Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Who’s the man behind design thinking? More on David Kelley.




"David is the kind of person you aspire to become. He's like a brainy Muppet. You want to hug him, stick by him, and support what he stands for. He doesn't wear a fur stole or sunglasses. He's like the guy you run into at the 7-11 getting a Slurpee. I like the idea that he's an anonymous superstar."

John Maeda, formerly the associate research director of MIT's Media Lab and now president of the Rhode Island School of Design



Read more about David Kelley’s own story and what those who have learned from and admire him have to say in Fast Company’s profile of our Summit 2009 keynote speaker.

While you're at it, don't forget to check out David Kelley's appearance at TED in 2003.

Learning about Locke




At Summit, you’ll have a chance to hear from Green Dot Public Schools—innovators working on the ground in Los Angeles to turn around one of the worst performing comprehensive high schools in the district. Read the LA Times’ ongoing reporting on Locke’s first year here.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

NewSchools, on Facebook?

NewSchools is considering becoming a part of the Facebook community. We'd love to hear your ideas regarding how best to create our presence on Facebook that enhances our work and that of the greater education entrepreneurship community. Please leave us your feedback!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

A new way of doing something

Innovation may refer to incremental, radical, and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. A distinction is typically made between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully. (Wikipedia)





It's more than just departing from the status quo, and beyond mere experimentation. It’s easy to call to mind breakthrough innovations that have relegated past ideas and practices to obsolescence, as the telephone did to the telegraph and the car did to the horse-and-buggy. We also know that crucial progress also comes from smart improvements applied to existing ideas: adding seat belts to cars has made major crashes survivable, saving tens of thousands of lives. As education entrepreneurs, it's important that we consider: To what extent are we living up to the expectations we’ve set for ourselves, and how to we challenge ourselves to do better?