Category: education
This is the second of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘What product or sector is in desperate need of innovation?’. Here is the next perspective in the series:by Jeffrey PhillipsThis question allows me to kill two or more birds with one stone. My recommended area most in need of innovation is the education system, for several reasons.First, the primary and secondary education system in this country is based on learning models from the 19th century. While there has been significant change in almost all aspects of life, a 2nd grade teacher plucked from the late 19th century and returned to earth would be bewildered by most of what he or she encountered, except the pedagogy within the average classroom. Sure we don’t emphasize rote memorization anymore, but short of that the curriculum and teaching methods haven’t changed. One … Continue reading
After all I read on the blogs and on Twitter, and all the new innovation programs and initiatives in state and local governments, I feel the need to revisit the definitions of these key words. While innovation, invention and entrepreneurs are important and somewhat interconnected, they aren’t synonyms and they have different needs, intents and purposes. Whether accidently or on purpose, we can’t allow them to mean the same things.First, the definitions:An entrepreneur is a person who starts a new business. That’s not necessarily innovative, but it can create new jobs and new wealth, so it is valuable. Sometimes, entrepreneurs create new businesses based on new ideas, either inventions or new innovations. However, a person running a McDonald’s is also an entrepreneur, but not necessarily innovative.An inventor is someone who creates a new to the world product or solution. Inventions become interesting when they create value for the inventor …
There’s an interesting new survey out from Newsweek about innovation. The survey compares the attitudes and expectations about the US and China in regard to innovation. In the survey there are some relatively unexpected differences and some safe assumptions and conclusions drawn.On the safe side, it’s not surprising that a majority of people in the US and China believe innovation will be even more important in the next few decades than now. Most people understand the increasing rate of change and the need for new products and services to meet both growing consumer demands and the increasing constraints placed on our consumption. We need both new products and services and new solutions to growing demands for more energy and a cleaner planet. The survey also shows that we in the US have less respect for our innovation capabilities than the Chinese population does. In the survey we consistently underestimate our … Continue reading
by Kevin RobertsIt sometimes feels like I’ve run the full gamut of school-related experiences – from being kicked out of school at 17, to being invited back as a Governor. I frequently speak to students at universities around the world, but having an eternally curious granddaughter like Stella in my life has piqued my interest in the way primary schools approach the first few years of learning.Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem we’re doing our children justice in this regard. Despite being one of the richest countries on earth, America’s education system is notoriously rife with difficulties. A recent in-depth report from Cambridge University on UK primary schools suggests a grim focus on state-determined curriculum and assessment is dampening childrens’ appetites for learning. The researchers recommend a new approach where formal learning begins age 6 (rather than 5), and that younger children be left to learn through play. I’ve spoken here before … Continue reading
by Venessa MiemisI read an article the other day on John Merrow’s blog, titled ‘Technology in Schools: Problems & Possibilities.’ In it, he outlines three fears he has concerning the implementation of emerging media technologies into education:The digital divide (gap between people with access to technology and those without)Schools will resist innovation and become irrelevantSchools will not use technologies in a strategic wayI spend a lot of time thinking about social technologies and the role they’re playing in our lives now and into the future, and I feel that though John’s fears are justified, they may prove to be unfounded as time progresses. Here’s why:Fear #1: The Digital DivideI agree that access to technology may be an issue (for now), but the barrier is continuing to drop. Frame it in terms of Moore’s Law or Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns, but either way, the rate at which technologies become more … Continue reading
It Doesn’t Matter How Long They’re in School as Long as They’re Learning Skills for the Futureby Kathie ThomasYesterday I wrote about the pros and cons of three-year college versus four-year college. That got me thinking about what we need to do to really teach our children to succeed in the future.As the mother of two elementary-school-aged girls (and stepmother of three young 20-somethings), I believe one of my chief responsibilities is giving them the best possible education I can, one that will teach and prepare them to excel in all stages of life. I believe they need to be taught, at a young age, how to learn and solve new problems, and that known facts can change and learning never stops.Therefore, it doesn’t really matter how long they’re in college – for three years, like U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) argued in Newsweek, or four. What matters to me … Continue reading
