The Need for Educational Innovation

The need for Educational innovation is obvious when one thinks about how rapidly the forces of globalization and technology have allowed people to have access to people and ideas that were previously off limits. According to the 2010 Short List Key Trends from the New Media Consortium: The perceived value of innovation and creativity is increasing.  Innovation is valued at the highest levels of business and must be embraced in schools if students are to succeed beyond their formal education. The ways we design learning experiences must reflect the growing importance of innovation and creativity as professional skills. Innovation and creativity must not be linked only to arts subjects, either; these skills are equally important in scientific inquiry, entrepreneurship, and other areas as well. Our schools need to keep up.  Unfortunately, politics and budgets conspire to prevent real innovation. This episode of Teacher Talk explores how educational leaders, and teachers in the trenches of instruction, can use ideas from Alan Webber's Rules of Thumb business book to innovate the traditional public school system.