As they ask, do educators fail by staying too close to education when they seek solutons? They write:
I’m a firm believer that new ideas and innovations result from networking with people outside of your normal social and professional circles because they will offer you new ways of envisioning possibilities. Educators too often overlook the power of networking. We tend to frequent the same conferences (technology advocates go to NECC, principals go to NAESP or NASSP, staff developers go to NSDC, and so on), and we network and dialogue with people who think like us, year in and year out.
Once you start networking, you will be exposed to new ideas that will push you outside the box. However, taking an idea and shaping it into something that will work in a classroom or a school, and will be sustainable over time — with changes in funding, leadership, policies, and so on — is the challenge for many of the innovative school programs that spring up, and later wither because of change in leadership, direction, or whatever.
The 'entrepreneurial' concept is certainly bantered around by many others than Edutopia, but they do frame it in a way that all educational stakeholders need to give good consideration to:
To reinvent schools for the twenty-first century, we need to take an entrepreneurial approach. I recently read To Build Up Innovation, Break Down Your Networks in Fast Company magazine that offers some food for thought about change, opportunity, leadership, and strategies for school change. The author, Chris Trimble, is on the faculty of the Business School at Dartmouth College, with expertise in strategic innovation.
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