Five takeaways:
1. Now is the best time ever for educational innovation: AI is the most disruptive of the technology waves that the world, and education specifically, have ever experienced. Within disruption there is danger as well as opportunity, and absolutely nobody knows what the world will be like a decade, a generation, or a century from now as AI matures in human hands. Despite the vast, innumerable and scary potentials of this technology, and despite that absolutely nobody knows exactly how it works either, the ‘magic’ of AI is amazingly accessible to apply. That’s why there are a gazillion educational applications emerging everywhere. If they can do it, so can you!
2. Educators have a huge innovation advantage: Most innovation is done by technologists, engineers and business people who don’t have any experience or understanding of teaching and learning, so there’s no surprise that the vast majority of educational innovations fail. Educators have a huge advantage in that they have this experience and understanding, and they can see the problems/opportunities first hand, and they typically have access to “lead customers” (a school, institution or ministry that understands a problem and are willing to sponsor the proof of a solution).
3. A university is not a good incubator: Innovation is a marriage of invention (articulating an original idea) and entrepreneurship (proving the true value of that idea in society). Universities claim they are innovation powerhouses, but they only want to be good at invention, leaving entrepreneurship (which is much harder) to others. Under special circumstances the full rigour of innovation can be conducted at a university with a graduate degree, or in a startup sense with a directed studies course like MET’s ETEC580.
4. Don’t sit back: If you’re not part of the change you’re likely to be a victim of it. Not everyone is cut out to be an innovator, but you don’t need to aspire to Shark Tank to be a change maker. As stated above, these technologies are amazingly accessible, so kick the tires in whatever way fits for you: in your research, your professional life, your private life, your classroom, your institution or the whole world. The least benefit of being proactive is being better equipped for critical evaluation of change happening all around you.
5. Expect to fail, often: Remembering that failure is the way we learn best.