The Dr Pepper view v's Guerilla Innovation

I'm just sitting at Berlin airport after the 2010 Innovative Education Forum. I know that this phrase is often over used, but I found the event inspiring. The main reason for this was that the focus was firmly on innovation in learning, rather than innovation with technology. I plan to post a few ideas in the next few days. This post is about some of the reflections that I have had over the past few hours.

First of all though, many congratulations to Jan Webb and Simon Horleston. You can read about their excellent projects over on Partners in Learning.

Over the event it struck me that it's our role, both as a school leaders and as an innovators, to help our teams to overcome the Dr Pepper question. I think that many barriers stand in the way of change because people start with asking 'What's the worst that could happen?' This approach means that often, change is seen as too risky. So have can educational leaders stop people from asking the Dr Pepper question?

I'm not claiming to now the answer, or that what follows is either new or innovative. In fact, I think that it goes on in schools all of the time. However, my time at #IEF_2010 cleared my thinking on this issue. I love Ollie Bray's Star Trek Principle; the determination of Jan in moving change forward; the mix of realism and optimism of Jim Wynn's keynote and the changes that are taking place in Ireland (more on all of those later). These people and the many others that I met (including @w2YDAvid ) have got me thinking about the answer.

I think that Guerilla Innovation is the way forward. The way to overcome the barriers, especially where a person (or people) is blocking the way. By Guerilla Innovation, I mean make changes, gather evidence and then share that evidence as widely as possible. This is nothing new, but how can we reach audiences other than those who are connected?

Thanks also go to Dan from the Geography Collective. He had the idea of Guerilla Geography. Guerilla Innovators do not ask 'What's the worst that can happen?' Instead they ask 'What if?'

For example, think of the rules of Assessment. Assessment (in the UK at least) rules are:

Mainly written
Formal
Doesn't allow cheating
Time controlled
Doesn't allow the use of mobile phones
Has set content
Focuses mainly on knowledge
You must have a grade

So what if we did away with grades and assessed pupils via an interview panel where they were allowed to access social media?

Again, nothing new, but how do we share and get others to follow suit?

Guerilla Innovators aim to influence as many people as possible. My aim from now on is to reach as many people as possible. I'm also going to start at school. I'm going to start with the most difficult, as well as sharing with those that are open minded. I'm also going to ensure that, like the IEF, the focus is on learning, not technology. Scary, that sounds a little like a Guerilla Innovation manifesto ;-)

This all may be old news to some.

I'm not wearing a Gorilla outfit though ;-)

High Impact, Low effort

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What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

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Banned Word Board

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David Rogers

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