Innovation – popular buzzword.
What is it…
Well, for me, it comes fairly easily in ICT environments, joining things that were disconnected. Before I was teaching, I worked in analytical chem.; firstly an R&D position, which is a story in itself - then a testing lab, where I ended up developing a software information system for a lab that needed an integrated system – it ended up being in installed in half a dozen labs… but teaching seemed interesting, less dry in the long run, so I let that go … but I’ve often been able to use this skill set in schools, using rapid software development to meet a schools needs– for say networking the timetable, or developing a daily org packge, or providing web access for kids etc. That vels audit tool, is a good example; 3 days work and it goes a bit viral around the state Anyway, by the far the most complex thing I’ve attempted is an online concept mapping system.
Here are some grainy images, and a movie, off my phone, trialling it the the other day.
click here for 30s movie
The idea came a few years ago, working with teachers on an ICT project; i saw the potential for a tool that spanned web publishing and concept mapping. The state IT association (Vitta) gave me a small fellowship for the idea, and so off i went.Recently found a conference that discusses such things - 2nd International Conference on Concept Mapping - put together a paper over a weekend, which they accepted. I won't bore anyone with the paper here - since it was a hybrid of technical overview and learning theory, trying to fit their genre , but i will cite some of the reviewers feedback
The concept of a Flash-based tool for concept map editing is excellent. The approach seems well-grounded in constructivist theory … idea of new concept mapping tools is valid and attractive … I admire the work and I was particularly interest in features like RSS importing
Ok .. that’s an edited selection – and there were some valid criticism (‘the author seems to go back and forth between learning theory and the tool itself ") which I could have worked on.
But since the conference is in Costa Rica, mid term, without funding, and no obvious sponsors just yet, i let i go for the time being. (This has been a weekend and midnight sort of project for quite a long time - but i think it will come in from the margins at some point)
new ideas, by definition, don't always follow the obvious path, i suppose
sw looks good
Comment by karen2 — August 26, 2006 @ 5:44 am