In order to develop, it is imperative that creativity and innovation is promoted in schools.
Innovation in education is an ongoing process and is needed every once in a while to keep thing healthy and engaging for students as well as teachers. Particular set patterns and pedagogies cannot work all the time, a little “twist” or innovation is needed to keep monotony off the bay and keep students interested thoroughly. Innovations are always needed because every problem needs its solution; so it becomes the need from time to time to discover something new and useful in education. Defined as, “The process of making changes to something established by introducing something new.” Innovation is one important factor for development. Not just for students but for educators as well, being innovative helps all for the betterment.
Enlisted are few ways to promote innovation in schools that might help educators.
Check’em out:
– Greater autonomy is necessary for innovation to occur, institutions need to tap into the intrinsic motivation educators and same for the students. The best way to do so is through greater autonomy. There is a need to empower the educators by scheduling fewer meetings and giving them set instructions for them. Educators should be given control over their teaching patterns. Workshops should be conducted by expert leaders for educators to learn, grow and finding ways to pilot promising ideas. Similarly, educators should give students the authority over their learning and help them learn at their individual pace. Educators should be welcoming for the different ideas students bring on table and try to teach them the way student learn. Allow teachers and students to create new routines, new traditions, and build new approaches to learning.
– Encourage teachers and students to create collaborative communities of learners that are networked inside and outside the school. Promote teams while giving all learners time to reflect on what they are learning. Team activities can help a lot with this. Give them the time and resources for a thorough analysis (classes, readings, connections with experts, visits to and interviews with others who have adopted it, etc.). Make this a dream team and then support their decisions when they report back. At the beginning, provide clear questions and direction for the group, and then work closely with them to help act on what they find and recommend.
– Promote a school culture that embraces failure as fuel for innovation. As the saying goes, mistakes are the best lesson. Similarly, students and educators must be willing to make mistakes, learn and grown from. It is important as mistakes only signify that they are trying and to innovate this must happen.
Allow teachers and students to fail, so long as they are willing to learn from their mistakes and grow.
– Bring people into the school community who think in unique and interesting ways. Don’t hire teachers or admit students according to a prototype. Hire for uniqueness and potential. Different people bring different ideas to the table. So make sure that diversity is appreciated at the organization.
– Don’t be afraid to redefine expectations for teachers and students to embrace the 21st Century skills we need to be connected learners in a global society.
– Kill all your unrealistic expectation. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket and push a big idea, try “soft innovation” that encourages teachers and students to be innovating or creating at all times.
– Every innovative idea and discovery should be rewarded during the assessment process. This should be reflected by the rubric of criteria. Educators are encouraged to add a rubric section that allows them to evaluate creative ideas and innovation independently from the rest of the grading criteria. Innovation should reflect on the final grading and the rewarding policy.
In what other ways innovation can be promoted in schools? Share with us in the comment section below.
