Category Archives: Innovation and Creativity

Finland “only country…students leave…innovation ready” a big call. Some thoughts from my own experiences

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“…it is the only country where students leave high schools “innovation ready”

I have visited schools in Finland on numerous occasions now. I have found a hardworking nation – the community, its students and teachers – with a commitment to attaining high educational outcomes. Finland is definitely a nation the ‘punches above its weight’. But, with respect to my own relatives and professional friends, I have not found an education system that is particularly innovative, as I observed the day-to-day life of school.

So when I read the opinion piece by Thomas Friedman that is currently published in the newspapers in the world’s major cities, I am puzzled. I have incredible respect for Thomas Friedman and Tony Wagner. The premise of the piece is excellent:

More school leavers are going to have to invent a job rather than find one. Schools must equip them for the challenge.

Friedman picks Wagner’s brains on what needs to happen:

The goal of education today should not be to make every child “college ready” but “innovation ready” – ready to add value to whatever they do.

Every young person will continue to need basic knowledge, of course, but they will need skills and motivation even more… Young people who are intrinsically motivated – curious, persistent and willing to take risks will learn new knowledge and skills continuously.

I couldn’t agree more. The myth of the university/college degree as a ticket to the future career is now dispelled, as many young people are highly qualified, yet under-employed. We need to do all we can to teach, equip and engage them in order to follow passions and dreams and find innovative solutions to world problems. The way we repackage learning is crucial to that end.

Then Friedman asks: Who is doing it right?

Finland is one of the most innovative economies in the world and it is the only country where students leave high schools “innovation ready”.

This big statement is based on the following information:

They learn concepts and creativity more than facts, and have choice of many electives – with a shorter school day, little homework and almost no testing.

That is the case, as well as teacher autonomy and community respect, local school decision-making, high level of competitiveness to enter the profession and high PISA results. But do these elements actually translate into students leaving high school “innovation ready”? I have not observed repackaged learning.

Do high results in PISA testing equate to “innovation ready” students?

In my visits to ordinary, everyday school I observed little that showed me innovative methods and practices. The wifi test on my iphone found no wireless networks in the schools. Teaching was textbook and teacher-talk dependent. Technology was predominantly desktop computers and the only school I saw with ipads was an automotive vocational college, with the most innovative educators of all that I saw.

Observing secondary classes, students were taught in traditional methods by teachers, those ways that present knowledge to pass tests. At the end of the senior years students spend a huge amount of time cramming for 6 hour exams.

I also went to an educators conference, run by the OECD and universities, enduring long lectures and very dull and indiscernable powerpoints. These people were responsible for educating the future teachers.

Sometimes I wonder, what will happen when Finland is no longer top of the PISA tree. I think the national education marketers, who have done an outstanding job in promoting the qualities of the Finnish education system will need to move to Shanghai or Singapore.

 @anneknock

There’s no *place* like *home* – why comfort and community matter when we work, learn, play & create

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This post is my presentation at the Education Future Forum, 15 March 2013

Slide02

There is no sense of ‘place’ that is greater than ‘home’.

Hugh Mackay, in What makes us tick? Ten desires that drive us  says

‘My place’ is partly an anchor, partly a refuge, partly a stable point in a world that seems kaleidoscopic in the complexity of shifting patterns…we need to know where we belong; we need to feel that some physical place stands as a symbol of our uniqueness and acceptance.

The places where we spend most time are home and work. The picture of the employee in isolation is changing, as we prefer to work in community with others. Yahoo recently banned working from how, because as CEO Melissa Mayer stated, “we are one Yahoo” and community and connection is essential to culture change.

The traditional office  isn’t  particularly inspiring either. People often like to just hang out, work in proximity with other like-minded people. This has led to  a happy medium between home and work.

