4 Innovative Student Projects That Could Change the World Microsoft's Imagine Cup brings students together from across the world each year, in effort to use technology to solve the world's toughest problems. Mashable met with four teams, hailing from Germany, Australia, the U.S. and Qatar, to learn how they are using technology to make an impact on the future. Students are using Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360, Windows 8, Windows Azure and Windows Phone in their Imagine Cup projects. Many members of the competition draw inspiration from the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals, to create solutions to problems in the fields of education, healthcare and environmental sustainability, among others. The Worldwide Finals will take place in Sydney, Australia, between June 6 and 10, where the winners of local, regional and online competitions will share their visions for how technology can shape the future. More than 1.65 million students from 190 different countries and regions have participated in the competition during its 10-year existence.
Innovation through the Eyes of a Child I’m currently reading Creating Innovators and so I thought I would share the classic post from 2009 below. In the first video, Gever Tulley describes our child safety-obsessed culture and the impact this has on the young minds of our children. He then speaks about the different impact you can have by teaching your kids how to play with dangerous stuff. He highlights five dangerous things to let your kids play with, but is working on a book that will highlight 50 dangerous things. Check out the video: In the second video, Gever Tulley demonstrates the valuable lessons kids learn at his Tinkering School. On his blog he lays out the principles of kit-based learning, which are great things for teachers and parents to think about when teaching science to children. Principles of Kit-based Learning The goal of any kit must be to teach how to think about the principle concept – the understanding and internalization of the concept comes naturally from the process. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
6 Education SlideShares To Inspire, Improve And Innovate Your School One of the things I love about the modern web is the willingness of talented people to share their amazing content for free. Online communities that encourage individuals to share their work in return for broad exposure and the respect and credibility that this builds. One of the strongest and most vibrant communities fostering this culture is SlideShare. SlideShare is a priceless resource and one that is often overlooked when searching and creating content on the web. With this in mind, here are six great educational SlideShares that you may like to share with your school audience. Re-envisioning Modern Pedagogy: Educators As Curators This very sharp and well designed set of slides focuses on curation of content for students and teachers. How I Flipped My Classroom A very hands-on slide deck, this presentation delves into the process that teacher, Michelle Pacansky-Brock, used to flip her classroom. The End Of Teaching Using Diigo in the Classroom QR Codes in the Classroom & Library, Too!
Be a better boss: 12 tips to help you encourage innovation Many entrepreneurs dream of starting their own company so they can be their own boss, call the shots, get the corner office nicest table in the co-working space. Turns out, being in charge is a lot harder than just ordering people around and having someone fetch your lattes. To make a startup successful, you have to encourage an atmosphere of constant innovation. We asked these upcoming entrepreneurs for their best tips on how to be a boss boss. Allow for change and spontaneity Working hard to keep your company from becoming rigid helps keep innovation flowing. Caitlin McCabe, @caitlinmc, Real Bullets Branding Be hands off Hire great people and give them responsibility. Lisa Nicole Bell, @LisaNicoleBell, Inspired Life Media Group Budget for innovation No one likes to ask for money, but when they have money as an available option, they are willing to go ahead and spend it on things they think will be worthwhile. Danny Wong, @blanklabel, Blank Label Group, Inc. Flat organization Expose yourself
Inquiry Resources from CSS and the ConnectedEd Canada Conference The ConnectEd Canada Conference was an overwhelming success! Here is the recipe for those who want to plan a conference: 1. Run the first day in a great school, with classes in session and with student tour guides. 2. 3. 4. I’m sure Neil Stephenson, Erin Couillard, and George Couros did a lot more than that, but these 4 things really made the conference work! I shared a summary and some tweets, after the first day. Brian Harrison said, …We’ve shared some wonderful ideas here, we have supported and felt both support and comfort. But, it is clear to me that we cannot sustain a great system of public education by rewarding those in our schools and systems who do not innovate at the cost of those who do. As my colleague @thecleversheep reminds us, we are fireflies in a jar who have happily gathered for a few days to share some warmth and light. George Couros said, …We knew that if this was just another “conference” we probably have failed. Connect! Work that Matters: This guide is for teachers.
