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Schools that tweak the existing assembly line model of learning will become increasingly irrelevant in a world that does not reward the output of that learning. 

“Technical” means that there are methods of learning that work better than others, and the experts are experienced teachers. They know what works; they just may not know how to adapt this knowledge to a setting in which they, the teacher, are farmers in the ecosystem, not preachers in the pulpit.

nnovative schools become culturally comfortable with rapid ideation, shipping, and iteration.

ts time to pursue knowledge about which they are passionate is antithetical t

Opportunities to network are now ubiquitous as colleagues can connect frequently, inexpensively, and across all divides of space and time via professional and social media.

Aversion to risk and failure is one of the greatest impediments to innovation. 

chools that do embrace innovation share a universal quality: leaders who are willing to take risks; who support and require their employees to take risks; who develop systems that leverage failure as a unique learning experience that builds institutional grit.

Organizations maximize innovation if they embrace distributed leadership that truly amplifies opportunities for anyone in the organization to imagine, prototype, and build on new ideas.

Adults want proof that something new will work; we want a 20-year longitudinal study to show that something different is better than what we have done in the past.

They can, and do, each tell their own story of mission advancement. 

many businesses are now finding that the pace of change demanded by the global economy and facilitated by various technologies is requiring them to rethink how they are organized. Many are restructuring themselves as learning organizations—organizations in which new learning and innovation are the engines that drive the company.

Knowledge Forum is, of course, not the only online learning environment available. Others of note include FirstClass, WebCT, and Blackboard. Palloff and Pratt (2001) note that, whatever online environment is used, "attention needs to be paid to developing a sense of community in the group of participants in order for the learning process to be successful"

How does it work? In practice, the teacher presents students with a problem of understanding relevant to the real world. It could be a question such as What is the nature of light? or What makes a society a civilization? The focus here is to make student ideas, rather than predetermined activities or units of knowledge, the center of the classroom work. The next step is to get the students to generate ideas about the topic and write notes about their ideas in the Knowledge Forum (KF) database, an online environment with metacognitive enhancements to support the growth of the knowledge-building process. In generating these ideas, the students form work groups around similar interests and topics they wish to explore. These groups are  self-organized and dynamic; the teacher does not select the members, and members can join or leave as they choose. Idea generation can take place during these group sessions, during which all students are given the chance to express their ideas, or in individual notes posted directly to the KF database. While in a typical classroom setting ideas or comments generated in discussion are usually lost, the KF database preserves these ephemeral resources so that students can return to them for comment and reflection. Students are then encouraged to read the notes of other students and soon find that there are differing schools of opinion about the problem. The teacher's job is to ensure that students remain on task and work towards the solution of the problem under study by reading each other's notes and contributing new information or theories to the database

Employees would be at a meeting and during discussions someone would always say, “is that info up on the wiki?” 

This allowed and even forced employees to keep information on the wiki current and updated.

This was the beginning of a significant cultural shift because other departments were asking for a wiki. 

They understood the opportunities, saw the potential, and wanted in.

All departments were interviewed to understand what their needs and requirements were.  After conducting the interviews, it was determined that media wiki may not be the best approach since departments wanted to work with existing file formats such as PDF, Word, Excel, and others that were not supported by the wiki platform.

As a result, Vistaprint decided to keep the media wiki but instead integrated Sharepoint as a document management platform.

Organic growth was not trusted so a skeletal structure was built

Proud of where we are, but know we have a way to go.

The focus on sharing.

Our “bosses” have focused on this from day one, and it is rare that any conversation that we have not start off checking in on individuals “personally”.   I have always been asked about my family, and I have always felt comfortable sharing because Parkland, in many aspects, has become like a family to me.

Although much attention has been paid to the laptop computers that have been provided to students in the district, Mr. Edwards insists that the conversion isn’t about devices.

The digital conversion happening in Mooresville has required everyone in the district—including students—to “aggressively embrace continuous learning,” said Mr. Edwards. For instance, educators should continually be working toward their own professional goals and expanding their instructional knowledge, just as students are expected to add continually to their knowledge base.

“You have to clearly send signals that mistakes, bumps, and turbulence are part of the landscape. It happens, and it’s OK, and if things don’t go right, that’s normal,” said Mr. Edwards.

“If you don’t know what you’re going to measure, and carefully collect data along the way, you will not have that story to tell six or 18 months later,” said Ms. Cator, a former director of the office educational technology for the U.S. Department of Education.

In Albemarle County, for instance, students sit on the district’s tech advisory committee, participate in surveys about the district’s strategic goals, and provide feedback about budget initiatives, virtual learning, and other strategies through a county student advisory committee, said Ms. Moran.

Building a Culture of Innovation School leadership experts outline several ways districts should work to create an atmosphere in which good ideas can flourish, including: • Develop strong leaders who encourage informed risk-taking and experimentation rather than protection of the status quo. • Establish an expectation of continuous learning and improvement from every person at every level of the organization. • Craft a clearly defined and articulated vision for the district, and make sure everyone understands it and adheres to it. • Foster an environment in which people have the power to change course quickly if a project or initiative isn't working. • Empower everyone in the district, from students to teachers and administrators, to take on leadership roles. • Ensure a seamless infusion of technology throughout every sector of the district to produce efficiencies and collect meaningful data. SOURCE: Education Week