Sometimes curing office doldrums is simply about a temporary change of scenery, whether that’s in a coffee shop, a co-working space or even a park bench. (Link)

Over the last couple of decades there has been a shift in the way people work and learn, breaking down barriers, enabling choice and recognising that ownership of time space and very work itself is a huge motivating factor. The term ‘third place’  was coined by Ray Oldenburg an urban sociologist. In his book The Great Good Place he writes about the importance of informal public gathering spaces. “Third places” are essential to community vitality.

The $8bn Green Square project in inner Sydney is an urban development will eventually be the home for more than 40,000 people by 2030.  A young architectural team came up with the winning plan for the library at Green Square:

Artist impression 1

Artist impression 2

The below-ground vision will include garden storytelling, rolling hills and a sunken garden for reading and relaxing. It features an amphitheatre, water play area and music rooms where residents can practise on their instruments without disturbing neighbours.

Did anyone mention books?

Today, the library is a third place where people come to meet, read, work and belong. The word ‘library’ was once only synonymous with the word ‘book’. Now it is a ‘place’. The architects described this library as the ‘community living room’, a third place where people can be comfortable and productive at the same time. The library that feels like home.

The Hub ”Where change goes to work”  is a non-profit communal movement across the globe that is recreating the work environment.

The Hub

HUBs are uniquely designed spaces that provide a creative environment as well as a professional infrastructure to work, meet, learn and connect. Individuals rent spaces to work with other  entrepreneurs or project space with their team. The spaces are comfortable, with a variety of furnishings, a cafe and a kitchen.

We believe physical spaces are key to our impact  - for work, collaboration, inspiration, community, vibrant spaces, tools, connection, innovation. Why work from home when you can co-locate with other like-minded people at The Hub?

Slide14Slide16

Another example of the third space is The Design Factory at Aalto University in Helsinki. This is a cross-disciplinary project space furnished in the same way as the hub, catering for different ways of working and placing shipping containers to create a variety of working areas – spaces within spaces.

Slide19

Importantly, the kitchen provides a focal point and an opportunity for “planned coincidences”. It houses the only coffee machine in the building, so people must come to the kitchen to connect.

Design Factory

So what happens when school feels like home?

For generations, educationally, we’ve been polishing the chrome on the Holden Kingswood (or Edsel or Cortina), without seeing the need to reinvent in the hybrid-vehicle era. For generations the physical place of school has remained the same, when all around people are working and learning in markedly different ways. Think about the hospital/medical services, the way we communicate, how we access music and purchase goods – yet there is a constancy to the way schools look – for decades.

Slide23

The physical environment does matter. This was identified by a pilot study by the University of Salford and architects, Nightingale Associates. This study  found that the classroom environment can affect a child’s academic progress over a year by as much as 25%.

 Slide26  GM23

Schools we have visited in Scandinavia, and in particular Denmark and Sweden,  the design definitely feels like home. There are communal living rooms with soft furnishings and kitchens within the learning space, especially for primary and middle years.

There are, of course, other spaces for instructional sessions, but there were no rigid rows, but coworking tables. These spaces are generally kept small, because they aren’t spaces to stay in all day.

Slide29

I witnessed a ‘school feels like home’ moment last year.  

The teacher brought the young boy over to the kitchen, took a plate, put some crackers with cheese together for him and then sat at the ‘kitchen table’ to work with him on his maths problems.

Slide30

Kunskapsskolan is a system of more than 30 free schools across Sweden. The schools have a specific replicable design that is evident at each site.

Slide34

 

A new Kunskapsskolan school is not built on fresh greenfield site, but a disused factory, warehouse, shop or hospital that can accommodate the design and way of working – one characterised by light, visibility and flexibility.

Slide33

Every space is a learning space.

The starting point for design is to think of the entire space available as a potential learning area, not defaulting to “dividing space into static classrooms with connecting corridors”

Most areas have multiple functions …the cafeteria doubles up as a space for collaboration.

Visitors to Kunskapsskolan often remark that our schools look more like the site of a modern, creative knowledge industry, rather than a traditional school.

