Innovation and Invention

This really describes the pieces that need to be in place in a school culture for innovation to have a chance:  A partnership among all stakeholders (which I assume was fostered through a shared vision), the removal of barriers to innovation (think "what if?" instead of "yeah, but") and freedom to take risks, and fail - all a part of the culture that led to innovation at Byron High School.  Great blog post by Jen Hegna. 

I like the one person at a time thinking - meaning everyone can innovate.

Divergent thinking is most certainly a required element of innovation. How can schools preserve this quality that deteriorates as students go through the education system?

In this interview, Matt Kingdon shares his insight on innovation. A passionate person "driven by some sense of injustice in the world" is one important element:

"When you dig underneath the skin of why something was innovative, what people will generally tell you was there was a certain critical moment where they took the decision to work harder, to reach out to a different set of colleagues, to push something harder with their colleagues, and these moments are normally a combination of a certain kind of courageous or collaborative behavior. And you’ll find that the heart of so much innovation is a very human story which I think is uplifting."

Collaboration is another:

"But when it comes to collaboration, which I believe is a better model for innovation [than teamwork], certainly more disruptive innovation, collaborators work completely differently.  They don’t know who they’re going to be working with along the line. They’re not entirely sure of their position.  They’re sort of trying it out.  There’s certainly no umpire or referee.  And what’s victory?  No one’s quite sure what victory looks like or where they’re going.  They’re experimenting with things and collaboration, essentially, has outreach, it has iteration, it has experimentation, it has a degree of self awareness and a degree of humility attached to it."

Do schools ever achieve this level of collaboration - that Kingdon indicates is a key to innovation?

This article contains many examples of innovative teaching strategies. I love the idea of letting students design the classroom - what a great way to transfer ownership to the students!

More elements of innovation described here, including empathy and perspective.

I like this garden metaphor - and certainly think this process for cultivating a culture of innovation applies to the world of education just as much as business.

The first item on the list hit home:

"1. WHET THE APPETITE
If you are serious about being a gardener of innovation, the first thing you will need is hunger -- a real appetite for results.

Growing a garden takes sustained effort. It is hard work -- most of it unglamorous and unappreciated. Hunger for a yield is the serious gardener's real motivator. Yes, the serious gardener likes being outdoors and, yes, the serious gardener likes getting exercise, but the ultimate product of his/her labors -- the harvest -- is what it is all about.

Without this level of commitment, the gardening effort remains only a hobby and does not have the roll up your sleeves and get dirty quality so essential to reaping a result."

Perhaps one of the most fundamental challenges for innovation in education is that not everyone has an appetite for it.  Certainly in a district where test scores are already very high this is a pretty big issue.

Good food for thought.

Good advice for education workplaces as well - a starting point to building a culture of innovation:

"Which kind of thinking is used more often at your place of work? I suspect that nearly all your meetings are dominated by convergent thinking. People naturally tend to be analytical and judgmental. The challenge is how to foster and allow divergent thinking."