How do you recognise innovation in teaching and learning? How do you define it, stimulate it, replicate it, share it? Is it something that teacher educators should do, or can ICT companies provide succour while learning valuable lessons for their future roles in education too?
Like the work of Lake High School, Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, China, which ran a cross-curricular project to monitor the condition of the local Xingkai Lake where fish were reported to be getting smaller. They shared their findings with local farmers to educate them about the effect of chemicals on the environment. They also fed the information back to local government for action to be taken.
It was a real investigation for an important cause and audience. Some of the visitors thought this kind of thing could not happen in China because of cultural attitudes about criticism. There was learning all round.
New Zealand teacher Nathan Kerr, of Onehunga School in Auckland, performs an impromptu Haka on being presented with his Innovation in Collaboration award by Innovative Teachers program manager David Walddon and Microsoft's top education executive Ralph Young (vice president, worldwide public sector)
India's Parambir Singh Kathait who took Innovation in Content first place with 'Let’s Explore the Universe'
El Salvador's Mariella Paz. Her 'Business Game' was placed first in the Educators' Choice
Andrew Douch, from Wanganui Park Secondary College, Australia, was placed first in Innovation in Community for his 'Anywhere Anytime Biology Class' podcast
Part of the UK contingent in Hong Kong: Kristen Weatherby (Microsoft), Peter Carney (Bowring Community Sports College, Liverpool), Dan Roberts (Saltash.net Community College, Cornwall) and Stuart Ball (Microsoft) (link to Tom Fitzsimmons and Ciaran McLaren, of Crumlin Integrated College, Northern Ireland, below)
More information
A full feature on the awards is available on the Futurelab website
Video vignettes from the Hong Kong event
Bowring Community Sports College, Knowsley
Video of Northern Ireland F1 project at Crumlin Integrated College
Innovative teachers blog (Inside UP)
Other companies supporting innovation in learning
Apple Learning Interchange
Toshiba Ambassadors
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