Microsoft Educator Network

Change Management & Culture of Innovation HOW TO DEAL WITH CHANGE It seems that change (and there has been much of it in the last 5, 10, 15 years) frustrates many of us, and leaves us desperate for some consistency in the teaching profession. Yet, change (like anything else), is not all bad and not all good. It’s a mixed bag. What is true is that change is constant. It’s also getting exponentially quicker. This is not only in education, but in many fields of work. It’s taken a while for change to pick up the speed with which we now see it in the classroom, but...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation How IoT Technology Could Impact Teaching and Learning in 2015 Dubbed as the most hyped technology of 2014, the “Internet of Things” (IoT) is the concept of everyday objects connecting to the Internet and each other. This includes things like “smart” thermostats, smoke detectors and even kitchen appliances. was one of the hottest topics at this week's International Consumer Electronics Show () - a premiere technology insider event with a 45+ year history. But would it surprise you to know that education is projected as one of the top sectors to be ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Surface Pro 3 – a foundation for innovative teaching and learning. Now two months in, and the Surface Pro3 is over the initial hurdles that any new device suffers from. It has been very well received by independent reviewers and the general public alike who have purchased the device in any of its available configurations. But can it make an impact in educational circles? Whilst the previous versions of the Surface made their ways into schools, there was very little momentum built and some of this was to do with device design, some to do with marketing and some ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation CLASS SIZE OR TEACHER QUATITY? Read this article from Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director for education and skills, who said that nations may have to make a trade-off between smaller classes and paying teachers more. In many cases, high-performing countries choose the latter, he said. "You can spend your money only once, so if you have a fixed amount of money that's the kind of trade-off you have to make. Basically smaller classes limit your capacity to pay teachers better, and that's the trade-off you can see in the data...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Is the Surface Pro 3 a game changer for our teachers? Almost 2 weeks since its launch - and I have 5 arrive on my desk on the very same day - the question is do we finally have a device that could change the way we work? Microsoft have clearly learned from the feedback about the Pro 2 and have incorporated this in a new sleek design - the fact that I can have apps, I can have full scale programs and I can write with the stylus - makes it a desirable device. But how do we get deep and meaningful integration? How do we / can we change practice? How ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation UPDATE: What Does Innovation Look Like? What does Innovation look like? I first asked that question 10 weeks ago. I was presented with the wonderful opportunity to create a class that would be unlike any other in middle school in Palm Beach County, Florida. I called it the Innovation Class. A course is designed for students who wish to improve their creative thinking skills as well as their critical thinking skills. Students are studying the creative process, different types of innovation, how innovation is created, and how ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Innovation and the integration of technology in education Innovation is what we want to teach our students through the integration of technology in education, especially that we are an industrial school. Our students are studying curriculum theory in the classroom and then apply it in laboratories and workshops on machinery, which gives them greater opportunity for innovation. We are working to provide them with what is in the field of modern industrial technology and software that will help them through the integration of technology in education....

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation What Does Innovation Look Like? What does Innovation look like? I have 10 weeks to answer that question. I have been presented with the wonderful opportunity of creating a class and teaching it next school year. I am calling it the Innovation Class. The course is designed for the student who wishes to learn about innovation. Students will study the creative process, different types of innovation, how innovation is created, and how innovation can be transformed into commercial reality either as new products or new services....

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation INNOVATIVE TEACHING CHALLENGE Look at your class. Think about what they have to offer the world! What small step can you take this week to get them connecting with students in other places? Maybe it is starting a class blog or twitter account. Maybe it is joining a global project or the Global Read Aloud. Maybe it is doing an old-fashioned pen-pal exchange (this time through email). Whatever it is, take the step…and watch how this type of interaction pushes your students forward. Let's hear what happened in your classroom....

