Innovation in Education: The Discussion

 

Innovation in Education: The Discussion

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Innovation in education refers to identifying current issues with an open mind and coming up with fresh approaches to address them. To innovate is to adapt or accomplish something in a novel and creative way. In the context of the school, this means being adaptable and making the curriculum adaptable so that we can effectively reach our children. Therefore, depending on the interests of our students, we should be adaptable in our teaching methods and the material we cover in the classroom. One should always be willing to seek out fresh information as a teacher to develop more effective teaching ideas and procedures. As a result, innovation in education is open to fresh suggestions for enhancement, such as innovative teaching strategies mixed with knowledge transfer techniques that provide pupils a chance to develop abilities like creativity, adaptability, and resilience (Thompson, 2022).

What does innovation look like in my situation?

In my situation, innovation in my school looks like a human laboratory of application where there are many things to experiment with and experience, and students are the tools that decode the result of the experiment. The experiment is carried out with the use of technology, projects, inquiry, etc.

Instead of using traditional teaching methods, we implement 21st-century teaching techniques in our classroom, where teachers function as facilitators and guides and students take the lead in driving learning. The ability to speak up, work together, arrange an activity, learn, etc. is given to the students. On the other hand, teachers actively support learning through technology, real-world projects, digital portfolios, research, and learning to encourage learning by doing and the acquisition of new knowledge. In order to make their instruction meaningful, they frequently work together with other teachers. We think that children should be given the freedom to engage in their own learning so that they can use their imaginations to learn new things. Additionally, our educational approach forbids us from explaining any content to our students; rather, we expect them to actively participate in exploring and using technology to understand the subject on their own. We think that explanations can be given using online resources and instructions and that students should be encouraged to use technology and other resources to complete their online coursework. Students learn independently owing to outsourced concept-building systems used in the classroom. The majority of the time, competency-based questioning and answers are used in the classroom to address how to apply the text's themes. Students first conduct research, talk with their peers, learn, and then enter the classroom. As a result, the classroom ought to be viewed as a kind of living laboratory where students are free to experiment with the material and learn new things through interactions with peers, online research, classroom teaching, and the acquisition of new information and skills. The only thing that we need to consider is that we need to create a learning space for it. This would support innovation as a cultural synthesis of practices, habits, and traditions, including the support of ideas, the capacity to put those ideas into action, the capacity for collaboration, and the willingness to accept the failure of ideas (Hulme, 2021). Thus, it is a human laboratory of application.

What does innovation feel like in my situation?

In my situation, innovation in my school feels like we are all intrigued in one way or another, and we are open to discussion, like among family members with a supportive culture.

Students are encouraged and empowered to acquire their areas of interest and goals with full energy, inspiration, and excitement. Everyone in the school is seen as aroused with the desire to learn new things and is filled with questions and doubts about certain things. Since we follow the student-centered teaching methodology in the classroom, our students are always filled with opinions, suggestions, and questions with the willingness to take up the task willingly. I feel that innovative practices are rampant in my school because students are always encouraged to voice their feelings, opinions, and doubts in every aspect so that they can create the most memorable memories and experiences. Moreover, students’ ideas are embraced well during their learning and presentation so that good feelings and meaningful innovation in the classroom are promoted. Thus, being intrigued in the classroom means being innovative in the classroom.

What does innovation sound like in my situation?

In my situation, innovation in my school sounds like the babble of busy group interaction between students, questioning with energy, planning, and collaborating on new ideas.

In my classroom, all activities are created to encourage student participation and lively discussion. At any time throughout the class, students are welcome to speak up and offer questions, and their opinions are highly valued. Sometimes I ask them directly for the answers, and other times I have them respond to my inquiries. To develop into independent learners who, take ownership of any assignment given to them, interaction is crucial in the classroom because, as students work together, they try to find the best answers they can to agreements and arguments among their peers. In the interim, I've also set up a social media group forum and my own blogs where I encourage my students to interact, share their views, and engage in meaningful discussion for learning outside of the classroom. We have a school official forum and a topic department forum on social media, for instance, where teachers may interact and share strategies to improve instruction in the classroom. Every lesson I teach in the classroom is supported by reflection, writing, and sharing to help students identify their strengths and learn from their failures. I think the classroom is truly innovative when there is such a flurry of active group participation.

The types of changes that must be supported by educational leaders

I fully believe that among the types of changes that educational leaders must support, expanding the number of facilities in the school that use technology should be one of them. After that, every student will have numerous opportunities to use computers in class. There are just two computer labs here, each with about sixty machines, making it challenging for the lecturers to accommodate students. On the other hand, it's critical to consider cultural diversity.

Most importantly, rather than being required to adhere to the national curriculum, which is now out of date in light of the current conditions, teachers should be able to construct the curriculum in collaboration with students based on their preferences and areas of interest. Additionally, educational leaders should launch staff advocacy programs and regularly hold professional development programs for teachers to build their global competence in the context of contextualizing the curriculum from a global perspective. This is necessary to meet the expectations of global citizenship. Finally, it is important to carefully examine the formative and summative evaluations used by the school to make sure that they place a significant emphasis on teaching students how to be global citizens and to innovate deeply in the classroom.

References

Hulme, G. V. (2021). What Does Innovation Looks Like? https://digitalcxo.com/article/what-does-innovation-look-like-insight-from-those-who-know/

Thompson, S. (2022). What Is Innovation in Education and Why It’s Important? https://corp.kaltura.com/blog/what-is-innovation-in-education/