Kevin Hodgson created an #IMMOOC Innovative Mindset Google Plus Community for conversation, sharing, and collaboration about spreading this idea of Innovation, based on the book study mooc started by George Couros for his book,The Innovator’s Mindset .
Kevin challenged us to begin thinking of innovation, and to think of our ideas of innovation as an image.
That simple request forces us to step outside of our thinking, to see things in a new light. It reminded me of my mom’s old book of puzzles. I loved it. My favorite puzzles consisted of simple sketches that suggested something. What do you think the above image is?
Unflattening the world has been part of my life – my mom could see beyond the obvious, and helped me look at the bigger picture. As a young mother rushed in front of us in the grocery line, mom would say, “She needs to get her back home for baby’s nap.” That might not have been true, but mom always took a step back to see a bigger idea and a step into the shoes of others.
Is the image a bear climbing a tree? A giraffe walking by your window? A snake slithering across your beach towel?
We need to step around to see. Turn things around, and get a different view. Try to think from another’s perspective. Believe in your own! And as Kevin asks of us, see things from another perspective.
I think that is part of innovation, especially with technology, because technology removes boundaries and barriers, bringing the possibility for all ideas to be shared, remixed, and repurposed, building on what worked, and often in collaboration with others, to find a better way towards an issue, strategy, or communication. Innovation builds on the ideas that went before and tweaks them, changes them, steps apart from them to better the world in which we live and work together.
I tried to create that concept in my image as a response to Kevin’s challenge. I opened an iPhone app [NetSketch] and started drawing lines and shapes to represent ideas, the lighter colors the earlier ideas later connected and stretched in new ways, with the bolder colors leading the developed change, a forward flowing change kept as it bettered my [our] world with continued innovative developments.
You can see other people’s drawings here.
Imagine this in schools — it’s not an overnight occurrence, although some of the choices may be simple and easy to quickly innovate; it’s more than one thing — it’s something that becomes part of what you do daily . It’s part of a system of thinking, doing, and creating that is better than before.
To see an example of this, read Kevin’s post, “#IMMOOC Go and Find Out.” He shares the process of change in a project for middle school students, whose creations developed from paper to powerpoint to games over a period of years, as technology provided the possibilities for the innovation. Most impressive, as I found on the project website, is that the project focussed on all learners. Listen to the collaborating teachers explain how the gaming project helped struggling writers.
I think key to this innovation is the collaborative inquiry approach by these teachers. Had Kevin worked on this alone, fewer students would have been impacted, and the project would have probably stayed in his repertoire, rather than become a part of a larger change in the school or district. Innovation cannot exist in isolation. Without a school culture of shared leadership and collaboration, I wonder if innovation can occur? Part of innovation is the building of ideas, sharing of ideas, and remixing of ideas, in collaboration with others to make a difference that’s better than before.
In Innovator’s Mindset on LOC 439 of 3535, Kindle Edition, I found a great chart. I searched and found it on Twitter:
It was part of #cpchat [Connected Principals chat] and #suptchat [Superintendents chat] and co-created by George and Bill Ferriter [@plugusin ]
Technology is a tool, not a leadership outcome. ~George Couros
Principals and superintendents in these chats are leading change with technology as a tool to do so. Collaboration, reflection, and openness are key, and I think must be part of a goal of innovation. I hope our book study, blogs, and conversations help those of us in classrooms and in the community learn how to extend that leadership.
If you’re part of a school and are joining in this mindset journey, let your leaders know — your tech coordinators, principals, and superintendents. Share your ideas. Share your blog. Ask to share in staff meetings and to provide professional development. Get others involved. Help others make that mindset perspective leap. It’s a key aspect of innovative change.
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