How do we make school feel like home? 

Slide37

Test every assumption about school - just because we have always have classrooms, desks, chairs and a teacher at the front, it doesn’t mean they are the necessary elements.

Identify what is actually necessary – begin with the end in mind.

Observe the times – how do your students connect, learn and communicate?

Ditch those things that don’t matter any more – how much of what we do is due to what has always been done?

Focus on relationships – at all levels, and at every nexus.

…And be brave.

@anneknock

 


Kicking off the new school year. Never “same old, same old” here at Northern Beaches Christian School

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In Australia the end of January is the start of the new academic year. Within a few days of getting back into it I usually gaze out the window, trying to recall the vacation and thinking to myself that perhaps it was just a dream?

(No, I really did have Christmas in Paris with my family)

Like many schools, Northern Beaches Christian School started the new year with a couple of days for professional learning activities with the staff. I have been the Director of Development at SCIL* for a few years and for the staff, each start to the new school year is always different from the previous year. Professional learning experiences are shaped around the key elements of the vision, reflecting the priorities of the year ahead.

This year, the priorities are GLO – Growth, Leadership, Opportunities. When the principal, Stephen Harris starts each year he outlines the priorities that will be the focus of the year, each of these areas are the further advancement to the vision:

Exceed Expectations.

Stephen expressed this further as he articulated the SCIL Learning Model

At its simplest form the SCIL Learning Model is essentially about learning and opportunity. On the one hand, there is a recurrent focus on developing a strong culture of self-directed learning, with an emphasis on critical and applied deep thinking. Project-based learning supports this approach well. On the other hand, we wish all students to recognise, have access to and take up opportunities that will grow them as pro-active compassionate leaders with integrity and moral strength, as they journey through their learning.

Central to the priorities is embedding project-based learning as a consistent element across the learning culture of the school, in every faculty, at each grade level.

1Like many schools, the first few days before the students return provide a valuable opportunity for professional learning and growth. This year it started with a session by an external facilitator, outlining the Apple model of challenge-based learning.

After some initial input and guidance, teaching teams set about developing their own interest projects that were then shared with their peers at the conclusion of the day. Embedded into the project was the use of an app or other element that may have been new to them.

The following day was set aside for the teams to critically analyse and develop how PBL can become a normal part of the teaching and learning at a faculty level.

In previous years teams have embarked on an ‘amazing race’ stye adventure around the city, imagining spaces for learning in all sorts of non-school contexts, or working on Bloom/Gardner’s matrix with like-minded peers to create a project that would improve a learning space within the school.

Do you see a pattern here with the professional learning?

  • Directly linked to the school’s priorities.
  • Immerses the teachers in the learning environment that we want for the students.
  • Teachers need work in teams.
  • ‘Facilitator talk’ is capped to the necessary 
  • Opportunity to pursue a passion or interest area
  • Challenge of using new technology as part of the project
  • Learn new skills necessary to complete the project

The professional learning opportunities gives the teacher the first hand learning experiences that we seek for our students.

If we want to change the way teachers teach, we need to change the way teachers learn.

Happy 2013!

@anneknock

*SCIL is the innovation and professional services focus within Northern Beaches Christian School. The SCIL Learning Model is currently being developed as a resource and will be available this year.


Why innovate? Answer inspired by Ghandi ‘Serving the unserved’

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Lasting innovation comes from identifying and responding to need – human need.

We are often reminded that people in developing nations are amazing innovators – living, that is staying alive, on less than $1 per day. Ghandi is known as a liberator and revolutionary of his people, yet he approached the issues of tackling the British colonization with the mindset of an innovator.

While I have been travelling over the last few weeks I re-watched Sir Ken Robinsons 2006 and 2010 TED Talks to see how was are tracking since this call to educational change. I had already come to the conclusion that we need both a top down and bottom up approach to change in education. Sadly, we haven’t come far too far in changing the minds of the policy-makers. Standardized tests and the focus on academic intelligence as the primary measure remains, and this still needs significant work. But simultaneously we need to keep activating at the grass roots of education.

