Building Better Ideas

Session 3

Adam Provost, David Jakes — Director, Burlington Technical Center VT and VITA-Learn.org (VT Educator PD), Davidjakesdesigns.com

The theme of Educon 2.9 focuses on sustaining innovation. With the current landscape of technology, resources and connectivity, the ability to be innovative has never been greater.

Ideas are the raw material of innovation. We believe that it is essential for educators, as well as for educational organizations, to develop a disposition, a mindset even, capable of rapid iterative thought and ideation. How we craft and curate ideas, how they are employed in supporting innovative thought and practice, are essential considerations for for all educators.

We believe that ideation is a skill, and a skill that should be developed in all educators. We believe that educators must learn how to extend beyond the routine, beyond the expectations (and inherent limitations) of their school culture, and reject an autopilot mentality that supports the status quo. This conversation, necessarily disruptive, will provoke educators to see the opportunity of ideas, and how they can become more effective innovators as a result.

Conversational Practice

In this conversation, we’ll begin by examining the current mentality of creative thought and practice in schools to ground the conversation. From there, we’ll challenge co-participants to explore how to nurture, curate, incubate, grow, extend and remix ideas. We’ll provide provocations that are generative in nature, and support the conversation by engaging participants in strategies that enable them to explore the direct relationship between ideation and innovation. In the end, providing techniques for ideation supports the creation of a mindset that provides individuals with an approach that directly supports the development of a sustainable capacity to become more innovative.

Conversation Links

Presenter Profiles

Adam Provost

Director, Burlington Technical Center, Vermont. President, VITA-Learn.org

David Jakes

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