years as an academic advisor for new teachers, I've had the chance to spend time in various classroom environments. I've seen many different ways educators approach teaching--from the traditional learning model to some of the most innovative and creative classrooms. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on some of the most creative and innovative areas I've practiced or have seen over the past decade across classrooms."

"The Remake Learning Playbook is an ambitious project to open source the project code for learning innovation ecosystems. Created by The Sprout Fund as a digital & tangible product, the Playbook documents the process and outcomes of both the Pittsburgh region's efforts to create a community-wide learning innovation network, and specific projects the network has catalyzed. The Playbook captures the spirit and substance of the Remake Learning Network in action. It covers the theory and practice of building learning innovation networks, the resources and strategies required to put networks into action, and the impact of the network in schools, museums, libraries, communities, and more."

"Tracy Fullerton, director of the University of Southern California's Game Innovation Lab, wrote the textbook Game Design Workshop, now in its 3rd edition. Paper prototyping and iterative design is something that The Game Innovation Lab has done for over a decade. Many academic institutions use the methodology to create innovative games. In March 2014 I asked Fullerton how teachers could apply techniques such as paper prototyping and iterative design in the classroom. She pointed out how similar the process was to constructivism, or learning from doing. She said, "It's a version of constructivist education, more focused on systems thinking than just making.""

"While project-based learning has existed for decades, design thinking has recently entered the education lexicon, even though its history can be traced back to Herbert A. Simon's 1969 book The Sciences of the Artificial. So why the resurgence of these ideas? Lately, I have heard teachers and school leaders express a common frustration: "We are _______ years into a _______ initiative, and nothing seems to have changed." Despite redesigning learning spaces, adding technology, or even flipping instruction, they still struggle to innovate or positively change the classroom experience. Imagine innovation as a three-legged stool. Many schools have changed the environment leg, but not the other two legs: the behaviors and beliefs of the teachers, administrators, and students. Consider this conundrum: much of what we know about teaching comes from 16+ years of observation as students. In no other profession do you spend that much time watching the previous generation before being told to change everything once you take control. Without the framework or scaffolding for that change, it's truly unreasonable to tell educators, "OK, start innovating.""

"Innovate is a verb. It's easy to talk about, far harder to do.  Yet, it's the DOING that matters most.  The daily grind in the details of the ebb and flow of progress forward, bit by bit. It's in the tiny microscopic changes we make that are often hard to detect until we zoom out, after a bit of time, and see the forward motion.   There is this panic of "Oh my gosh every school needs a makerspace" when our schools are FILLED with the resources we have to make.  Inside our kids and each other.  When we move, things happen."

"Over the weekend, I finished George Couros's Innovator's Mindset.  I highly recommend reading it to understand why we should foster a culture of innovation in our schools and where to start.  A culture of innovation makes everyone a creator in our schools, unleashing the creativity that is in all of us. The Innovator's Mindset frames the steps to create that culture of innovation in a school and it gives some powerful examples of creation in the classroom.  That's where the new book by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani picks up.  The book LAUNCH is focused on the importance of a clear framework for the creative process.  I'll dig into that process in later posts as I get deeper into the book.  But, let's start with the why of creation in the classroom."

"In an age of creators, makers, and innovators, we hear of the concept design thinking too often. What is design thinking? More importantly, can design thinking help you as an educator in your classroom? Design thinking is a concept that centers around applying creativity and innovation to our actions, decision making, and problem solving as human beings. More significantly, it focuses on the impact that this creative and innovative thinking has on individuals. As a concept, design thinking can be used pedagogically to enhance our teaching practices. As a tool, it can be used to foster and teach empathy in the classroom."

"Since 2007, a diverse group of Pittsburgh's educators, funders, academics, and citizens-known as the Remake Learning Network-has emerged to exchange ideas and implement strategies to enhance the region's learning ecosystem. These efforts have provided the region's children and youth with novel, engaging, and relevant learning opportunities that help them thrive in school, college, and the workforce. Indeed, what began with small, informal discussions has blossomed into a full-fledged movement that is yielding notable results and earning national recognition. In the spirit of open innovation, the Network is building the Remake Learning Playbook, a field guide full of ideas and resources for supporting learning innovation networks. Filled with practical and actionable information to help other communities build on the Pittsburgh model for learning innovation."