PURPOSE
The global education landscape is rife with complex problems that need to be solved. Fortunately, novel ways of thinking and doing things are emerging at rapid rate. "Innovators" are often behind promising new developments. This site was designed to highlight the work of educational innovators in order to offer examples and lessons to inform and inspire. The individuals profiled reflect a wide range of educational contexts including traditional schools, corporate environments, non-profits and education-related businesses.
COURSE
This website is the result of a course project in the USC Rossier School of Education's Global Executive Ed.D. program. Each profile is a culminating project for a student in an introductory course in the program's Creativity Stream titled: Understanding the Fundamentals of Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This project was designed to give students a practical understanding of the nature of innovation - what it is and how it works - and to gain initial familiarity with basic qualitative research methods. Subsequent courses in the Creativity Stream include Fostering Entrepreneurship in Educational Systems and Analyzing the Effectiveness of Educational Systems.
PROCESS
During the course, students carry out the following steps to explore the nature of innovation and ultimately study an innovator and generate the profiles featured on this site.
STUDENTS
The Global Executive Ed.D. program attracts leaders in education as well as experienced leaders from other sectors. Students come from a variety of countries and represent a range of institutions, including ministries of education, universities, school systems, NGOs and education-related companies. The program is competitive and each student brings academic strength, demonstrated leadership, and the potential to make a significant impact on education around the world.
WEB DESIGN
Technical guidance and assistance for this project was provided by Hue Wang, Computer Consultant Specialist in the Instructional Technology unit of the USC Rossier School of Education. This site was developed using Weebly, a web-hosting service that features a "drag-and-drop" website builder. A "Weebly Pro" account was used to utilize a video element that automatically converts videos for playback and to avoid having to host videos externally. The inspiration for this web-based project was provided by the site, anotherwarmemorial.com, which is a student project developed by Dr. Viet Thanh Nguyen, an associate professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.
INSTRUCTOR
Rob Filback is associate professor of clinical education and co-chair of the Global Executive Ed.D. He oversees the design and development of courses in the Global Ed.D. and previously led the design team for Rossier's new MA TESOL program, which was designed in partnership with 2U and features a fully online track. His current interests surround innovations in online teaching and learning, especially the role of synchronous interactions, and the ways that new forms of teaching or learning can help reach and empower students who are less served by existing models.
CONTACT
For more information about the site or the course, contact Rob Filback
For more information about the Rossier Global Executive Ed.D. program, contact Dr. Nadine Singh
The global education landscape is rife with complex problems that need to be solved. Fortunately, novel ways of thinking and doing things are emerging at rapid rate. "Innovators" are often behind promising new developments. This site was designed to highlight the work of educational innovators in order to offer examples and lessons to inform and inspire. The individuals profiled reflect a wide range of educational contexts including traditional schools, corporate environments, non-profits and education-related businesses.
COURSE
This website is the result of a course project in the USC Rossier School of Education's Global Executive Ed.D. program. Each profile is a culminating project for a student in an introductory course in the program's Creativity Stream titled: Understanding the Fundamentals of Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This project was designed to give students a practical understanding of the nature of innovation - what it is and how it works - and to gain initial familiarity with basic qualitative research methods. Subsequent courses in the Creativity Stream include Fostering Entrepreneurship in Educational Systems and Analyzing the Effectiveness of Educational Systems.
PROCESS
During the course, students carry out the following steps to explore the nature of innovation and ultimately study an innovator and generate the profiles featured on this site.
- Study literature outside of education to begin building a "framework" of the major skills/traits of an innovative person and organization. Two books in particular were useful in the process: The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators (Dyer, Gregersen & Christensen, 2012) and Unrelenting Innovation: How to Create a Culture for Market Dominance (Tellis, 2013).
- Analyze a number of cases of educational innovation to test and expand the emerging framework. This step includes class discussion with renowned educational innovators such as John Katzman (founder of the Princeton Review, 2U, and Noodle.org) and a review of several recipients of the Qatar Foundation's "WISE Award."
- Identify an educational innovator to profile and solicit their participation. Students learn about the innovator's practices through background research, an interview and observations, and then compares their findings to the innovator framework developed in the course.
- Students produce a profile, including a brief video piece using templates and detailed guidelines are provided for them. The goal is to tell their subject's story in a captivating way and highlight behaviors and practices associated with each person's success as an innovator.
- The name of each student profiler can be found at the bottom of each page.
STUDENTS
The Global Executive Ed.D. program attracts leaders in education as well as experienced leaders from other sectors. Students come from a variety of countries and represent a range of institutions, including ministries of education, universities, school systems, NGOs and education-related companies. The program is competitive and each student brings academic strength, demonstrated leadership, and the potential to make a significant impact on education around the world.
WEB DESIGN
Technical guidance and assistance for this project was provided by Hue Wang, Computer Consultant Specialist in the Instructional Technology unit of the USC Rossier School of Education. This site was developed using Weebly, a web-hosting service that features a "drag-and-drop" website builder. A "Weebly Pro" account was used to utilize a video element that automatically converts videos for playback and to avoid having to host videos externally. The inspiration for this web-based project was provided by the site, anotherwarmemorial.com, which is a student project developed by Dr. Viet Thanh Nguyen, an associate professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.
INSTRUCTOR
Rob Filback is associate professor of clinical education and co-chair of the Global Executive Ed.D. He oversees the design and development of courses in the Global Ed.D. and previously led the design team for Rossier's new MA TESOL program, which was designed in partnership with 2U and features a fully online track. His current interests surround innovations in online teaching and learning, especially the role of synchronous interactions, and the ways that new forms of teaching or learning can help reach and empower students who are less served by existing models.
CONTACT
For more information about the site or the course, contact Rob Filback
For more information about the Rossier Global Executive Ed.D. program, contact Dr. Nadine Singh