TWO original posts

  

Post 1: When “Innovation” Becomes a Buzzword

One thing that particularly caught my attention in the course readings is how often the term “innovation” is used in education. Teachers are always required to be creative and innovative in schools, conferences, and other professional development opportunities. But after reading Frank (2013), I began to question the extent to which this talk about innovation is about performance rather than change. Frank is harsh on the culture of TED-type ideas, which tends to romanticize creativity and over-polish it in an inspirational way. Yet, they rarely challenge the systems that make change difficult in the first place.

The concept was further made interesting by reading research on creativity conducted by Amabile, Goldfarb, and Brackfield (1990). According to their study, creativity is typically reduced when one expects their work to be examined. In other words, the more people think a person is always analyzing their performance, the more likely they are to make the less risky and predictable choice. The finding led me to consider the classroom’s current appearance, indeed. The systems in which teachers and students operate are often based on testing, grading, and accountability.

This poses an actual conflict in my own thoughts concerning teaching and learning. We insist that students be creative thinkers, but the learning environment can sometimes make them too cautious. Innovation may also not be taught using new strategies or technologies. It can also include developing learning environments where students and teachers feel free to experiment, make mistakes, and test new approaches without being closely evaluated.

Holding this challenge in mind, an important question arises: What are the actual shapes that classroom environments have in making creativity a reality, and not just simple theoretical concepts?

Post 2: Why Educational Innovation Needs a Sense of History

One more concept that stayed with me after the readings is the significance of history in discussions of educational innovation. New reforms or teaching trends are often introduced as entirely new solutions when they emerge. Cuban (2001), however, states that most education reforms still tend to reiterate previous concepts because policymakers fail to fully reflect on what has already occurred. In the absence of such a historical view, schools tend to revert to the same kind of reform over and over.

A similar statement is made by Herbst (1999) regarding the history of education as a discipline. He describes how education systems have evolved due to social, political, and cultural factors. Teaching practices are not the only factors that influence schools; broader policies impose and modify them within the larger society. In the absence of this context, we are inclined to think that change can be made quite easily by simply implementing a new policy or teaching strategy.

When reading these articles, I have found myself reflecting on how teachers approach innovation in their respective professional settings. New concepts in teaching and learning are exciting to observe, but they should also be questioned. What are their sources of ideas? Have such reforms been attempted in the past? And what were the difficulties they had? In my case, education innovation does not necessarily concern new strategies. This should also involve learning to make better choices about the future.

This raises a question for teachers: How can they be open to new teaching ideas while also studying the history of educational change?

 

References

Amabile, T. M., Goldfarb, P., & Brackfield, S. C. (1990). Social influences on creativity: Evaluation, coaction, and surveillance. Creativity Research Journal, 3(1), 6–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419009534330

Cuban, L. (2001). Can historians help school reformers? Curriculum Inquiry, 31(4), 453–467.

Frank, T. (2013, October 13). TED talks are lying to you. Salon. http://www.salon.com/2013/10/13/ted_talks_are_lying_to_you/

Herbst, J. (1999). The history of education: State of the art at the turn of the century in Europe and North America. Paedagogica Historica, 35(3), 737–747. https://doi.org/10.1080/0030923990350308