INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION
In recent years, the term "innovation" has come into use. It is frequently associated with
the use or incorporation of technology. In the educational sector, innovative teaching is frequently
mentioned when the objective is solely to employ tablets. Yet, a closer examination of the term
innovation reveals that not everything that is regarded as innovative is novel in many fields of
education, as well as in business.
In general, the phrases "invention" and "innovation" must be distinguished. Both strive to
increase an existing product or process's quality. An innovation exists when a problem-solving
potential is found through learning procedures and research discoveries. This is a speculative
concept that will be fleshed out. This concept becomes an innovation when it is put into reality in
a sustainable manner and offers a genuine solution to the problem, whether in digital or analog
form.
As applied to education, innovation is the long-term application of new ideas based on
learning processes that are not only considered to solve present issues, but are also shown to do
so. The topic of which characteristics may be used to quantify a qualitative change remains vital,
because standardized tests that do not suit the new practices will be useless. Yet, the effectiveness
of an innovative method may be measured by signs that transdisciplinary and technical learning
objectives have been met. This work does not have to be the full responsibility of the instructor,
but it might engage students in the creative process. Successful approaches must then be
consolidated and further developed using evaluation measures in order to lead to sustainable
innovation.
Mistakes do not have a bad connotation in innovation since you could not know when you
made a decision that it would go wrong. On the other side, errors, or judgments made despite
knowing they are incorrect, are undesired. In all situations, however, success is dependent not just
on implementing technological breakthroughs, but also on fundamentally transforming business
culture and employee thinking.
Many instructors have shed their fear of new technology as a result, even though strategies
such as group work were not always easy to adopt. Until now, in comparison to pre-pandemic
days, this is a significant stride forward that ought to be recognized. Nevertheless, this is a shortterm technological breakthrough that does not account for the altered framework circumstances
following the epidemic.
At that time, the question remained how things would continue after the pandemic and
adaptation: will we return to retaining skills in the classroom and integrate acquired technical skills
into lessons, because technology is just part of the transformation era?
The extremely complex and ever-changing environment of industrialized nations is built
on participation and connects all aspects of social life. Companies, politics, and administration, as
well as society, now require adaptable and innovative brains capable of solving current and future
challenges, such as climate change, based on the present level of knowledge. As a result, education
must prepare students to handle these challenges collaboratively, generating new knowledge and
enabling continual innovation. This does not necessitate intellectual brilliance. Learners must
instead develop skills that cannot be taught but must be actively gained. This means that it is no
longer possible to think in categories such as teaching and teacher centering or control, but that
the learners are the focus and have to take responsibility for their learning. It also means that the
school must reinvent itself as an institution and offer a counterbalance to the knowledge that is
available everywhere.
English scholar Sir Ken Robinson pointed out this paradigm shift back in 2011 as it has
been integrating into new educational concepts for many years in many countries such as the UK
and Australia.
For a long time, there was discourse about the need for a 21st-century learning
transformation, pointing to Ruben Puentedura's 4K and SAMR models. This concept demonstrates
how to incorporate technology into education by substituting an analog media for a digital medium.
Example: A textbook as a PDF on a tablet via augmentation, in which analog medium functions
are enhanced with digital methods. For example, an interactive textbook with audio and video files
and 3D simulations, or digital worksheets with LearningApps through modification, which begins
a transformation by modifying the tasks with the assistance of available technology, is an example
of a transformation. Example: digital and interactive poster with Glogster instead of an analogue
poster through redefinition, when technology redefines learning and the previous role relationships
of teachers and students, leading to a transformation of learning. Example: active creation of
virtual reality content by learners or excursions to the North Pole with virtual reality led by
learners.
The latter two categories, in addition to working with new technology, do not function on
a merely technical level, but rather develop a changed mentality, a new mindset. As a result, the
SAMR model is not a step-by-step paradigm in which you work your way up as you acquire
expertise. Rather, it is an issue of how to effectively achieve the educational purpose while using
technology in some form. The instructor is still typically in the foreground as a guiding force in
the areas S and A (substitution and augmentation), but the learners are in the foreground in the
areas M and R (modification and redefinition).
However, how exactly the transition between improving teaching and transforming
learning should take place is not addressed. One suggestion is therefore to divide the original area
of transformation into the two areas of contemporary and future-oriented learning.
The area of contemporary learning (M) is a transition from teacher-centered or -directed
instruction to the transformation of learning. So from the areas S/A via M to area R. Modern
learning is already taking place in many schools today, with tablets and other digital devices or
tools being used and work being increasingly student-centered. Even if the learners are gradually
coming to the fore here, because the teachers adapt the tasks to the available digital methods and
tools, the general framework conditions such as examination culture, central Abitur, hourly cycles
and subject separation remain. Learning is still between teacher control and learner centering.
Future-oriented learning (Area R) is a state – which is currently still aspired to – in which
the transformation of learning is in full swing. Here, with the help of technology, learners take
responsibility for their learning and the teachers are there to advise them rather than guide them.
The new technology and the associated change in attitude make things possible that were
previously unthinkable. The focus is on the learning process and the success of the individual in
relation to the living environment. The framework conditions here have already changed
significantly, for example through a new type of evaluation, project work, interdisciplinary and
interdisciplinary learning. Up-to-date technical equipment and a digital infrastructure that meets
the requirements are just as natural as very different types of learning rooms that have little to do
with today's schools.
Future-oriented learning is about meeting the complexity of the world in the age of digital
transformation at eye level. Solving the problems facing society depends on young people flexibly,
collaboratively and creatively constructing new knowledge together. This will enable continuous
innovation that can keep up with the diverse and interdependent developments in a connected
world.
Particularly, the multiple 21st-century competences and the possibility for learning
independent of place and time are considered, which has shown to be a sound strategy not only in
schools but also in the professional world. Several firms that are famed for their inventiveness
have long used concepts like the Genius Hour. It allows employees to work on personal projects
during work hours, which may ultimately be fed back into the organization. This is how many of
3M's concepts came to be. Such principles are also used by numerous Silicon Valley firms. In
education, in addition to the Genius Hour notion, innovations such as the Frei-Day appear
potential.
On the whole, it is critical in future-oriented learning to consider the greater general societal
environment. This suggests that learning does not occur in a vacuum, but rather that there are many
relationships to the world, society, and the immediate community, allowing individual actors to
align with one another. Future-oriented learning is therefore a fluid idea that is constantly linked
with the future depending on current experiences and prior lessons. It will mix themes such as
Extended Reality, Game-based Learning, Computational Thinking, Design Thinking, Futures
Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and Block Chain to prepare for future issues
and solutions.