Building innovative nations implies building cleverly for the future by investing in the most desirable future for the majority. Inevitably, this translates into investing at a national level into education. The best likely outcome in terms of maximizing the potential innovation quotient in a society is achieved when resources and high levels of support from state, industry, community and individuals occur. This suggests a significant political weight in design and education fostering innovation and creativity. Agendas and societal values are brought to the foreground when examining this topic and this complicates the big picture dynamics in such discussions.
Why do we educate? How much do we value it? What should it provide? Can we shape positive societal trends with education? How does this align with the need to be innovative in a global economy? How can we use design and innovation to establish national/global agendas that benefit people [businesses are made up of people]. New forms are needed. Collaboration at student level globally is a potential seed for more positive outcomes for people.
If we accept Mc Luhan’s notion of a global village then we might speak of international innovation. Simple web technologies provide the opportunity to develop innovative design powered educational experiences that are characterized by collaboration and communications. By developing strategies that provide learners with the means to develop a global perspective, mediated through interpersonal interaction within a professionally discipline specific “deep” learning experience, design education can deliver significant potential innovation value to nations, societies, companies, communities, and importantly, individuals.
More broadly, design studies integrated into curriculum at all levels with supporting contextual studies expanding into participatory learning experiences as outlined above, offer a potentially valuable tool for leaders recognizing the social and economic potential in developing a more positive world direction through appropriate and timely education. Teach design now reap innovation later.
3 comments so far
Hi Ian
Interesting discussion…….
As I see it you can’t compare different levels of education. I think different levels require different tools and requires different mindsets.
I agree with you that we have to look on how we educate in terms of being citizens in the global village. We – who don’t speak English – have to learn to communicate properly in a language that’s not our own. We have to accept different religions and cultures. We should learn that nothing is given, that everything is to discussion. Being open-minded.
Some of us have to learn to lead, not to manage. We all have to learn our self’s better but also accept the “other part”. We have to learn that everything is happening in the relation to others……
And foremost – we have to teach the students to take responsibility for their own learning – but how do we do that? And as mentioned in the above – does it apply to every level of education?
BTW – here are some link to the thought of Mr. Mc Luhan - http://www.google.dk/search?q=%22global+village%22+and+%22Mc+Luhan%22&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:da-DK:official
All the best
Hans Henrik
Hans, I agree that different tools are required for the different levels of education. I am however very much of the opinion that there is a lot to be gained from teaching design from the early stages.
At higher levels of education my point is that there are opportunities to provide learners with skillsets based on learning experiences that reflect the requirements brought on by globalisation.
The same internet that allows us to communicate and discuss these issues can be utilised as a tool for collaboration in learning. When placed in the context of design education the combination is especially powerful for building cross cultural understanding and co-operation.
Fostering responsibility for one’s own learning comes from inspiration to go beyond one’s knowlege and capability. I think the kind of learning experiences I am advocating can offer that level of support to learners everywhere.
This in turn can be used to faciltiate [or at least begins to address] some of the other issues you so rightly point to.
I think that projects such as those outlined in my article [available at this link] http://www.niche.com.au/dt/cover.html can be applied to all levels of education across the sector globally.
As a further illustration to this theme I dug out this link http://www.iearn.org/home.html which I think is a great project that faciltates for younger learners the benefits of collaboration via the medium of the web. From the perspective of my educationalist side, it is a real innovation that extends the classroom in a very tangible experience which exposes the student to the “other” and makes the alien or different more real. On our globalised planet this can only be positive.
The value of this methodology and associated technologies lend themselves to teaching design and creativity which in turn can lead to increased orientation to appropriate innovation that refelct the real needs of the contemporary and future contexts…
My own experiments in this field at vocational level can be located at http://www.ianmcarthur.net/COLLABOR8/index.html
Finally, this link to The Omnium Project http://www.omnium.edu.au/ reflects approximately 6 years research and practice by Rick Bennett and his colleagues at UNSW in Sydney. They now have a significant track record of delivering innovative online design studies at higher education level.
Thus the range of possibilites can be seen to have significant potential to extend over all stages of the learning journey.