Ghandi faced the problem of British colonization through inspiring innovation in the day-to-day lives of the people, a simple idea that would bring change. Britain controlled the textile industry in India. Heavy machinery was used to make cloth from cotton and silk. But what if ordinary people could make their own cloth? This was the inspiration behind the Box Charkha. A portable (and inexpensive) spinning wheel used for spinning cotton and silk into thread. A small idea, with big consequences.

This simple innovation, inspired by Ghandi was then developed, made into reality, by his colleague. The Box Charkha made it possible for ordinary Indian people to ‘compete with modern industrialization by creating mass individual modernization.’ (Sawhney)

Ghandi’s approach to innovation had two key elements. It needed to be affordable and sustainable. Similarly in education, we need not always assume that to be innovative, there needs to be significant funds attached, but begin as Ghandi did, making important changes at the grass roots, he was able to to more with less. His focus was improving the life of his people, giving them the tools to be able to break from the constraints of British colonization.

Learning from Ghandi there are a few things to consider in getting innovation right

How do we serve the unserved?

Does the vision have a strong human dimension?

Are our goals and milestones too safe?

How do we use constraints to expand our creative capacity?

Are we measuring the right stuff?

Who are we doing this for?

‘Today, technology can be a similar equalizer in our search for economic development or innovation, provided these technologies function to empower the individual.’ (Sawhney)

A synthesis of Ghandi’s innovation applied to education
1. Disrupt existing business models – alter the way schools ‘do business’
2. Modify existing capabilities – break down subject hierarchies and silos, work together
3. Create and source new capabilities – look beyond usual boundaries for input, expertise and ideas

When faced with innovation, there are only two choices
Leverage existing resources in new ways
Change the rules of the game entirely

The choice we make depends on the context. But like Ghandi, if we are passionate enough about educational change, we need to make a start. I was initially discouraged after watching Ken Robinson’s TED Talks to see how little governments have changed, but I know at the grass roots, so many of us who are committed to making schools and education better and more relevant to our young people.

So at the outset of 2013, be encouraged and keep the flame for innovation and change burning. Be inspired by revolutionaries of the past, who, while they were in the thick of it probably doubted the difference they were making.

References
Quotes: What Ghandi, yes Ghandi, taught me about design, leadership and technology, Ravi Sawhney

Model of innovation: ‘Innovation’s Holy Grail’ C.K. Prahalad and R.A. Mashelkar
HBR, July 2010

Great question: If the mandate is for innovation, how much should best practice drive that?

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A great question posed by @gcouros, deserves an answer that required more than 140 characters.

Why is there a mandate for innovation?
At the heart of the word ‘innovation’ is ‘nova’ – making things new, systems, ideas and products. The history of humanity is ‘nova’ – products, ideas and processes that change and (mostly) improve our individual and collective lives.

It’s almost cliché to talk about the pace of change, yet this is a reality. Technological and scientific discoveries are changing our lives and making many aspects of what was considered normal, now to be defunct. Innovation is the open door to improving our lives, it takes knowledge and ideas and turns them into action.

In an age of uncertainty due to the financial crisis, the changing employment landscape and increasing number of new, and also obsolete markets, the key message is innovate or be quickly irrelevant. Unless school education embraces a culture of innovation school becomes mechanical and students are not given the tools to think differently about solutions for their world.

What’s the challenge with best practice?
The term ‘best practice’ is often used within the context of a methodology that can be applied and helps to achieve the desired outcomes. It is a reflective practice developed by an accumulation of past experiences and analysed data and can be a formulaic response. ‘Best practice’ looks to what has worked previously, but doesn’t necessarily bring solutions to future problems.

