Blog entries

Prizing Education

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:06:46 +0100

On our final morning, the Fest invited participants up on the dais to share our ideas about prizes or other ways to incentivize innovation and improvement in education. It was a fitting way to direct the discussion--and our own thinking--toward action in our communities.

I was struck by the diversity of insights. Though we seem to agree on a vision for a more student-centered learning process, we haven’t determined how to get our education system there. Here are some of the ideas...

Common Themes

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:13:43 +0100

This evening each of the 8 action collabs “reported out” their 2 days of work through performance: skits, dance, drama, music, mime, videos. Several of the collabs focused on design changes needed at the student learning level, several at the school level, and several at the system or policy level.

What surprised our dinner table group was how similar the performance messages were, despite their different forms. They all centered around transforming the learning experience: listening ...

An Aha Moment

Cynthia Jimes — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:24:39 +0100

I like talking to people here at the Fest because they're so open. Maybe it's because they see my Ask me about ISKME button, but they often give me their opinions about the Fest before I get a chance to ask. And what they say always makes me think. I heard that the Action Collabs seemed scattered and nebulous at moments, but that this is a good thing. Like any good innovation and design process, there are moments when the conversations can seem ambiguous. But overall, it seems that chaos and ...

Improving Access to Knowledge

Cynthia Jimes — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:41:26 +0100

It's the end of day two of the Big Ideas Fest, and I’ve been inspired more times than I can count. I'm struck by how the participants are driving the conversation, working on designing and prototyping new solutions to education challenges in their Action Collab sessions. I’m also still thinking about last night’s keynote speech by Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive. In addition to archiving the entire Internet, he’s also working towards archiving the L...

Improv this!

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:50:12 +0100

We participated in the front end of an accelerated design process today: improvs and action collabs where we engaged the process of innovation. The improvisations helped us loosen up, let go of ourselves, and try to make others look like stars. We had to enter each others’ personal spaces, which for groups of strangers was both uncomfortable and liberating. The rules helped: no mistakes, no judgments.

In my first action collab, we brainstormed opportunities ripe for change in educatio...

Rapid-fire Wisdom

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:00:53 +0100

I like what I’ve seen today of rapid-fire presentations. Fifteen minutes each. Back-to-back lasting an hour. Compelling stories about a slice of education, from students, teachers, entrepreneurs, professors, principals--mostly centered around what it takes to engage students.

Dennis Bartels from the Exploratorium helps kids take advantage of learning ecosystems outside of schools. Erin O’Connell, professor of classics, engages students in the oral traditions of the Iliad through paral...

Concrete to Abstract and Back Again

Cynthia Jimes — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:58:38 +0100

As a researcher, when I hit a wall in my thinking, I step outside of my cube and grab a colleague. We sit at the flip chart and draw and wrestle with a problem. Sometimes I look out the window or take a walk to catch a glimpse of the ocean (I am lucky enough to work in Half Moon Bay). Doing this always gives me fresh eyes. It helps me make new connections, and I go back to my desk a little wiser and more creative about the wall I am trying to move past.

I'm seeing this process embo...

Move Your Feet!

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:44:33 +0100

Here we are on the first day of the Big Ideas Fest and already the concept of a conference session has been thrown out the window. We started out innocently enough, in neat rows of chairs facing the front. Ten minutes in, we were rearranging the chairs into groups of 3 or 4. We interviewed each other and shared stories about pivotal learning experiences that changed our lives. Before we knew it we had abandoned the chairs altogether and were walking around, posting and rearranging giant stick...

What Are Big Ideas Anyway? | Big Ideas Fest

Cynthia Jimes — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:23:20 +0100

Big Ideas aren’t just about heady, abstract ideas. Some of our recent conversations with teachers who plan to attend the Fest provide a glimpse into their school site challenges and what they hope to take away from the Fest. For example, two of these teachers explained that their school is struggling to support the learning needs of its English learner population. They plan to use the Big Ideas Fest to develop a prototype plan for improving outcomes for English Learners, specifically focused ...

We're Only Days Away | Big Ideas Fest

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:21:02 +0100

We're only days from the Big Ideas Fest: An inaugural event that promises to set big ideas in motion. Action Collabs where we prototype real-world innovations. Rapid-fire presentations and high-energy workshops that inspire and engage. A media lounge to create, edit, record. Interactions and interviews with students from Roadtrip Nation.

What I'm hoping to experience is innovation in action--structured settings that help me use strategies to design, problem-solve, build, and share eff...

Welcome to the Big Ideas Fest Blog

Lisa Petrides — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:28:54 +0100

Welcome!

We’re hoping that you’ll join us for the inaugural Big Ideas Fest 2009, which will take place December 6th-9th, 2009 at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California.

Several people have asked us why we are calling this a Fest. Why not just call it a conference? The answer: because this is a gathering where innovation is meant to be designed, shared, celebrated and rewarded. Those aren’t things that typically happen at a conference.

Many confere...