As I have been engaging with the material provided by the Innovation Teaching and Learning curriculum, I have reached a point where my understanding has changed in quite a dramatic way. An innovation in comprehension if you will.
For the course we have been asked to explore the terms:
Teaching, Learning, Creativity, Innovation
I worked hard to argue that teaching and learning are not distinct but rather happen simultaneously between people and within a single individual (intra/inter-dynamics).
I argued that teaching is a matter of showing understanding. Learning is to take new stimulus and add it to prior understanding.
Deep learning affects the foundational structure of our understanding. Shallow learning reaffirms what we already know and allows us to interpret our sensory experiences (for example, there is a blue sky out, therefore it is day time).
I have realized that these two terms, and the dynamic relationship that I have been trying to create can be synthesized under a single idea. Sharing.
When we share, we offer our understandings to the world.
When we are shared with, we are given new ways to understand the world around us (whether it constructs new understanding or fits within existing paradigms).
By sharing our understanding with each other, we can develop a more effective schema to describe the world. Interaction helps us create a better social picture and align our understandings with the cultural, linguistic, and social articulations of the people around us.
Through this interaction of discussing, absorbing, and debating what is true, we create new understandings. When these new understanding grow comprehensive enough, it leads to new ways to interact with the world, fortified by developed understanding. These are innovations.
Therefore, to synthesize the discourse:
Sharing allows for creativity. Creativity leads to innovation. Innovation is a deeper understanding of whatever is being considered.