Go smart, go change, go innovate (Go-Jek) #IMMOOC

Why is innovation in education so crucial today? #IMMOOC

I am lucky enough to live in Indonesia, in Jakarta, which is a huge sprawling megatropolis. The streets are crowded and chaotic to the untrained eye. Streets built for feet and wheeled carts, now entertain all kinds of vehicles, signposts and street names sometimes exist and it’s a scary place to navigate and get around.

To meet the need of the wary traveller, leather skinned men hung around the street corners, chain-smoking cigarettes. Next to them is their bike which has a piece of cardboard hanging off, with ‘O-Jek’ handwritten on it.

Sometimes one of these motorbike taxis was there when you needed it. Often there were many and most only seemed to do one or two ‘jobs’ a day, for a negotiated price.

Why am I telling you this? Well because O-Jeks in their previous form have almost entirely disappeared in the space of two years, and I think this could be an analogy of what could happen to our current school system.

In Jakarta, a disruptor called ‘Go-Jek” entered the market, matched up customers with drivers through an APP and charged a fraction of negotiated prices. Go-Jek was quickly followed by Grab Bike and Uber and the old way was lost.

There are plenty of disruptors on the horizon for education, a few are already making headway. Plenty have been written about such things as open courses, MOOCs and the like. Video is playing a huge role too. On top of that the upper echelons of our academic systems are in danger of pricing themselves out of the market for the masses.

The needs of our learners are changing. The traditional school > college > job pathway is becoming less relevant and less affordable. If our education approaches remain static, outside elements will begin to meet the needs of our learners more effectively. And education as we know it will be in trouble.

I care less about the current institutions of education, but as our learners’ needs change, we have a duty to innovate to meet those needs.

Knowing what you don't know...

Often the first step to learning, is to know what it is you don’t know. This oft recited phrase is an interesting starting point for someone in my role. As a Learning Technology Coach, I am keenly aware of the amount of learning that is beyond my current sphere of experience. And that amount is constantly growing.

And learning is a resource heavy undertaking. Learning new things takes a lot, particularly for time pressured teachers. Many teachers can be forgiven for deciding either purposefully, or by default, that the mass of technology led learning available is just too big to start delving into. Where to start?

This kind of choice paralysis is a direct result of the overwhelming myriad of options that using technology offers.

Here is where I come in. I can open a window into what you haven’t had time to know, so you can see what the possibilities are. You don’t have to know what you want to do with technology before you ask me. You just have to be willing to look at new opportunities.

I probably don’t know the subject you teach very well and I might not have years of experience teaching the age group you are teaching. But I can ask you what you want to achieve, how you want the students to demonstrate their learning and then narrow those choices facing you. I can suggest or work out workflows that can support your students’ learning and offer suggestions to use technology that may not have occurred you.

Then, when you are keen to give something new a go, I can be there with you so I can learn how this works for your students. While they are learning what you need them to.

That’s how you help me to learn.