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation 7 Tips and Techniques to Encourage Education and Instructional Technology Innovation at Your Institution. In 2012, my attendance at the annual CIO Summit in Connecticut inspired this article in which I shared ideas that can enable administrators and educators to foster innovation in the use of instructional and education technologies in their schools. Today I share a shortened version of these tips and techniques, to inspire Partners in Learning readers to get out there and inspire innovation! Innovation often comes one step at a time from small changes: Many successful innovations are evolved by ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Most important factor for Change management? what is that one factor that needs to be a priority for Innovation and Change management, is it teacher training, learning environment or accountability?...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation INNOVATIVE SCHOOLS DO MAKE MISTAKES If innovation is doing things differently but better what is it that differentiates innovative schools from the average school? Innovative schools can make a mistake and learn from it, imagine what type of message that sends to the teachers and students. Innovative schools continually push the envelope of teaching and learning, and sometimes this leads to mistakes. Mistakes with technology, mistakes with curriculum, and mistakes with training. But, that doesn’t hold innovative schools back from ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation COMMANDMENTS OF INNOVATIVE TEACHING 10 Commandments of Innovative Teaching As a new teacher I remember getting into my classroom for the first time. I set up the space like classrooms I had seen before and enjoyed; I got my lesson plans in order; packed the filing cabinets with resources; started to make copies of overhead slides; put together an area for reading and stacked the shelves with books I had picked up in college or from my parents house. Then the students arrived, and all my plans went out the window. I realized very ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation WHAT DIFFERENTIATES AN INNOVATIVE SCHOOL? If innovation is doing things differently but better what is it that differentiates innovative schools from the average school? Innovative schools can make a mistake and learn from it, imagine what type of message that sends to the teachers and students. Innovative schools continually push the envelope of teaching and learning, and sometimes this leads to mistakes. Mistakes with technology, mistakes with curriculum, and mistakes with training. But, that doesn’t hold innovative schools back from ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Are we giving educators a PLAYGROUND? the OPPORTUNITY… Educators in today's classrooms are often expected to be cutting edge, forward thinkers, innovators, demonstrators, role models, guides, facilitators, coaches, and much more. Most importantly, we as instructional technology leaders and supporters ask today's educators to make content and curriculum relevant to the millennial learner by “seamlessly integrating” into their teaching. Unfortunately, these parameters (in most cases) are poorly defined. While we all have our opinions ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation 21st CENTURY LEARNING SKILLS Sir Ken Robinson says we don’t need to transform teaching and learning, we need a revolution! Marc Prensky says teachers need to be brave and encourage their colleagues to be brave, too. So why are these commentators up in arms over the state of education, and agitating for dramatic change? What does it mean to prepare our students for the 21st century and does that actually mean that we need a revolution? The 3Rs are globally recognised, but now seem to have been subsumed or replaced by 21st ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation EARLY LUNCH BREAK v's LATE LUNCH BREAK Schools across Australia are abandoning the traditional noon time for lunch in an effort to improve children's concentration and behaviour. But which is better, an early lunch or a late lunch? That depends on who you ask. St Therese Primary in Sydney has revised break times so the students have their morning snack break at 9:50am, an early lunch at 10:50am and a final break at 1:30pm. In an article on the Sydney Morning Herald website, principal Linda O'Regan says "We find it's good for them ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation 30 CREATIVES IDEAS TO BRING INTO YOUR CLASSROOM The concept of teaching creativity has been around for quite some time. Academics such as E. Paul Torrance, dedicated an entire lifetime to the advancement of creativity in education. Torrance faced much opposition in his day about the nature of creativity. Creativity was considered to be an immeasurable, natural ability. Torrance called for explicit teaching of creativity. He advocated that it was skill-specific, requiring intentional instruction. His life’s work ultimately led to the ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation USING KOTTERS' THEORIES TO LEARN HOW TO IMPLEMENT CHANGE SUCCESSFULLY What was true more than 2,000 years ago is just as true today. We live in a world where "business as usual" is change. New initiatives, project-based working, technology improvements, staying ahead of the competition – these things come together to drive ongoing changes to the way we work. Whether you're considering a small change to one or two processes, or a system wide change to an organization, it's common to feel uneasy and intimidated by the scale of the challenge. You know that the ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation INNOVATION AND HOW IT RELATES TO SPACES Have you ever thought what impact Innovation has had on Learning Spaces. What do you need to consider and what needs to be in place for Innovation to actually occur. Julia Aitkin has for many years worked with schools in both New Zealand and Australia around learning Design and best creation of Innovative Flexible learning Spaces and what pedagogy needs to be in place to take full advantage of the changes. This presentation is powerful for anyone looking at making a significant changes. I would...