Innovation: Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes

"You know the saying, “Nothing changes if nothing changes.” Well if nothing changes, we stay the same. We don’t grow. We don’t evolve. We don’t get better. And that’s not going to work—not for you, and not for the world." success.com

I believe that in the context of any education system, students learn from mistakes. As teachers we never stop encouraging our students when they make mistakes "don't worry, next time you will do it better..." 

But when have we ever applied that to teachers? shouldn't the leadership team say that same thing to teachers every day? pushing them to learn new things, be creative, try new strategies, new way of teaching and learning, try new technologies.

I heard someone say: there should be an award for every failure as well as success. this is more true in schools. because in schools "we build confidence".

I think every success starts with a failure. just think of Dyson who failed over 5000 times before he became successful. 

RiskIT is about building confidence in teachers, learning new things, working in judgement free environment, Taking the fear out of technology, learning from students, not afraid of failure. 

Partnership with Naace

I am pleased to announce my partnership with Naace, a professional association that shares my passion for embedding the effective use of technology in teaching and learning. 

RiskIT was shortlisted for the Naace Impact Award 2013 at the BETT Show. The new board of Naace is determined more than ever to reach all educators, private and public, and work with them through practical support and guidance in the use of technology.

RiskIT along with SRF (Self Review Framework) go hand in hand to building a confident, highly motivated teaching force that put schools on the forefront of T&L.

RiskITWeek in schools

RiskIT is being used by many schools as a CPD challenge to up-skill their staff and challenge their teaching methods. RiskIT has changed many T&L practices for good.

Shiplake Academy in Oxfordshire said:

" ‘RiskIT Week’ saw teachers faced with the challenge of trying a new piece of ICT for the first time during their lessons. The idea, taken from the book of the same name by Abderrahmane Benjeddi, was to encourage teachers to step outside their comfort zone and take a risk with using Information Technology. As author, Christy Raedeke once said, “No risk, no reward”, a quote adopted by the Headmaster as his ‘phrase of the year’ for 2017-2018 "

Shiplake is a good example on how to bring challenge and fun into teaching. they make use of various technologies: VR, Video Conferencing, Padlet, Kahoot, Flipgrid  to mention a few. 

RiskIT has become a regular event at Shiplake Academy. 

I believe that when teachers have the freedom and the confidence to work in judgement free environment, they become creative and innovative in their classrooms. Students become more engaged as "participant learners" and not passive absorbent of the spiels they used to by teachers.

RiskIT is a proven strategy that works in any school setting, it took me over five years to develop and test. The book  "RiskIT, IT in the Classroom, a Risk worth taking" is a summary of the steps that one could take to implement a successful RiskIT in their school.