Learner-Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion, and Unleash Genius

by Katie Martin

You can’t mandate learning, but you can create the conditions in which people are inspired and empowered to learn.

My point is that prescribed lessons and programs, in digital format or in print, will never be sufficient.

If we want to inspire innovation rather than compliance, teachers and students need time

to experiment with new ideas, openly reflect, connect, and revise to ensure authentic learning and growth.

Ultimately, the best educators understand that you can’t mandate learning, but you can create the conditions in which people are inspired and empowered to learn.

even those who have successfully navigated school remain ill prepared for the world in which we live.

Let’s get out of our students’ way and not limit them to our imagination.

Eliminating the facade that we know it all or that we have the right answers requires being vulnerable and opening ourselves up to learn with and from our students.

but the reality is that schools today are leaving kids behind, offering experiences that are irrelevant to their lives, and failing to equip them with the skills they need to be learners and creators.

maybe homework is not as important as other things they have to do at home.

If we want to address the responsibility “problem,” we could also look at a variety of ways to develop, practice, and reinforce desired skills without giving homework.

I don’t believe it is learning that they are against, but it is true that many aren’t interested in how learning is prescribed in schools.

What is preventing students from learning in school?

listening more than talking, they discovered

“Our job is not to prepare kids for something; our job is to help kids prepare themselves for anything.”

Learners have to experience something.

We all learn and change our behavior through cycles that include action, reflection, and revision that go beyond thinking, analyzing, and reading.

What good are all those great ideas if they sit on a shelf or on a to-do list but never ...

learning must translate into action to make a positive impact on students.

But if content does not change behavior, perhaps it’s time to take professional development a step further by creating opportunities for learners to do something.

if you don’t take it further and they don’t impact how students learn, what’s the point?

Prototyping is one of the most effective ways to jump-start our thinking and to guide, inspire, and explore an experimental approach.

I knew that the need to figure it all out beforehand might prevent her from ever bringing these ideas into the classroom,

The reality is that new ideas pile up and go unused if we feel we need to become experts before implementing them.

You don’t have to have all the answers to begin, a bias toward action will get you moving forward and help you figure them out—one step at a time.

Educator as Researcher

Improvement science empowers learners to make tweaks as they investigate ideas.

When learners are empowered to work through issues that matter to them rather than just going through the motions, the time and energy spent isn’t a chore; it’s productive because it improves both job performance and satisfaction.

Despite this research, many practitioners experience a disconnect,

“new and better,” it is not innovative.

just because something has been proven as a best practice once doesn’t mean it will always remain so,

If we are honest with ourselves, many traditions don’t serve learners, and research points to better ways, yet we fail to try out new practices and innovate because they are at odds with long-held