The challenge for educators is that there is immense data that has informed what is considered to be ‘best practice’ for how learning occurs. This information can provide knowledge to help inform the future, but alone is insufficient. Innovation can start with this knowledge, but then adds intuition within the context of a vision to ultimately achieve implementation.

So, how much should best practice drive innovation?
For our young people to be equipped for success in an unknown future, one that requires new solutions to new problems, then a best practice approach alone can only improve the current state of play.

As futurist Joel Barker stated, ‘we manage within paradigm and lead between paradigms’.  Best practice shapes management, how we do things and how can we improve what we do. Innovation, however, looks to the new paradigm and is inextricably linked to visionary leadership, intuition and risk.

Thanks for the question, George.

@anneknock

Reinventing professional learning at Making it Mobile, Auckland 2012 #mim2012

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A brilliant bringing together of essential goals in education, matched to powerful methods of education for this age. It has opened up my mind to the means of unleashing creativity in children. (Participant)

Our team has just concluded hosting a two day workshop Making it Mobile, held in Auckland, at Albany Senior High School

What happens when you take 60 educators, turn traditional PD on its head and then let them loose to learn?

It’s engaging, inspiring and overwhelming.

What happens when professional learning looks like good students learning?

It becomes collaborative, creative, crowd-sourced and challenging.

What a buzz! Community of practice re-imagining the future! #mim2012

A few key principles that shaped our planning:

  • design principles in the development of content
  • presenting PD within a new paradigm
  • crowd sourcing professional learning
  • providing an open learning environment for adult learners
  • being highly relational in the approach

Anne says “We believe teacher learning should look like good student learning.” #mim2012

The result was two days of fast-paced learning with content input, on-the-shoulder guidance and “a buzz in the room [that] was palpable.”

@matonfender and @steve_collis are tweeting, obviously

The first day started with a keynote from @Stephen_h (Stephen Harris), principal at Northern Beaches Christian School and Director/Founder of Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning. He framed the opening session around the changing landscape of school education –  a profound learning culture, facilitated by technology, space and pedagogy that empowers and engages students.

Schools as a functional relational community as a base for learning  #mim2012

#mim2012 reinforcing teaching as inquiry to bring together to bring together thinking skills, differentiation and collaboration supported by ICT!

Love the genuine mix of student centred and sometime teacher lead learning landscapes at SCIL #mim2012

Don’t stay a teacher if you just want a comfortable job #mim2012

Interactive whiteboards? Like CDs – transition technology between records and itunes. IWBs – transition between whiteboards and #BYOD #mim2012

The remainder of the day practitioners scrolled through workshops led by @steve_collis, @matonfender, @ldeibe and @mosborne01

From SCIL

  • Lou Deibe – Learning Matrix
  • Steve Collis – Flipped Learning
  • Mark Burgess – Project-Based Learning

And from Albany Senior High School

  • Mark Osborne – with Unlimited Ideas

Learning matrix, what a great idea #mim2012

Creating a common language for PBL linking the scientific method, technology process and inquiry method #mim2012

#mim2012 designing an icon, quite enjoyed the process

icons need to be simple to visually de-clutter #mim2012

From battery hens to free range chickens – freedom of movement to the students @steve_collis #mim2012

if we relinquish control why is there not anarchy #mim2012

Edcanvas – great for gathering multimedia resources and sites for students #mim2012

On the second day, the theme was:

What will you build?’

What do I want to build? Answer is getting tougher with all the inspiring ideas #mim2012

Participants were encouraged to take the input from the previous day and build something. That ‘something’ may have been a project-based unit, a personalised learning matrix, using Edmodo or Edcanvas, planning for BYOD and a range of other practical ideas.

The Commons at Albany Senior High School became an open-space learning environment for educator-learners, with coaching from the SCIL team, pop-up training sessions and small groups planning great ideas for their students.

Participants were encouraged to host workshops on their areas of techie expertise – who says it’s the presenters who are the only ones to share?

The Twittersphere was abuzz with #mim2012 – sharing ideas and resources and convincing the laggards that there was more to this thing that what you had for breakfast.

