So what is innovation? While it is in part changing your thinking, switching up your teaching, doing something new and exciting to hook kids and get them excited about learning, it shouldn't be different just for the sake of being different. As George Couros states: "Different for the sake of different can be a waste of time and may even leave us worse off than where we started." So, at the true heart of innovation is meaningful change. Change that has a purpose. Change that is thought out in order to achieve a goal. If the change is just a substitution for something old, then it is probably not truly innovative, because it is not a means to an end. The end result should be more creative thinking and learning.
In my own context, I have embraced change over the last few years. Each morning students are welcome to come to the Media Center before school starts.. A few years ago, students in this scenario could be found staring into screens, playing video games on the computers. But today you will find students working in the library's makerspace tinkering, researching, exploring, collaborating. This change did not happen overnight and it happened because I saw an opportunity. There were students who showed a huge interest in starting their day with creative thinking, and there was an opportunity for change. Just as it was advised in tonight's #IMMOOC discussion, I didn't wait for permission to begin this innovation, I just did it. Which leads us right back to that fact that change can lead to amazing ideas.
I am continually looking for new ways to engage these learners first thing in the morning, and to continue to spread the idea that this can be done in the classrooms as well. I am excited to learn about "LAUNCH" and incorporate design thinking principles into the marvelous mornings in the Media Center, and to model this for teachers.