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation INNOVATIVE SCHOOLS CAN MAKE MISTAKES If innovation is doing things differently but better what is it that differentiates innovative schools from the average school? Innovative schools can make a mistake and learn from it, imagine what type of message that sends to the teachers and students. Innovative schools continually push the envelope of teaching and learning, and sometimes this leads to mistakes. Mistakes with technology, mistakes with curriculum, and mistakes with training. But, that doesn’t hold innovative schools back from ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation WHAT DO INNOVATIVE TEACHERS DO TO MAKE THEM INNOVATIVE? As a new teacher I remember getting into my classroom for the first time. I set up the space like classrooms I had seen before and enjoyed; I got my lesson plans in order; packed the filing cabinets with resources; started to make copies of overhead slides; put together an area for reading and stacked the shelves with books I had picked up in college or from my parents house. Then the students arrived, and all my plans went out the window. I realized very quickly that the type of teaching I had ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation SUCCESSFUL PRINCIPALS The most succeful school principals are those who give their staff members space to be creative and try new things. At the same time being in the background putting them through their paces - challenging their ideas by asking the toughest questions and insisting they back up their recommendations with supportive data. Do you agree or disagree? What experiences do you have?...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Team Western Europe - Coach & Mentor Development Progress On December 18th, our group had an online meeting to support their implementation of the required mentoring tasks. Each of the schools were very upbeat and enthusiastic about their progress to date. They were particularly enthusiastic about the opportunities provided by the Pitch Competition. We set out a timeline for completion of the Self-Reflective survey, the Innovation template and the PILSR survey. On January 16th, we had our third meeting and the progress update was very encouraging. All ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT A formative assessment or assignment is a tool teachers use to give feedback to students and/or guide their instruction. It is not included in a student grade, nor should it be used to judge a teacher's performance. Both of these would be considered summative assessments. Thanks to David Wees I have attached a document that children could use to demonstrate their learning. Here is a file attached that has 54 ideas. Can you add to the list. Lets get as many as we can to show children's ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation THE PRINCIPALS PRAYER Dear Lord, Help me to become the kind Principal my school would like me to be. Give me the mysterious something which will enable me at all times satisfactorily to explain my role, even when it has never been fully explained to me. Help me to help the uninterested, the resistant and the dimwitted without losing my patience and my temper. Give me the special love for my fellow man/women which passeth all understanding so that I may lead the recalcitrant, obstinate, uncooperative fellow staff ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation PLAY BASED LEARNING Research tells us that an educator's pedagogy is one of the most important aspects when assessing the quality of children's learning. So early childhood educators need to carefully consider and question their pedagogy and corresponding practices. One of the practices most commonly used in the early childhood sector is 'learning through play'. Play-based learning is described as 'a context for learning through which children organise and make sense of their social worlds, as they actively engage ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Innovation in the classroom What constitutes ‘innovation’? How do we know it when we see it and how would we capitalise on it? ‘Innovation is a process of making improvements by introducing a new idea, method or device and its successful exploitation such that a change is brought about. The change in turn creates a new dimension of performance for persons or an organisation.’ This definition has been compiled from a number of sources. So, innovation has at least two parts: it must be new and it must change something. ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Are you a Leader or Manager? What are the Top Characteristics of an Effective School Leader? Most school systems claim to want to move from good to great, become world class, become a 21st century system, Getting past the cliches (and the fact that we’re 14 years into the 21st century already), effective implementation of these transformations/progressions requires progressive thinking and leadership. Doing things the way you’ve always done them is not going to vault you to a new status; it will maintain your current status. If you always do what you have always done you will always get...