The two days wrapped up with a promise to return in 2013.

We thought we were coming to use BYOD better, but have since realised we are changing our classroom practice. #mim2012

So many ideas for transformation. So happy to be involved with an innovative school #learningtransformation #mim2012

very thought-provoking couple of days #mim2012

Loving the work that I’ve been able to create after being inspired by a great deal of people at #mim2012 #crowd-sourcing = eavesdropping

Take a leap into the 21st century and change your pedagogical approach. Collaborate with the switched on educators from SCIL. (Participant)

An inspiring and thought-provoking range of workshops which really got my creative juices flowing. (Participant)

Would you like us to bring this workshop to your city?

@anneknock

scil.com.au

The global Hub movement: How the ‘Third Place’ creates a working, social and communal space with purpose #scilvision12

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The Third Place refers to a coworking space that creates a rich community of creative businesses, non-profits and start-ups. They generally have a unique culture where opportunity and idea sharing takes place. The concept of the Third Place emerged from a combination of the home office, flexible hours and results oriented work.

The concept of ‘working from home’, with its freedom and flexibility has morphed into the need for people to be co-located with other like-minded individuals. They have moved on from just taking up a table at the local cafe, to purpose-designed spaces where entrepreneurs and independent workers seek to be part of a community.

We visited the Westminster Hub, part of the global HUB network. Tim, one of the co-founders was kind enough to invite us in and show us around. Walking around we saw people working individually, in pairs and in groups. There is a place for gathering groups together – cave, campfire and watering hole.

The following week we were in Helsinki and found the local HUB community. A newer operation, but the principles and philosophy was the same.

We set out to create spaces that combine the best of a trusted community, innovation lab, business incubator and the comforts of home.

Community

Collaboration

Creativity

Co-locating

Comfortable

There are parallels with the design and fit out that can be translated to the design, fit out and use of open learning spaces.

Community: Is the space inviting and encourages people to connect?

Collaboration: How does the furniture and arrangement of the space facilitate connection and collaboration?

Creativity: Can ideas incubate?

Co-locating: Does each user need to be on the same task, working on the same outcome? They don’t have to be.

Comfortable: How do you like to work? Tables, sofas, open-spaces, closed spaces – provide choice

When people are passionate about what they do and motivated to achieve outcomes, no one is needed to ‘crack the whip’.

Why Blog? A blog about blogging inspired by first timer @Jessica_Dubois #leadershipday12

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This week a Twitter-Colleague @Jessica_Dubois tweeted:

My 1st post on my 1st blog – Starting action bit.ly/QYiOvA - beginning the journey 

I’ve never actually met Jessica, but we have communicated over Twitter, she is “a primary teacher in a remote, Indigenous community in far-west South Australia”. Her blog is appropriately called Teaching Remotely.

Jessica decided to move from consumer to producer. After thinking about it for about a year she decided to “move my intentions into actions” and “don’t worry be crappy”.

I BLOG (obviously)

It reminded me of when I put my first toe in the very big pond that is the bloggersphere. I decided to have a quick look back to June 2010, with a winced face, at my first post, entitled “What I do and where I’ve been #1” I write “winced” because I’m one of those people who reluctantly look back. But I was encouraged  to see that it reflects the predominant thread of most of my posts, I think my strength is to synthesise ideas (in case you are wondering there was no #2 or #3 – I’m pretty random).

The first brief post concludes…I spent some time thinking about the case-study of NBCS/SCIL and I’ve synthesised the process to four key elements: Vision, People, Spaces, Culture

WHY BLOG?

There is a group at Northern Beaches Christian School called “SCIL Associates”, led by @Steve_Collis. SCIL (Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning) was originally conceived as a place and a group to belong to, where keen educators catch up and share practice. Steve calls it the “coalition of the willing”. No compulsion, just come along. So each Friday afternoon they catch up, talk about what they’ve been doing and share with trusted peers, those crazy ideas that are circling in their minds. SCIL Associates are also encouraged to Tweet and Blog, and I think that the combination of these elements have led to excited, motivated and innovative educators who have significantly caught and carried the vision and culture at Northern Beaches Christian School.

