Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Education: Innovative Learning Environments

M.Ed.
Leadership & Innovation
MEDU 604
Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Education
Presentation V
Innovative Learning Environments
by
Dr. Stephen Asunka
M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 1

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation

Learning Objectives
1. Discuss the attributes of an Innovative Learning Environment
2. Discuss the principles guiding the implementation of Innovative

Learning Environments for Entrepreneurial Education
Ref: OECD (2017), The OECD Handbook for Innovative Learning Environments

Learning Environment
According to the OECD, Learning Environments should be:
1. places where educators share a clear priority about the

centrality of learning, for their students and for themselves,
and are fully engaged in meeting that priority; the teachers
and the students understand themselves as learners

2. where teaching is not viewed as a private matter and is often

collaborative
3. where teachers are recognised as performing much more

effectively when motivated, which in turn is intricately linked to
their emotions (satisfaction, self-efficacy, avoidance of
helplessness and anxiety etc.)

4. places which are acutely sensitive to individual differences in

the capacities and experiences of teachers
5. highly demanding for each educator while avoiding excessive

overload and stress that diminishes not enhances
performance

6. where expectations for educators are clear and they work

formatively - in their assessments and teaching of learners but
also through organisational design strategies that generate
rich evaluative information on the teaching and learning taking
place

7. where there is horizontal connectedness to which educators

centrally contribute - across activities and subjects, in- and
out-of-school and with other schools, groups and
organisations with which the educators are connected.

Principles of Innovative Learning Environments

Principles
The OECD defines innovation with respect to education as:

fresh ways of meeting outstanding challenges in a spirit of
openness to disciplined experimentation.

Principles
• In the mid 2000s OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and

Innovation (CERI) carried out extensive reviews on different
aspects of learning.
• The outcomes were summarised into seven Learning Principles

that serve as building blocks for the design, improvement and
innovation of education


Principles
Principle 1
• The learning environment recognises the learners as its core

participants, encourages their active engagement and develops
in them an understanding of their own activity as learners.


Principles
Principle 1
When this principle is seriously informing practice system-wide, it is

expected that:
i. teachers would locate student learning, learner engagement and
success consistently at or near the top of their professional
priorities.
ii. each individual learner is engaging and that all learners are
engaged.


Principles
Principle 1

expected that:
iii. learners should be capable of organising and monitoring their

own learning, and able to assess what they have already
accomplished and what still needs to be done


Principles
Principle 1
Strategies for enhancing student engagement
i.Recognise that learners have different learning styles
ii.Implement some rules of student engagement

Make it meaningful
Foster a sense of competence (Zone of Proximal Development)
Provide autonomy support
Embrace collaborative learning
Establish positive teacher-student relationships
Promote mastery orientations Source: edutopia.org

Principles
Principle 2
• The learning environment is founded on the social nature of

learning and actively encourages well-organised co-operative
(collaborative) learning.


Principles
Principle 2

expected that:
i. learning environments will be alive with the “buzz” of collegial

activity and learning, though not necessarily all the time.
ii. Learning spaces, building layout, seating arrangements etc. will

also reflect preparedness for group work. We would expect
enquiry, problem-solving and project-based pedagogies to all be
widespread


Principles
Principle 2
Strategies for implementing the social nature of learning:
Social Constructivist Approaches:

• Anchored instruction
• WebQuest (Inquiry-based learning)
• Cognitive apprenticeship (esp for tacit knowledge)
• Problem-based, Discovery, Experiential learning
• Project-based learning
• Service learning


Principles
Principle 3
• The learning professionals within the learning environment are

highly attuned to the learners’ motivations and the key role of
emotions in achievement.
Learning should not be understood as a purely cognitive activity as

students’ emotions and motivations are integral to its success.
Students are not only more motivated to work hard and to engage
when the content is meaningful and interesting to them but they learn
better when they feel competent and experience positive emotions. (
flow theory)


Principles
Principle 3
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Principles
Principle 3
When this principle is seriously informing practice system-wide;
i. educators and others in learning communities will be articulate

about emotions (implement social emotional learning activities)
social-emotional skills (or emotional intelligence or EQ) help

people build confidence, understand their own strengths and
weaknesses, collaborate with others, navigate social situations,
develop strong relationships, make better decisions etc.


Principles
Principle 3
ii. teachers and other educators will have developed pedagogical

understanding so that they know how to push young people
without ridicule or demotivation


Principles
Principle 4
• The learning environment is acutely sensitive to the individual

differences among the learners in it, including their prior
knowledge.


Principles
Principle 4
i. it will be reflected in the mix of pedagogical practices being

exercised:
shared whole-class or multi-class learning activities
targeted small group or individual learning activities
face-to-face, virtual and blended learning
school- and community-based.


Principles
Principle 4
ii. there will be widespread use of formative assessment throughout

learning environments.


Principles
Principle 5
• The learning environment devises programmes that demand

hard work and challenge from all without excessive overload.


Principles
Principle 5
Each learner needs to be constantly pushed up to and just

above their own perceived limits of what they are capable of
doing. (see ZPD).
No one should be allowed to coast for any significant time on

work that does not stretch them.
But simply increasing pressure to overload does not make for

deep and lasting learning.


