Tom Vander Ark has compiled 100 schools worth visiting across the US all the way from elementary and K-8 schools through high school. One of the most-prized association skills innovators possess is to see awesome ideas in other settings and fields and steal them to apply to a new context. This list provides lots of opportunities […]
Penn Manor School District in Pennsylvania is exploring what it means to use open source tools rather than closed systems whenever possible.It has seemingly led to more student ownership over devices and their learning. “While we have the ‘must do’ layer, there’s also that little bit of subversion here, giving kids that little bit of creativity […]
Read more on TrueSchool in Edsurge about the Summer Design Program and our approach of training teachers like designers. A few EDesigners share about their experience and new skills they are applying to their school innovations to drive positive outcomes for students!
Greg Toppo says, “Good teaching is not about playing it safe. It’s about getting kids to ask questions, argue a point, confront failure and try again. More teachers might be willing to embrace technology if they saw it as a way to inject more of the dangers of learning into their classrooms.” Read on to […]
Tom Vander Ark shares his opinion on the top thirteen barriers facing innovators in education. The list includes little R&D in schools, limited capacity, and a compliance mindset rather than an approach of getting it done no matter what. A common theme is the fear and lack of acceptance around failure to learn. On […]
According to Edwards, “We ‘learn,’ and after this we ‘do.’ We go to school and then we go to work. This approach does not map very well to personal and professional success in America today. Learning and doing have become inseparable in the face of conditions that invite us to discover.” Edwards posits that the key change […]
Alexis Wiggins shares the self-proclaimed terrible mistake she made – waiting so long to shadow students at her school. Wiggins shares her experience of seeing the school day through her students’ eyes. She has three key takeaways and many changes she would make in her classroom immediately from developing empathy with students Have you shadowed […]
“A Lesson In How Teachers Became ‘Resented and Idealized’” by Dana Goldstein on NPR discusses the controversial role of teachers and their close connections to the development of social movements over the last 200 years. She also highlights the importance and value of keeping innovative educators in the field – we agree! Her book, “The […]
Many students today feel pulled between the traditional college route and what is perceived as the more exciting startup world. What ideas can colleges steal from their competition – startups – in order to better engage students? Brennan suggests building team through collaboration and helping alumni stay sharp through continued engagement are a few.
MIT has a reputation as one of the most innovative higher education institutions; it is continually pushing to reinventing itself. Here are the key ingredients for innovation in higher education according to MIT – a few are “a willingness to take risks, to try something ‘crazy,’ to learn from failure and keep going” What’s the last […]