So I asked them, why do you blog? Here are the key reasons:

1. SHARE IDEAS

To share different pedagogy or new teaching ideas and resources with teachers you don’t know and hence cannot communicate with, face to face.

I like to blog to spread good news.

Blogging provides me with an opportunity to share…

To share insights around a common interest with a wider audience…

2. INFLUENCE

Blogging provides me with an opportunity to… influence,

allow for global input, and hopefully help/inspire other teachers with my work.

3. REFLECT ON PRACTICE

To articulate what learning has actually occurred from a seemingly crazy idea.

To reflect on my teaching, allow for global input, and hopefully help/inspire other teachers with my work.

It is helpful to articulate what you are thinking so that it is clear in your own mind and therefore more helpful when explaining to others.

It is also good to be able to go over old posts to see what you were processing or implementing at a certain time, kind of like a

teaching/learning journal.

As a professional reflective journal

4. CONNECT

…and seek out soul mates

To share insights around a common interest with a wider audience and with enough space to expand thoughts

5. AND ME?

Personally, I find blogging to be like a release valve of my creative thinking. If only you could see my piles of journals filled over many years. I have always wanted to write, I have written, but nobody else had read my thoughts until I discovered blogging.

Now when a thought or an idea takes hold, I play with it in my mind and then write. I love the process, but there is fear and trepidation when an idea gets out. Then I am encouraged when people read it (I do confess to stat-addiction). Goals and discipline work for me as a motivator to keep blogging. I try and aim for one a week.

So if like @Jessica_Dubois you have consumed for a while it’s time to start. Don’t analyse or make excuses, face your fears (we all have them) and get started. In time you will find your voice and blogging will take hold of you.

Tweet me: #whyblog @anneknock

Becoming an innovative school? My top 10 ideas

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Northern Beaches Christian School: one of the most innovative in the world. Thanks to everyone for great day of discussion …from @wethink

When one of the world’s leading authorities on innovation described Northern Beaches Christian School as “one of the most innovative in the world” we were amazed and honoured. Charlie Leadbeater (@wethink), is a former adviser to the British government and author of We-think: The Power Of Mass Creativity. Leadbeater ran a one day seminar with us in June 2011. His TED Talk Education innovation in the Slums has more than 300,000 views and he was described as:

early to notice the rise of “amateur innovation” – great ideas from outside the traditional walls, from people who suddenly have the tools to collaborate, innovate and make their expertise known.


We are often asked about the distinctives that have led to Charles Leadbeater, and other leading educators and thinkers, to make such comments when they spend some time at Northern Beaches Christian School. While not the definitive list, here are some of the key conditions that can make a difference:

1. A vision for learning is incessantly and clearly communicated

  • What is your vision? Make sure you know where you are going.
  • Find ingenious and relentless ways to communicate it. This takes courage.

2. Learning is future-focused

  • The world is changing, make sure the learning context recognises this
  • Observe the students, how they work and communicate (Tip: they aren’t using email anymore)

3. Culture takes time and persistence to embed

  • Once you have the vision – prioritise your steps. The reality is, change will take time
  • If you believe it, be resolute. Help those who are struggling to change, but stick to your guns.

4. Engaged and motivated students are the goal

  • Think about your own conditions for productivity and creativity, maybe it’s same for students
  • Put current practices through the ‘learning’ filter – do they still belong?

