What does it mean to carry out educational innovation?
Just as “an innovation is the happy result of an attractive idea embodied in something new and different, which generates value” (Caterano E., 2018), when it is applied to the field of education, “it must respond to the needs (of those who are interested). Wants them to learn), it must be effective, efficient, sustainable over time and its results – since – aims to achieve higher quality in student learning, surpassing the traditional paradigm.” (Sein-Echaluce, Fidalgo, & García, 2014).
According to OECD Measuring Innovation in Education (2018), there can be two types of educational innovation:
Product innovations: developing new curricula and educational resources, pedagogies, and educational experiences (for example, e-learning or new qualifications). Process innovations: the result of changing how teachers work together, how they group learners and manage other aspects of their learning experience, how educational institutions collaborate with other entities, use new marketing methods and external relations, new forms of communication with learners and parents, etc.
Beyond what distinguishes this typology, it is important to understand that, in educational innovation, the ultimate goal is for people to learn, that is, “acquire knowledge of something through study or experience.” (Royal Spanish Academy, s.f.). Hence, I prefer to call students learners.
Educational innovators must always put learners at the center of their actions, and we need more and more innovative teachers who consolidate themselves as such “through a passion for their work with a focus on duty” (ŽYDŽIŪNAITĖ & ARCE, 2021). Something related to their degree of professionalism, particularly in their ethical, moral, intellectual, social (interactions with colleagues, learners, etc.) and procedural (teaching-learning process) actions, as well as their adaptive capacities. Facing the context and/or the situation, and always with an open mind to change (ŽYDŽIŪNAITĖ & ARCE, 2021).
Written by Edgar Cateriano.