Does Technology Really Make the Innovation Innovative?

In my dissertation companion course I was asked to assist with further defining the term “innovative.” “What does this word really mean, and how might it apply to finding innovative research topics to study?” At first glance, defining the word “innovative” seemed like a “no-brainer.” As I strived however, to complete the assignment and consider my dissertation topic, it has turned into a job for a “big-brainer.” For some reason, technology and the state of being innovative seem to go hand-in hand, but I am questioning whether it really has to go hand-in-hand. 

On my journey toward gaining a better understanding of the term “innovative,” I came across a Disney blog. In the blog, Tom Staggs (2011) conducted an interview with Jeff Kober in discussing the organizations perspective of the term “innovative.” In the interview Kober stated

Just as everyone is responsible for safety, courtesy, show and efficiency, we should always be trying to discover new ways to challenge the status quo, be more efficient, and to surprise and delight our Guests at every turn. We often talk about innovation in terms of technology. But innovation goes beyond technology and should extend to everything we do. Regardless of our roles, each of us has the opportunity to innovate and improve on what we do and how we do it” (par.3).

I know that this source may not be scholarly but from my prospective, it provided a simple yet complex understanding of term “innovative.” Essentially, what I have gleaned from this statement is that being “innovative” is not just results oriented, it is also contextual. Consequently, this could very well mean that what is innovative in one context, may be old news or irrelevant in another context.      

Considering the term “something” which is a component of the Walden definition, I suggest a more specific identification of this term. Utilizing the term “something” from my perspective, naturally leads to a “product” only perspective of being “innovative.” The U.S. Department of Education also discussed innovation in terms of product and processes. I therefore suggest specifically identifying the “something” as a “product, process, or approach” 

Innovative:

• old product, process, or approach used in a contextually appropriate new way
• new product, process, or approach used in a contextually appropriate old way
• new product, process, or approach used in a contextually appropriate new way

My interest is with regard to the pre-service early educator’s emotional intelligence. As I am gaining familiarity with the concept of metacognition especially as it relates to emotional intelligence, my interest leans with that topic as well. My question (for right now anyway) is what difference does a phone call from the online instructor to the online student make as means of formative feedback with regard to the development of metacognitive skills? Many of the community college students I work with take primarily online courses and unfortunately a good portion of those students lack in the necessary emotional and metacognition skills needed in order to be an effective early educator. For some of those students, the only time that the instructor hears their voice is if there is a problem, or at graduation. I wonder if having scheduled instructor initiated phone calls throughout the semester would assist with the development of metacognition skills. 

In terms of my revised definition of “innovative”, this dissertation topic idea would align with an old product, process, or approach used in a contextually appropriate new way

References

Staggs,T. (2011, December 5). Staggs: What does it mean to be innovative? - Disney at work . Retrieved January 4, 2014, from http://disneyatwork.com/2011/12/staggs-what-does-it-mean-to-be-innovative/

U.S. Department of Education. (2004, December 6). What do we mean by "innovation"? Retrieved January 4, 2014, from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/about/definition.html

Social Media…in Education…Really??? I’m Not Ready!!! Or Am I?

 

From one perspective, social media undoubtedly has the potential to transform the educational system into a classroom without cultural boundaries. While this is true, I am also aware of some of the challenges, hazards, and obstacles identified by Karen Lederer, involved with incorporating social media into the classroom. Admittedly, I am not an avid user of social media. Yes, I have accounts on both Facebook and Twitter, but I rarely post on either site, after all, creating and posting this blog has been a new and challenging experience.

A number of studies indicate that although higher education faculty agrees that social media has value, there remains a great deal of hesitation and reservation about adopting this innovation in the classroom. A major factor from my experience and perspective is due to a lack of knowledge and comfort with utilizing and incorporating social media into the curriculum. Additionally, because I am working with learners who must learn to have direct contact, positive and effective interactions with children and families it makes it even harder to embrace SOCIAL media fully.

Overall, my goal is to assist the learners that I encounter with developing the capacity to interact positively with young learners. While there is a place for social media in education, I am still working through how it fits within my work with the pre-service early educator. With this in mind, I decided to use this blog post to assist with increasing my comfort level with social media and incorporating it into the higher education curriculum. Incorporating Social Media into the Classroom is a slide share slideshow that provided explanations for and examples of how to incorporate social media into the higher education classroom.

Incorporating Social Media into the Classroom from Florida State College at Jacksonville - Open Campus

Patrick Mott also created a blog titled Incorporating Social Media in Your Classroom. In his blog, Mott identified specific social media and activities as a means of incorporating  social media into the classroom. How Teachers Use Social Media In The Classroom To Beef Up Instruction was another article that provided discussion on how to incorporate social media. Additional resources that identified social media sites specifically for educators included an article found on the Education World website, Best Social Media Sites for Teachers and on the Educational Technology and Mobile Learning website, The Top 18 Educational Social Networking Websites for Teachers.  

As stated earlier, I am working on improving my comfort level. As I begin a new semester with new learners, I plan to step out of my comfort zone and utilize one or two of the approaches presented in the articles. Specifically, Pinterest is a social media that I can envision myself incorporating and utilizing as a means for students to secure and share activity ideas. I can also envision myself incorporating Linkin as tool for students to develop a professional online appearance as well as make contacts with other professionals.  I will keep you posted on how things develop.