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation HOW GOOD ARE YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS? Who do you consider to be a good leader? Maybe it's a politician, a famous businessperson, or a religious figure. Or maybe it's someone you know personally – like your boss, a teacher, or a friend. You can find people in leadership roles almost everywhere you look. However, simply having the responsibilities of a leader doesn't necessarily make a person an effective leader. This is a shame because, with a little study, humility and hard work, all of us can learn to lead effectively. So, how can ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation CEE Coaching Team Dear all, As we approach the end of 2013, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your active involvement in the PiL programme. It is such a pleasure to work with such a strong and enthusiastic team of mentor schools. I would especially like to congratulate my team in what has been a very busy and fruitful year. Here is a short summary of my team’s achievement since November 2013. Out team consists of five schools from Russia and Ukraine. In November and December, we had two ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation EXPOSURE TO EXCELLENCE School leadership is a 'hands on' demanding challenge characterised by daily complexity, crisis and total commitment. One can so easily be locked into a busy school calendar, never-ending meetings and local issues. School improvement, a transformational mindset and meaningful professional development require an intellectual curiosity beyond the walls of one's school. Reading, research and study open doors. Collaboration takes expertise to another level. But, nothing drives standards further and ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation To Put On Wings Does Not Mean You Can Fly To Put On Wings Does not Mean You Can Fly. Creating Innovative Management (Why do schools need Innovation?) “We believe that innovation begins when leaders think big and collaborate with other leaders to discover best practices.” Anthony Solcito I’m sure this statement by the vice president of education for the Microsoft Corporation is absolutely right. In our school we have first-hand experience as we’ve been in the innovative process for more than 20 years, and our Head has been our impetus and ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Innovations not for innovation’s sake Innovation can be defined as a complicated process that may be understood as a chain of interconnected and consciously initiated changes. This is considered to be the result of a certain socially important creation act that is implemented in a real educational practice to satisfy already existing or new, recently appeared demands. Among the most important innovations in our school are: Personalized learning (creating an educational environment according to the pupil’s age - key stage friendly ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE ALL HAD THE CONFIDENCE TO TRY SOMETHING NEW? We know our students’ world is ever-changing so we can’t stand still. Today’s students want an education that meets their individual needs, and opportunities that connect them to what is happening around the globe. They challenge us to be innovative and to make learning environments more exciting, challenging and rewarding. Students inhabit a borderless world offering limitless connection, data and mobility. They can choose to access knowledge and participate in dialogue on a global scale. They ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation Innovation and my new day Innovation is really key in my life - introducing innovation in my classroom and creating the right environment for my students to be innovative is highly satisfying. For many students, an innovative environment helps them understand the core curriculum better and increases their happiness in school. It helps propel them in their studies many times. Do you foster innovation in your classroom? Any time you encourage your students to apply what they have learned to real life practical ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation WHAT IS INNOVATION IN EDUCATION? "Being innovative is about looking beyond what we currently do well, identifying the great ideas of tomorrow and putting them into practice". Watch this video to see the thoughts of Stephen Heppell, Yong Zhao, Charles Leadbeater and Valerie Hannon. What do you think of that quote by Stephen Heppell? Share your ideas...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation THOUGHT ABOUT BEING THE PRINCIPAL A former principal quotes Emily Dickinson: The sailor cannot see the north – but knows the needle can. On countless occasions, he felt lost in a sea of complex challenges, conflicting expectations, and vexing problems – compounded by expectations that the principal always knows what to do. He came to rely more than anything else on his own compass to guide him. Every new principal needs to develop a reliable compass and every veteran principal needs to be careful not to lose it. A principal ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation EVER THOUGHT OF GIVING STUDENTS AN "A" AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR? When we teach our students, are we driven by assessments and examinations? Is the major end goal for our students to pass that final exam? Just imagine the possibilities in our subject areas if we got the mark over and done with at the start of the year, and we gave everyone an A up front. We would then need to ask a more serious question – why else will our students be interested in our subject? What will now motivate our students if a credit is no longer the end goal? Of course, I am not ...

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Change Management & Culture of Innovation DO YOU WANT YOUR SCHOOL TO BE INNOVATIVE? What can you as a leader in your school do to encourage a greater degree of innovations? Does innovation just happen or do you set up a climate in your school that supports and encourages real innovation? What impact does real innovation have on students learning and the climate in your school? Here are some thoughts around how you can encourage real innovation to occur in your school. 1. Have a vision for change To be innovative your team must know the direction in which they are heading. ...

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