Principles
Principle 5
i. “growth mind-sets” will predominate over the common viewpoint

that student capabilities are fixed.
ii. instead of procedures that primarily aim at sorting students, we

would expect the predominance of processes for optimizing
learning across the whole range of achievement and interest.


Principles
Principle 6
• The learning environment operates with clarity of expectations and

deploys assessment strategies consistent with these expectations
(constructive alignment); there is strong emphasis on formative
feedback to support learning.


Principles
Principle 6
• This principle is about making very clear what the learning is for,
and how to know when it has been successfully achieved.
• It is also about ensuring that the assessment is authentic and is

sensitive to individual strengths and weaknesses.
• It is about valuing feedback so that the assessment serves the

formative purpose.


Principles
Principle 6
i. there will be widespread capacity to articulate the methods of

formative assessment and the use of evidence.
ii. Self-review and evidence-informed learning leadership will become

increasingly prominent aspects of learning systems.
iii. There will be a significant shift away from simple “pass/fail” and
“right/wrong” judgements towards mastery, understanding and the
capacity to transfer knowledge to new problems


Principles
Principle 7
• The learning environment strongly promotes “horizontal

connectedness” across areas of knowledge and subjects as well
as to the community and the wider world.


Principles
Principle 7
• A great deal of learning comes about through making connections

and especially when learners are able to make these for
themselves.
• Learners need to be able to integrate discrete objects of learning

into larger frameworks of knowledge and curricular themes.
• In this way, knowledge can be built on and transferred; it can be

used to address unfamiliar problems rather than just those set by
teachers at a particular time.


Principles
Principle 7
i. there will be extensive work to integrate knowledge around key

concepts.
ii. there will have been a great deal of research and development
around pedagogical expertise, content knowledge and inter-
disciplinarity
iii. partnerships and networks will be the norm.


Principles
Conclusion
Implementing the seven principles in any educational setting will

transform such a setting into an innovative and entrepreneurial
learning environment.


Principles
Conclusion
It is however not quite realistic for an individual or school or

district to start working on all seven principles with equal priority
at the same time.
Instead, working on one or two - on engagement and emotions,

say, or personalisation or formative feedback or horizontal
connectedness- can provide the channel through which to drive
the others.

Recap

Attributes of Innovative Learning Environments
• priority is learning
• teaching & learning is collaborative
• teachers are motivated to deliver
• recognises individual differences
• avoids excessive overload
• formative work and assessments
• horizontal connectedness

7 Principles of Innovative Learning Environments
1. …recognises the learners as its core participants, encourages

their active engagement
2. …actively encourages well-organised co-operative (collaborative)

learning
3. …is highly attuned to the learners’ motivations and the key role of
emotions in achievement
4. …is acutely sensitive to the individual differences among the

learners in it, including their prior knowledge.

7 Principles of Innovative Learning Environments
5. … devises programmes that demand hard work and challenge

from all without excessive overload.
6. …operates with clarity of expectations and deploys assessment

strategies consistent with these expectations (constructive
alignment); there is strong emphasis on formative feedback to
support learning.
7. …strongly promotes “horizontal connectedness”

End

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M.Ed.

Leadership & Innovation

Innovative Learning Environments

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 1

Innovative Learning Environments

1. Discuss the attributes of an Innovative Learning Environment

2. Discuss the principles guiding the implementation of Innovative

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 2

Innovative Learning Environments

According to the OECD, Learning Environments should be:

1. places where educators share a clear priority about the

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 3

Innovative Learning Environments

According to the OECD, Learning Environments should be:

2. where teaching is not viewed as a private matter and is often

3. where teachers are recognised as performing much more

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 4

Innovative Learning Environments

According to the OECD, Learning Environments should be:

4. places which are acutely sensitive to individual differences in

5. highly demanding for each educator while avoiding excessive

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 5

Innovative Learning Environments

According to the OECD, Learning Environments should be:

6. where expectations for educators are clear and they work

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 6

Innovative Learning Environments

According to the OECD, Learning Environments should be:

7. where there is horizontal connectedness to which educators

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 7

Innovative Learning Environments

Principles of Innovative Learning Environments

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 8

Innovative Learning Environments

The OECD defines innovation with respect to education as:

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 9

Innovative Learning Environments

• In the mid 2000s OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and

• The outcomes were summarised into seven Learning Principles

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 10

Innovative Learning Environments

• The learning environment recognises the learners as its core

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 11

Innovative Learning Environments

When this principle is seriously informing practice system-wide, it is

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 12

Innovative Learning Environments

When this principle is seriously informing practice system-wide, it is

iii. learners should be capable of organising and monitoring their

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 13

Innovative Learning Environments

Strategies for enhancing student engagement

i.Recognise that learners have different learning styles

ii.Implement some rules of student engagement

Innovative Learning Environments

• The learning environment is founded on the social nature of

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 15

Innovative Learning Environments

When this principle is seriously informing practice system-wide, it is

i. learning environments will be alive with the “buzz” of collegial

ii. Learning spaces, building layout, seating arrangements etc. will

M.Ed. Leadership & Innovation 16