T+L speaker reveals keys to innovation


Innovation can occur in many areas of education, said keynote speaker Frans Johansson.
Innovation can occur in many areas of education, said keynote speaker Frans Johansson.

Bringing together teachers with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and outlooks can drive innovation in schools, said keynote speaker Frans Johansson during the opening general session of the National School Boards Association’s T+L Conference in Denver Oct. 28.

“All new ideas are combinations of existing ideas,” he said. “The best chance at innovation is when we combine things from different fields. …Many times, if [ideas] are closely related, they’re not very innovative.”

Innovation, as defined by Johansson, occurs when someone takes the knowledge and wisdom of their network of colleagues and combines it with something completely different.

Johansson, author of The Medici Effect, said innovation can be found in the creation of those diverse intersections. The Medici Effect refers to the proliferation of new ideas–and the burst of creativity enabled by the Medici banking family in Renaissance Italy. He said innovative individuals and teams generate and execute more ideas–and diverse teams generate far more ideas.

“Find inspiration from fields or cultures other than your own, and dare to explore the connections between them,” he urged a room full of educators and technology leaders. “And prepare your students to innovate.”

He also stressed the importance of expecting and accepting mistakes and failure, and he noted how students are already used to dealing with failure from their experience with video games. Johansson said students don’t look at failure or mistakes as though they are the end, but rather as an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and try again.

“You will not know what ideas will work or not, so reserve resources for many trials,” he said. “Passion maximizes the chance for success. Your ideas may fail, so you’re going to have to keep trying. And encourage your students to explore interesting idea combinations on their own.”

During the opening general session, NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant spotlighted two students from Gardner Edgerton High School in Kansas for their achievements as part of the Junior Engineering Technical Society.

The Gardner-Edgerton students were Best Overall Design winners in the National Engineering Design Competition for “BART,” which stands for Bag Attachment and Replacement Technology. The compound device allows a user to change and tie a trash bag with only one hand and consists of three main components: a cylindrical dispenser for trash bags, a clip that holds the trash bag in place on the trash can, and a tying mechanism.

NSBA Director of Education Technology Anne Flynn also recognized Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado as one of three districts selected as a Technology Leadership Network (TLN) Salute District. Jefferson County was selected for developing a comprehensive Digital Professional Development initiative, which blends the best research on professional development with new technology tools that provide educators with online courses, site-based support from teacher-librarians, and district-wide digital Professional Learning Communities.

Link:

T+L Conference
http://www.nsba.org/tl

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