PME 811: Module 2 - Defining Terms and Concepts
Innovation
Innovation: making or creating something new or in a new way that fundamentally improves function or policy
The “…engine of research comes from ideas.” What a statement! I love this quote from Fabiola Gianotti, Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research at a keynote speech for the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). Somehow this single line sets my brain going in all directions. It implies that to discover more we must first expand our minds – to know more we must first imagine more. I can’t think of a better way to challenge myself and my students than with that idea! The website for the CFI is a rabbit hole of projects and research being explored by Canadians in fields as varied as medical genetics, ballet, meteorology, and social work in the high arctic. Sponsored by grants from the foundation, these innovative minds are dedicated to expanding human knowledge through research and all demonstrate the same spirit of not only discovery, but usable discovery. Throughout the course readings (even those that related to topics other than innovation) this was a common, if less obvious, theme – that innovation and creativity is only beneficial if it is usable and an improvement upon existing knowledge or resources.
Sources:
Badran, I. (2007). Enhancing creativity and innovation in engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 32(5), 573–585. doi: 0.1080/03043790701433061
Canada Foundation for Innovation. (2018). Retrieved from: www.innovation.ca/stories
Creativity
Creativity: acting or thinking in a way that either solves a problem or conveys meaning in a way that goes beyond the standard, the expected, or the limitations.
My definition certainly ties in with my field as a music teacher. To us, creativity means either writing new music that conveys a wealth of emotions and stories, or playing music in a way that pours out our own interpretation of (ironically) someone else’s creativity. It’s an interesting headspace and the topic of sometimes heated debate in musical communities as to whether the creativity of the performer in her interpretation is more important or whether the composer’s original intention should be prioritized. How often do you find a situation in which whose creativity should be more important is the central problem of your day?
In terms of a definition for a broader education community, however, I think the readings I chose provide an interesting argument when read all together: that creativity and its value are subjective to the situation and the audience. Ken Robinson in his now-viral TedTalk would have you believe that creativity for creativity’s sake is all-powerful (and all-possible for every individual if given the latitude to be so). Robert Beatty, on the other hand, illustrates the opposite view that some people are just better at it than others for a host of social and innate reasons. Mueller et al would extend the conversation to the implications of all this creating, particularly in the workforce, to point out that while being creative may be necessary on the job application, what most real-world applications require is more problem-solving than any real newness or expression.
Sources:
Beatty, Robert. (Jan. 16, 2018) Why are some people more creative than others? The Conversation & Scientific American. Retrieved from: www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-some-people-more-creative-than-others/
Robinson, Ken. (2006) TED Talks. Do schools kill creativity? Retrieved from: www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity
Mueller, J.S., Melwai, S., & Goncalo, J.A. (2012). The bias against creativity: Why people desire but reject creative ideas. Psychological Science, 23(1), 13–17. doi: 10.1177/0956797611421018
Teaching
Teaching: gathering and organizing materials, and presenting said materials, to effectively transmit knowledge and skills
I found the reading from Martin to be very poignant in this age of ever-compressed curriculum. As a department head, I am constantly hearing the frustration of my colleagues as they try to force-feed more and more material to students who need more time to internalize basics. The result is often worse than a student who never fully grasps a concept – it is the breakdown and ultimate resignation of an excellent teacher. I have lost count of the number of personal friends (both of my own and of my mother who is a veteran elementary teacher) who have given up teaching due to the impossibility of “actually teaching.” I find that unbearably sad… people who have given their lives to teaching are finding it so impossible to fulfill that definition (as above – to effectively transmit) that they would rather abandon the profession entirely than participate without meeting such a basic standard.
Sources:
Martin, J.R. (1996). There’s too much to teach: Cultural wealth in an age of scarcity. Educational Researcher, 25(2), 4–16. doi: 10.3102/0013189X025002004
Learning
Learning, to me, is the act of (and active) discovery of information and connections between knowledge points.
For this component I chose to be driven by some of the sources I discovered in researching ‘learning’ online after reading articles from the set reading list.
In Strategies for Learning from Failure, Edmondson discusses the age-old idea that failure is the greatest teacher by highlighting the way in which such imperfection is handled in businesses. Primarily, she suggests that – as in assessment-driven classrooms – workplaces unfairly target perfect performance and ever-increasing productivity/ results as the determiner of a ‘good’ workforce (or, at least, of good managers). She affirms that this model of defining success is harmful to productivity and creativity while significantly restricting the potential for learning. Punishing failure artificially penalizes experiential learning and creativity. Changing this admittedly culture-wide concept of success, however, is no easy task as she indicates here:
“[New ways of considering failure] means jettisoning old cultural beliefs and stereotypical notions of success and embracing failure’s lessons. Leaders can begin by understanding how the blame game gets in the way.”
Global Learning was a very interesting document. I had not encountered this organization before but it represents itself as an international non-profit group meant to support higher education administration and faculty. This particular document is intended specifically to examine the trend of globalized education or, more specifically, the growing desire of universities to take the needs of globalization into account when educating students.
“Over the last ten to fifteen years, more and more colleges and universities have adopted mission and vision statements that link their degrees to successful preparation for a complex, globally interconnected world. Such language represents both implicit and explicit commitments by institutions that their graduates will have the capability to meet the demands of future economic, social, and civic challenges and opportunities.”
The document goes on to point out that while this goal is admirable, it is often set at the highest administrative levels without consultation or planning among the faculty members actually responsible for carrying out the mission. At best, this creates a situation in which faculty do not have the training or resources to rewrite curriculum and at worst, an environment of tension and resentment for the same lack of preparation.
To me, this document illustrates an aspect of learning that is highly relevant to teachers at all levels of learning – that administrators set expectations according to principles that do not place education (or students) at the centre of learning and, parallel to that, without consultation with the educators who are responsible for carrying out the ‘orders.’
After all the readings, I would adapt my definition to be: "the act of (and active) discovery and connections between knowledge points through failure and persistence, ideally with teacher-mentors that helpfully frame that learning.
Additional Sources:
Edmondson, Amy C. (April 2011). Strategies for Learning from Failure. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2011/04/strategies-for-learning-from-failure
Hovland, Kevin. (2014). Global Learning: Defining, Designing, Demonstrating. NAFSA/ AACU.www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/Global/global_learning_2014.pdf
