What does “innovation” look like? – #IMMOOC Week 2

This blogpost is a response to a prompt from #IMMOOC Week 2 and based on reflections after reading Chapter 1 in George Couros’ “Innovator’s Mindset“.

What is an example of a practice that you consider to be innovative? How is it new or better than what you had before?

Describing something innovative is tricky because innovation is relative. (Read Antonio Vendramin’s post on this for another perspective). What is groundbreaking and exciting for one person may be ho-hum and old hat to another. According to Couros, innovation is something that is “new and better“. I believe I embraced the innovator’s mindset from the time I was a child. I was constantly striving to try new things and not be satisfied with the status quo. This mindset was not always appreciated by my teachers at school, but it has shaped my life and career.

My quest for “new and better” has not made for a smooth journey through life, but it has been an interesting life, and I do hope that my passion has inspired others to sometimes question the way things are and to demand something better (and to go out and make better happen).

Two years ago, an opportunity presented itself for me to work in a new environment and to be the pilot class for a 1:1 program in a school.

This is an opportunity that I had been seeking for quite some time. Three years prior to that I had submitted a proposal to my then principal to establish a 1:1 iPad program in my own classroom. He had agreed to my proposal and was prepared to fund the program if I could only find one other teacher on staff who would join me in the trial. I approached my colleagues; I begged and pleaded; I shared exciting examples of things we could do. But, in a staff of more than 30 teachers, I could not find one who would take a leap of faith with me.

This new opportunity in a different place was what I needed.

With a principal who supported my ideas and who was pleased that I had the passion and enthusiasm for the program she had been trying to get off the ground, I embarked on a new adventure with my bubbly bunch of Year 4 students.

I don’t think anything I did in that classroom would have been something never tried before, but I do think it was innovative, because it was new for me. And was it better? Yes!

We blogged, we collaborated, we shared, we failed, we reflected and fed back. These were all things I had done before (when I only had my personal iPad, iPhone and laptop to share with my students – three devices among 26, and all of them my own), but being in a 1:1 environment allowed me to scale up my practice and to push the boundaries even further.

The technology afforded me opportunities to work with my students in ways I had never worked before.

I found that my students were able to become more and more responsible for their own learning and that I had finally become the guide on the side, instead of the sage on the stage. I could begin to personalise the learning for my students and attend to their needs and interests. They began to become a community of learners who shared and collaborated and supported each other. I now had 28 teachers in the room and 28 learners. I was a facilitator in a learning community and was learning as much, if not more than, my students.

My students developed voice and agency and expressed their desires to learn more and more.

In a year of experimentation and professional growth, I never achieved perfection, but I know that what I experienced (and what my students experienced too) was new and better for us. It was a step along the journey. It was innovation.

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