5. Equipped and supported staff are essential

  • Vision + ‘Learning’ Filter = Regular PD to support through change
  • Teacher PD needs to look like student learning, otherwise it’s “do as I say, not as I do”

6. Technology is an environment for learning, not the driver

  • This is not about who has the most bright shiny toys
  • Students live in a world of technology – the school-world needs be relevant

7. Relationships matter

  • In the midst of all the learning, technology and activity nothing matters more than quality relationships
  • Students need to belong, be known, valued and accepted. This is only achieved through relationship

8. Learning is authentic

  • Set in a real-world context, skills will be learnt readily when there is purpose
  • Provide opportunities for students to be world-changers

9. Spaces for learning are welcoming and comfortable

  • This is not about bright shiny spaces and colourful furniture, it is about aesthetically pleasing environments where students (and teachers) will want to come to learn
  • Think about where you like to work and learn, maybe it’s the same for students

10. Creativity and innovation have expression

  • There will always be barriers to innovation, find ways to break or go around them.
  • Make this your culture, give it voice, take risks, embrace failure

When people visit Northern Beaches Christian School often hear them say:

“I thought I was coming to see buildings, now I know it’s so much more”

The #Olympics as a marker for technological progress: From hero-faxes in 1992 to tweets, wifi and apps in 2012

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It’s the first day of the Olympics, in Australia most of the action happens as we sleep – but at least we get the first and last events of the day in the evenings and early mornings.

Today I downloaded the London Olympics 2012  app and the Australian Olympic Team app and thinking about how each Olympics provides a great milestone every four years on the development of technology for this global event.

This is the first “ipad Olympics” – where apps will be our portal for information and while Facebook and Twitter in existence in Beijing, this will be the Olympics where social media will prevail as our communication method.

The place of newspapers in this post-industrial world is currently under discussion. It only seems a short time ago that each morning of the Olympics I rushed to the newspaper to get the most accurate information on the achievements and to see Australia’s medal tally.

In 1992 our family was living in the UK for a year. This was the last non-internet Olympics. During the year our communication home was via handwritten letters and very expensive landline calls. Our connection globally was through newspaper, TV and radio.

We were living in Edinburgh and one of the shops in tourist strip displayed international newspapers that were only just a few days old. One day we decided to part with about $5 and buy our Sydney newspaper. We devoured almost every word. For a news-junkie, it was a rare treat to have news from home.

The Olympic Games were held in Barcelona that year. We were staying with some Aussie friends, impressed that they had four sports channels. This meant we could get information from a variety of sports held at the same time, however, the broadcast was not necessarily in English. It was very difficult to get any information about the Australian team.

The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta had its own webpage, as an early adopter I had just started to get my head around this inter-webby-thing. The main thing the net was used for was buying tickets at fixed terminals. We sent hero-faxes to our athletes to show our support.

Then in Sydney 2000 web pages were more prevalent, however, with the Olympics in my own city, it meant the news was immediate and in my timezone. I don’t think any of us in Sydney had much time to spend on the web. The main thing we did was to share photos through email.

Both in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 we still accessed our information through dedicated web pages. In 2004 we subscribed to email feeds and shared the moments through our computers, that needed to be plugged in to access the internet. In 2008 social media was just starting to grab our attention and smartphones could play some digital content in real-time. Email prevailed as the main communication medium.

In 2012 the Olympics is now streamed live over the internet, another example of how digital media is gradually replacing traditional media. Apps have superseded webpages. Social media give us immediate results and information. Wireless technology means that we are connected anytime, anywhere. We don’t send hero-faxes anymore, we Tweet our heroes and hope that amongst the stream they just might read ours.

And email? This is really becoming the communication of business, we rarely use it for social purposes. Our son and daughter-in-law are currently living in London and are soaking up the Olympic experience. We communicate by Twitter and Skype and are able to share the experiences in real-time (when we are both awake). Our global communication today is daily and often, a huge leap from handwritten letters 20 years ago.

The Atlanta Olympics was the first technological leap, enabling an initial taste of global connectivity via the internet. The London Olympics has seen the next significant leap and mobile devices, apps, wifi and social media have taken us to another level.

What next? Tweet me.

@anneknock