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The future of professional learning

I head this woman present at EduCon. There's a lot of interesting food for thought here!

I've been feeling pretty bad about the state of the edusphere lately. Actually, I've been feeling pretty bad about the world writ large. The election season always does that to me- it's particularly challenging to be living in New Hampshire, where candidates seem to stand on every corner shouting down their rivals.

Here is the list that I ended with.  Even though it is numbered, I now see that other arrangements are at least as appropriate as this.
Permission to Identify and Describe a Problem
I added permission here because several times during the day people described environments that were unwilling to admit problems or listen to those who suggested any course other than "business as usual."
Permission to Solve the Problem
This one might actually be tougher to allow than it seems.  Having worked in state government, I know how risky it is to do anything that jeopardizes your reputation - or that of your boss.  In some environments, it is your job to make your boss look good.
This one might better be labeled, "Permission to take a Chance."
Willingness to Let Go
I suspect that many worthwhile innovations fail, because they are simply mounted on top of existing practices, rather than transforming existing practices.  This is illustrated by the three challenges, made by American education reformers, to the Finnish education model (see Finnish Miracles and American Myths).  The U.S. education reform movement seems unwilling to consider letting go of government testing, school competition, and accountability.
Awareness of Other Boxes
This is a bit of a twist from my usual reference to "outside the box" thinking.  It was actually sparked by a previous conversation with the Director of Applications Development at a large school district I recently worked in.  He told me that what he looks for in prospective hires for his programming staff is "creativity."  He went on to say that the best part of his education was all of the history, literature, science, etc. that he took.
I think that innovation does not necessarily come from outside the box, but from having access to other boxes that rearrange our perspectives and enable us to come at a problem from a different angle.
Engineer a New Way
Thi