Educational Edgecraft

What do you get when you combine the ideas of John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, Lang Davison, Seth Godin, and Michael Michalko? Into the Education Innovation blender they go. The result-- Educational Edgecraft

Let's talk about edges.

John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison, authors of The Power of Pull, defines edges this way.

“Edges are places that become fertile ground for innovation because they spawn new unmet needs and unexploited capabilities and attract people who are risk takers. Edges therefore become significant drivers or knowledge create and economic growth, challenging and ultimately transforming traditional arrangements and approaches.”

Seth Godin, author of Free Prize Inside, defines edgecraft this way.

“Edgecraft is a methodical, measurable process that allows individuals and teams to inexorably identify the soft innovation that live on the edges of what already exists.”

So in one sense the “edge” is that place where what you do in education meets ideas, knowledge, and needs of what others do outside education transforming the core of your school or classroom.  In another sense, the “edge” is an innovation of what you are already doing in your school or classroom that is so far from the current reality that it becomes remarkable.

Ideas from outside and or remarkable innovations from inside can be, as the author of ThinkerToys creativity expert Michael Michalko would advise, “SCAMPERed” (Substituted, Combined, Adapted, Modified, Put to other purpose, Eliminated, or Rearranged) into powerful ideas and innovations.

 Chart inspired from Seth Godin

Edge
Network	KWOK- Know What Others Know Share what you know with others. Learn what you can from others. Get outside of education and bring back ideas that will work in education. Understand the power of the network to bring new ideas from outside in. Become the Twitter of schools.
Ergonomics and Design	Change the look of the school and or classroom. Put couches or bean bags in your lounge. Use special paint so students and teachers can write on the walls. Change your office to better suit parents. Rearrange the desks in the classroom to create more collaboration. Think about the ergonomics and design of your school. Be the Herman Miller or IDEO of schools.
Make It Noticeable	Make everything a work of art the tells the world who you are. Show off the learning. Put it online, podcast it, videocast it, or SlideShare it. Make the learning noticeable and people will notice you. Become the Etsy of schools.
The Senses	Display something beautiful or thought provoking, make the school smell good, bring food that tastes good, put on some great music, use some furniture that feels good. Hook into the senses. Become the Starbucks of schools.
Time	Manipulate time. Add time here and take it away from there. Give the gift of time to a teacher. Turn your staff meeting into a speed dating meeting for ideas. Find some creative ways to "waste time." Give teachers an entire staff meeting to choose a problem of their choice and work on it. Become the Google of schools.
Emotion	Hook emotion into your work. Make someone laugh. Surprise and thrill someone. Make them angry to take action. Empathize. Inspire someone. Just do it. Become the Nike of schools.
Technology	Use technology that makes work easier to share, collaborate, and communicate with others. Prepare for and begin discussing the technology that will be, not what is. It's about the user not the hardware. Make technology simple. Become the Apple of schools.
Marketing	Learn how to "sell" ideas by making them memorable. Learn how to connect through ideas. Make your ideas "stick." Become the Chip and Dan Heath of schools.
Safety	Make things safer than people would expect. Become the Qantas Airlines of schools.
Differentiate	Give student, teacher, and parent just what they need in the way they need it. Customize the school. Become the "Amazon Recommends" of schools.
The System	Change the system, modify the system, or adapt new ideas and technologies to the system. You can change how you deliver instruction in a way that people will demand and expect from then on. Become the Netflix of schools.
Interactive	Involve parents in ways they never expected. Involve students in ways they never expected. Give them immediate feedback so changes can be made immediately. Give them a say. Become the Threadless of schools.
Do Less	Do more by doing less. Let parents and students do more. Let the district do more. Let volunteers do more. Empower others to do for themselves and the school. Become the Salvation Army of schools.
Change the "Who"	Bring the office manager into the classroom to work with the students. Have a teacher run the school for a day. Let the student teach the lesson. Involve others in new ways. Change who does what and you will change their perspectives. Become the Wikipedia of schools
Fix What Is Broken	Don't ignore it, fix it. Be willing to spend time on fixing even the little things. Little things can make a big difference. Believe you can do it. Use soft innovation. Become the Seth Godin of schools.
Make It Cheaper	Drive down the "costs" by becoming uber-recyclers. Reuse- adapt it. Think of better ways to use what already exists. Become the First Solar of schools.
Focus On The Tough Problems	Create a school culture that loves the challenge of solving the tough problems. Let the other schools do the easy stuff. Work on the things that no one is doing because they think it is to hard. Become the Novartis of schools.

The mash-up of these three concepts provides Lateral Wisdom and Lateral Wisdom is Education Innovation.

Comments

[Stephanie]

Is there a way to get an embedding code for this post?

[Rob Jacobs]

Stephanie, I could you send you the HTML version of the post. Just let me know what you are planning to do with it.