In many aspects, education still adheres to traditional ideas and traditional methods. Despite a lot of new ideas being introduced, many teachers and tutors still prefer the previous approach and feel mistrustful of giving the students more freedom over their own learning, introducing media into the classroom and other ideas that have been suggested in the past years. However, despite these attitudes, there are many reasons why innovation is important in education.
Firstly, our understanding of learning is continuously improving and growing. We have a better idea of how people learn, memorize and repeat now than we did a couple of years ago, and this understanding is far from complete. However, in the present we have researchers who do a scientific study of learning strategies, of the brain and other important aspects of education. As there is more knowledge gathered, it’s possible to adapt and develop new ways of learning that will help maximize its efficiency and make it the best possible experience for students.
So, the first reason why innovation is important is because education should keep up with current research and find ways to make education best for teachers and students. For instance, having learning strategies that work on a neurological level could improve the quality of education for a lot of people.
The second reason why innovation is so important is that we live in a changing world. Computers are a relatively recent invention, but they have become a fundamental part of our lives, a tendency unlikely to change any time soon. This means that there are more resources availbale for education, including new ways of providing education. It also means that students are likely to live in a world for which traditional education does not prepare them.
This is not just a matter of skills or knowledge, but rather a matter of learning to learn. Education needs to be flexible and innovative enough for the student to be able to adapt to new technologies and possibilities in the future. For instance, today’s world is full of accessible information. The problem is not simply memorizing the information, but also knowing how to find it, how to organize it and how to think critically about it.
Another reason for why innovation matters is that it needs to prepare students for a changing world, be adapted to the realities of today and provide, beyond just traditional skills, skills required today. Education needs also to allow students to learn how to learn.
A third aspect of the importance of innovation is the availability of many resources that were not available before. Technology provides a way to make education more interactive, engaging and self-directed. It can improve the quality of learning and allow learners to form a meaningful understanding of the subjects. The resources available today allow for safe and low-cost strategies that students can use to build, create, investigate and learn. Innovation can offer education for people from their homes and allow them to access material that otherwise would not be available to them.
Innovative strategies, of course, are not always the best. If they are not evidence-based or used without a complete understanding, they could not encourage any learning at all. For instance, a teacher that doesn’t understand the technology he or she is using or underuses its resources can do a lot to discourage students. A teacher who implements innovative strategies like allowing the students to do self-directed work to avoid active teaching is likely to not be taken seriously.
However, there are more and more evidence-based innovations that are being used competently. Just because some of these may be disproved, modified or misused, they shouldn’t be ignored. Many innovations have a significant amount of research backing them up with good results coming from their use. For many teachers and students, they have become a great resource.
So, in conclusion, innovation matters. It can do a lot to help teach and learn better, using new resources and preparing the students for the modern world. Innovations allow to use the current understanding of how the learning process works and apply it for a better education. Innovations should be used responsibly and competently, taking advantage of all the possibilities they have to offer.
