Innovation | It's About Learning

Optimal Learning Environments

Dwayne Harapnuik — March 19, 2010 — Leave a comment

Dr. John Medina, the author of Brain Rules, is a developmental molecular biologist focused on the genes involved in human brain development and the genetics of psychiatric disorders. In Brain Rules Medina shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work.

In the following Youtube video at about 4:15 minutes in Medina explains that:

the brain has appears to be have been designed to solve problems related to surviving in an unstable outdoor environment and to do so in near constant motion…If you wanted to design a learning environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was really good at doing you would design something like a modern classroom.

Medina also asserts that if we really want to re-engineer learning environments we are going to have to tear down a few things and start over.

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Medina has an excellent site called “brain rules“that provides and overview of his book. The video clips and related resources are much more polished that the above youtube clip but you have to see Medina in a lecture to appreciate his passion and character.

In 21st century learning, Innovation brain, brain rules, cognition, Learning

The Paradox of Being Proactive

Dwayne Harapnuik — March 9, 2010 — 1 Comment

To get out of the reactionary rut we have to actually be proactive, but unfortunately, reactive busyness is rewarded. We need to stop reinforcing the incorrect reactive behaviors and start reinforcing the proactive activities that will enable an organization to really move forward.

In the Tech Republic white paper, Get out of the information technology reactionary rut, Robert Bogue points out the paradox of pro-action with the following example:

Team members who are nearly always proactive are seen as unnecessary overhead because they’re not solving the real problems of today. They are sometimes seen as idealists who never seem to be around when problems occur. Conversely someone who is always reacting and not pro actively planning is seen as someone who is working hard but not necessarily working smart. In other words their diligence is rewarded but the fact that it is necessary due to lack of planning is shunned.

To get out of this reactionary rut or trap we need to:

Actually be proactive.
Stop reinforcing reactive behavior and reinforce proactive activities.

These activities can include:

Cutting ourselves some slack – create opportunities to be proactive
Scheduling Time to be proactive – start early or get some help
Force High Return Activities – prioritizing or building a task list is a simple start.

The bottom line is that when we are proactive we are also in control.

Read the full article…

In Innovation Change, creativity

20 Essential Things to Know About the HTML5 Web Language

Dwayne Harapnuik — March 1, 2010 — Leave a comment

20 Essential Things to Know About the HTML5 Web Language – Application Development from eWeek via kwout

This slide show by Darrel K. Taft of eWeek explains that HTML5 which will enable a whole new class of Web applications that support multimedia content and offline capability without the need for proprietary plug-in technology.

A little glimpse into the future…Why is this important?

The functionality that will be necessary to move ebooks beyond passive screen readers will more than likely from HTML5.

In Innovation ebook, HTML, iPad, iPhone

Eight-Stage Process of Creating Change

Dwayne Harapnuik — February 25, 2010 — Leave a comment

In his book Leading Change, John Kotter provides the following diagram/list/rubric for creating change. He cautions that diagrams or lists tend to over simplify reality so reading the entire book is strongly recommended. Despite the caution the following list does provide a good overview of the process of creating change:

Establish A Sense of Urgency
1. Examining the market & competitive realities
2. Identifying and discussing crisis, potential crisis or major opportunities.
Creating the Guiding Coalition
1. Putting together a group with enough power to lead the change.
2. Getting the group to work together like a team.
Developing a Vision and Strategy
1. Creating a vision to help direct the change effort.
2. Developing a strategy for achieving that vision.
Communicating the Change Vision
1. Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate the new vision and strategies.
2. Having the guiding coalition role model the behavior expected of employees.
Empowering Broad Based Action
1. Getting rid of obstacles.
2. Changing systems or structures that undermine the change vision.
3. Encouraging risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities and actions.
Generating Short-Term Wins
1. Planning for visible improvements in performance, or “wins”.
2. Creating those wins.
3. Visibly recognizing and rewarding people who made the wins possible.
Consolidating Gains & Producing More Change
1. Using increased credibility to change all systems, structures, and policies that don’t fit together and don’t fit the transformation vision.
2. Hiring, promoting, and developing people who can implement the change vision.
3. Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes, and change agents.
Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture
1. Creating better performance through customer and productivity-oriented behavior, more and better leadership, and more effective management.
2. Articulating the connections between new behaviors and organizational success.
3. Developing means to ensure leadership development and succession.

In Innovation Change, educational reform

Six Things That Innovative Universities Do Well

Dwayne Harapnuik — February 25, 2010 — Leave a comment

I consider myself a student of learning which means I MUST also be a student of innovation. I follow a Blog called Innovations and the archived post Six Things That Innovative Companies Do Well caught my eye. I have modified these six things to suite academia rather than business. Here is my take on the Six Things That Innovative Universities Do Well:

Question Everything – I agree with article’s author, that this is the most important factor in innovation and the most difficult to embrace. Like corporations, Institutions create big political and organizational impediments to change, making any challenge to the status quo a risky proposition. Innovative [institutions], on the other hand, reward challenges to conventional wisdom and take pains to position change as a positive part of the [institutional]/corporate culture.
Accept failure — Without the willingness to be wrong or to even fail innovation will never happen.
Don’t leave the innovation to the engineers/consultants – simplicity is often the best option for meeting the needs of learners. Engineers/consultants/specialists are great at designing elegant solutions to complex problems but these solutions often lack the elegance of simplicity. Faculty have the closest contact with the learner and will most ofen have the best solutions.
Learn constantly – If you don’t prepare people to do their work/teach/learn differently, they’ll never change. It’s human nature for people to avoid situations that may embarrass or humiliate them. Businesses [Institutions] that ask people to embrace change without preparing them to handle it set themselves up for failure at best, revolt at worst.
Try, try again – Institutions too often bail out of good ideas because they don’t succeed quickly.
Be wary of market research – Innovative institutions are in touch with their learners. Use research on the desires of the learner to validate your assumptions, but not to create your courses and services. The consumerist attitude of the learner should NOT drive the learning environment development but is should influence how we communicate with learners.