I am sure your plate is overflowing during this unprecedented time of CoVid. But I’m also sure as the innovative, forward thinking leader you are, you are also considering how to use this unprecedented time to create unprecedented learning experiences for kids.
Winston Churchill once famously said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
This past week I attended a global festival ([Re Learn], in which leaders just like you are not letting a crisis go to waste. From new learning environments focused on student well-being, to student run programs/ businesses and student led risk management assessments, leaders are unleashing unprecedented innovation in their schools worldwide.
So where is the starting point for this kind of school wide innovation?
Below are eight of the short video presentations from 8 of the most innovative leaders to share their poignant and insightful insights on this question. I hope they inspire or re-enforce student- centered innovation on your campus!
- ‘Learn Well. Towards a New Normal”: Adriano Di Prato, Thought Leader at a ‘School for Tomorrow” shares what happens when learning is powered by the physical, mental health and emotional competency and wellness of every student and every teacher. “Every student deserves a place where they are known, valued and loved, where someone has their back and is in their corner.”
- ‘Learn with a latte, not with a blackboard.’: Kirti Diwan, Future Work Advocate for Google shares how online learning can help provide more equitable education and solve community problems. “How might we change learning online to become a social movement?”
- “I Cry At Work”: A model for authentic and intensive change-support and why the education revolution can’t succeed without it.”: Loni Bergqvist, Founder of Imagine If shares how to ignite innovation through project-based learning by starting from the bottom up. “There is no quick fix to change, deep and meaningful change requires sustained effort.”
- “Learner Centred Leadership.”: Devin Vodicka, CEO of Altitude Learning and Superintendent for Vista Unified Schools shares models for students-centred learning and how to get buy in from key stakeholders, and create momentum toward transformational change. “If you think about leadership as something you do rather than a title, all of us are capable of embracing leadership.”
- ‘Creating Empowered and Self-Authoring Learning Communities.’: Peter Hutton of the Future Schools Alliance shares how to create student-centered learning environments and blur the lines between work and learning. “Innovation doesn’t have to cost more. Start with the people for whom the system is not working.”
- ‘Engaging Students, Parents, and Educators as Co-Designers in Educational Innovation.’: Kevin Fullbrook, International School Leader at Al-Bayan Bilingual School shares how to engage multiple stakeholders in whole school innovation. “It’s about building things together with a group of people rather than doing it by yourself in a closed group and then seeking feedback after.”
- ‘Dreams To Reality – creating conditions to enable and encourage the development of new ideas, habits and systems.’ Dave Strudwick, Leader and Founder of REAL School describes how to build a culture that fosters risk-taking and centers learning on real world experiences. “We have to recognise our relationship to risk. We have a fear of when things are less clear, but innovation by it’s nature, has to have that uncertainty.”
And finally, a presentation from yours truly!
8. “How to use micro-schools to unleash Whole School Innovation: Kyle Wagner (yours truly) of Transform Educational Consulting shares how leaders can build flexible, student-centered, trans-disciplinary learning environments through the use of micro schools, or ‘schools within a school.’