The 10 Things I Know About Innovation In Education I write this while sitting at a marvelous presentation all about creativity at the 2012 CALI Conference . The presentation is all about encouraging you to creatively approach problems, recognizing when there’s a solution, and how to basically be at your best. Which got me thinking about the current structure of education. The Current State Of Innovation In Education In my professional life, I run into these road blocks every darn day. But most schools don’t have that flexibility. Today’s Revelation Which brings me to today’s revelation: you shouldn’t need to be told to be creative or innovative. Schools are molding the minds of the future generations. The Solution So here’s my solution. Treat your classroom like a startup. Don’t let your students (or you) be paralyzed by shiny tools. By treating your classroom like a startup, you should feel free to try out exciting new techniques. There Is No Single Solution A Must See Video By Ze Frank
5 Ways To Spark Your Creativity hide captionTaking a shower may help inspire big ideas. Working in a blue room may help, too. Ayodha Ouditt/NPR Taking a shower may help inspire big ideas. Working in a blue room may help, too. Innovation is the name of the game these days — in business, in science and technology, even in art. 1. A seemingly mindless task — showering, fishing or driving — might help spur creative thoughts, as the mind wanders from "lather-rinse-repeat" to a recent problem, and then back again. As the ancient Greek engineer Vetruvius told us, Archimedes was lounging in a public bath when he noticed the water level go up and down as people got in and out. Downtime also seems to reset the brain. Researchers aren't quite sure why mindless tasks help the creative process, Schooler says, but it could be that such tasks allow two different brain networks that aren't usually turned on at the same time to be active. 2. 3. Want to discover a new planet? 4. Mood matters when it comes to creativity. 5. Aha!
Disruptive innovation and independent public schools Famed business-school thinker Clayton Christensen was splendidly profiled in The New Yorker a few weeks back, which set me to reflecting on his influential meditation on K-12 education, Disrupting Class, the 2008 book (co-authored with Michael Horn and Curtis Johnson) that startled the edu-cracy with its bold prediction that half of all high school courses will be delivered online by 2019 and its explanation that technology will produce the “disruptive innovation” in education that previous reform efforts have failed to bring about. As I read the profile, though, I couldn’t help but wonder if the more disruptive force in education is lower-tech and already more widespread than Christensen himself realized. “Disruptive innovation” is his seminal insight, perhaps better summarized in Larissa MacFarquhar’s profile than in the education book itself. He figured it out by closely observing the steel industry. Back to our K-12 education system. They’re no longer just one-offs, either.
Why Every School Needs an 'Innovation Day' - Education Google’s policy of 20 percent time—giving employees plenty of free time work on whatever they want—is world famous for being the birthplace of innovative products— most famously, Gmail. But what would happen if schools gave students a similar amount of unstructured free time and allowed them to take control of their own learning? This spring Matthew Bebbington, a high school physical education teacher in the U.K., decided to find out. He organized a school-wide "Innovation Day" that let 80 students between the ages of 11-15 choose what and how to learn. Bebbington writes on The Guardian’s Teacher Network blog that far from taking an extended recess the students "worked solidly for six hours, cross-pollinating across different projects, ages and abilities." As a result, they made everything from art related projects like album covers and Manga to more tech-oriented projects like a remote control car and rockets.
Three Things to Unlearn About Learning Inquiry Learning Teaching Strategies flickr:CDsessums “If you’re not feeling uncomfortable about the state of education right now, then you’re not paying attention to the pressures and challenges of technology,” said Will Richardson, a veteran educator author and consultant, at a talk at ISTE 2012. “We need to acknowledge that this is a very interesting moment, and even though in a lot of ways this isn’t what we signed up for when we went into teaching… as educators, it’s our job to figure it out.” Seeing the balance move from a place of scarcity of information to over-abundance on the web — and the ability to “carry around the sum of human knowledge on our phones” — Richardson said educators must start thinking of schooling differently. “This abundance has the potential to be amazing, but it’s not amazing if we don’t do anything with it,” he said. 1. “We have to stop being in charge of the curriculum and allow kids to create their own education,” he said. 2. 3. Related