Innovations in education Part 1
At the Higher school of Economics hosted the seminar “Innovations in education: black box or open book”, whose research was based on the data in the contest of innovations in education. So what do we know and what we don’t know about innovation?
The contest of innovations in education exists since 2014. During this time, the organizers (Institute of education Higher school of Economics and the “Fishermen’s Fund”) received over 2,000 applications with innovative projects from different countries, cities and regions. The competition is held in three stages.
First, the experts remotely assess all applications. Select 30 best teams that are invited to the Summer school.
The second stage is a project pipeline of lectures, workshops, master classes. Total Summer school — pitch session, the results of which ten teams are eliminated from the competition.
20 teams – the lucky ones become finalists and are in the finals, where representatives of the jury (representatives of the companies of ASI, “the Fishermen Fund,” RVC, Microsoft) and investors determine a winner and award special prizes.
About a third of the innovative ideas submitted to the contest, do not belong to those who work in education, and innovators “across the system”. Can we say that in order to offer modern education a new technology, you must complete the pedagogical University? Statistics is not required. Entrepreneurs come up with bold ideas and successfully implement their projects, offering them as a service to the school. Although, unlike the teachers, are able to deftly juggle the paragraphs of the GEF.
The contest confirmed that the greatest interest in the generation of innovative ideas are people who do not work in education entrepreneurs, businesses and startups.
Behind them are the teachers and researchers of universities, pupils and students. “Top initiative” completing the additional education teachers and school teachers. Seeing a ladder initiatives can we claim that a driver of future changes in education will be people who are not included?
What drives these people? We distinguish positive and negative motives. Positive is the desire to translate existing successful practices, or to implement training programmes in digital form. Negative factors — personal bad experience, the desire to change the situation in education for the better for themselves and their families.
The innovators say that the possibility of implementing innovative projects in General and higher education is virtually nonexistent.
The administration of the educational institutions are reluctant to contact, the mechanisms of the everyday work of school Directors and deans do not provide communication opportunities, where you could listen to “activist on the street”. This problem is more fundamental. The more closed a system is, the less it is prone to perception new. And the education system in our country is one of the most closed professions.
Money is nothing, thirst is everything
The main prize organizers — travel grant anywhere in the world. There is a special nomination of jury members and partner companies. Interestingly, according to the analysis and further questioning of participants, the financial motivation is not the main innovators.
If we compare from the point of view of motivation three groups: business and social entrepreneurs and innovators, for the latter there is a “motivation to innovate”. It is important for the creation of something new, changing world, and whether the cost of this money — the second question.