FOE-7 Innovation does not always mean "doing something new." What if you can put into action a traditional practice that worked well (but was forgotten or dropped)? George Couros asks us to look for "what works" in traditional education.

Innovation does not have to be new.

The story with the box of matches
As a student, I would say that my school experience would not be deemed progressive, innovative, or “future ready.” I would say that my experience in school would be considered pretty traditional. But that doesn’t mean skills that I learned back then haven’t benefitted me today and that some of those same practices would not benefit current students. I was taught to challenge ideas and critically consume information. I distinctly remember a teacher holding a package of matches in science class and telling us that the reason matches are covered in packages is because if they are exposed to too much oxygen, they will light on their own and which would be quite dangerous. She held the matches in front of us, exposed them to “the oxygen in the room,” and we all sat there and waited nervously for the matches to light on fire. After about 30 seconds passing, she looked at us and said something to the effect of, “Don’t always believe everything an authority figure tells you; learn to question before you assume something is the truth.” Then she and our entire class started laughing that we actually fell for her trick. That interaction is one that I remember to this day and has helped me slow down judgment on information which is incredibly useful in an age of rapid information. This is LONG before the Internet was used in schools yet the lesson still resonates and applies to today.  George Couros



A couple of thoughts from George:

1. Traditional practice does not equal bad practice. We can't use the terms interchangeably.

2. Innovation is ONLY innovation if it leads to something better. "New" is not enough.#InnovatorsMindset
See the blogpost by George Couros

Some practices from the past were not beneficial to today. I can freely admit that. But we should always consider, “How does this help the students in front of us for today and the future?” If we can’t answer that question, we are in trouble, but no practice should be negated merely because it utilized in the past and no practice should be embraced only for the reason that it is new. What matters is the learner in front of you and how we serve them in their own journey of growth and development.


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What is innovation?
(what is NOT innovative?)
Innovation is about a way of thinking, and if we do not design something that is both new and better, we are not thinking with an innovator’s mindset, but simply different.  The idea that Apple is famously known for of  “Think Different” was a start, but not enough. Different for the sake of different is not only something that could eventually be a waste of time, but could sometimes even leave us worse off from where we started.  -- George Couros

Couros helped found the Connected Principals blog.   That blog has an excellent summary of Dan Pnik's DRIVE.

CLICK HERE for the Drive summary.

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PLEASE COMMENT BELOW
What procedures could a school adopt to put this reading into action?