Innovation in Education

For many years I have walked most mornings. At first it was with a good friend. We solved all the world's problems. Sometimes others would join us and help with this problem solving. Usually it was just the two of us. No one really heard our solutions, but we had the satisfaction of solving them. A few years ago I moved to the country and ended up walking by myself. Thank goodness I discovered the iPod. At first it was music, but the last few years I have started listening to podcasts. So every morning I hear some of the most brilliant people in the world talking about economics, history, education, technology, health, etc. This morning I was listening to a podcast called SPARKS where they discuss topics related to technology and culture. The interview I heard was with Steven Johnson. His topic was, "Where Good Ideas Come From." His basic premise is that most new ideas come from collaboration and the more collaboration the more good ideas. When I got home to my computer I found a video that summarizes most of the podcast. I think what struck me the most about Johnson's comments was what they say about education. We sit in our rooms day after day -- working by ourselves, not sharing most ideas, not collaborating. When we do work together it is on irrelevant dribble such as "writing" buiding goals which have been already determined for us or analyzing state test scores. It is going to be difficult to see very much innovation or change in education if this instructional model continues.

I had seen Johnson's TED talk before. I think why this struck me today, was how much I've learned while working through the Digiteen project this year. A few of the things that we did:
• Teachers shared ideas, documents, and calendars through google docs.
• Teachers met with other teachers through Elluminate.
• Students and teachers introduced ourselves, shared ideas, and took part in relevant discussions with people from all over the world through a Ning.
• Students and teachers researched and collaborated to produce a Wiki.
• Students designed, produced , and presented action projects that informed others about what they learned.

These projects are ongoing. Collaboration can be done, it is not easy. It can be very painful at times. It requires all of us to step outside of our boxes. The pay off is incredible. One of the resources I was given was a list of other global projects, http://www.globaleducationwiki.com/ProjectDirectory. This list is only the tip of the iceberg. There are people out there doing some amazing things. In this blog I'm going to try to document some of the things that I am learning.

I often feel that all the resources that I run into almost on a daily basis are like a bunch of random snow flakes falling all around me. I grab a few, but most I don't ever touch. In this blog I'm hoping to put some of these snow flakes together and at least make a snowball. Maybe I can throw it at something.

For the last 3 months I have been working on the Digiteen Project with a group of amazing educators. They have given me so many resources that my head in spinning. I thought that it was time to start sharing some of these in some organized process. The work that they are doing is amazing! I also felt that it was time for me to try my hand at this blogging thing. Hopefully as I find interesting ideas for teachers and students I can add them.