We wanted to alert you to two events this month that all Leapfrog Institutes members and collaborators are invited to participate in:

1. The Department of Educational Policy and Administration is opening participation in its Global Youth Policy and Leadership graduate seminar to all educational professionals: With the dynamic participation of such organizations as Leapfrog Institutes, Destination ImagiNation of Minnesota, and Minnesota 4-H, this must-attend seminar will focus on designing a collaborative approach for developing innovation, interests, skills, and projects among youth. The results will be used to design an Innovative Youth conference-within-a-conference for the May 2009 Destination ImagiNation Global Finals. This is a don’t miss Experience! For more information contact Art Harkins: harki001@umn.edu
2. Leapfrog Institutes is co-chairing a FREE virtual (and live) conference on e-skills and e-competencies October 31.  The Knowledge Society demands that we leapfrog ahead in our education systems, build a new digital literacy, and improve soft skills (creativity, innovation, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking, among others) that could help all 21^st century citizens become productive, effective knowledge workers. Educators, policymakers, business leaders, parents, and youth must identify and develop new sets of e-skills and e-competencies to help youth succeed, and build a capacity for success toward the 22^nd century.  The purpose of this event is to identify, project and discuss the e-skills and e-competencies required for success in the 21^st and early 22^nd centuries. This event will explore, gather and analyze relevant experiences in training and development of e-skills throughout North America.  More information is available online at http://www.e-competencies.org.

We are pleased to share two excellent papers that will be presented at the Leapfrog conference in Anqing, China, later this month.  The first is from Mohammed Elmeski at the University of Minnesota, “Knowledge production in Morocco: Current realities and future prospects.”  Here’s the abstract:

This paper conducts a SWOC analysis of the system of knowledge production in Morocco. The purpose behind this analysis is to take stock of existing strengths and opportunities, and to highlight existing weaknesses and future challenges for a knowledge based economy. In addition to the analysis, this paper examines how the literature on innovative knowledge production for continuous innovation societies (CIS) (Harkins & Kubik, 2006) could be of relevance to the development of unorthodox knowledge formats and applications that nurture innovative thinking as a way of life and not just as a component of education reform.

This paper starts with an introductory overview that touches on the geography, the people, the system of government, and the economy of Morocco. Next, it conducts a SWOC analysis that examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of the Moroccan knowledge production system. The final section in this paper focuses on innovative education reform for a knowledge producing society. This section tries to synthesize some of the literature from the LeapFrog Institutes, Harkins and Kubik (2006), Verna Allee (2003), and the Flacso Mexico Open Seminar blog and slides. The goals is to suggest some best practices for what a creative Moroccan knowledge producing society could look like.

The second paper is by Dr Lasse Siurala, Director, Youth Department, City of Helsinki, and Docent at the Helsinki School of Economics, “TOWARDS A BROADER CONCEPT OF LEARNING - Can non-formal learning challenge the formal education paradigm?” Here’s his introduction:

Most young people in Europe enjoy the school and learn moderately well through the curriculum. However, too many and an increasing amount of them do not feel well, become isolated, experience stress, get bad remarks or simply drop out. There has been growing criticism towards the school system in that it is too much teacher centred, narrowly focused on cognitive development and individual competitiveness and is isolated from the surrounding society. One way forward is that formal education changes its paradigm into a non-formal learning approach – or establishes better links to it. The paper will start with three dilemmas which highlight the issue and point to possible solutions.

Last March, Minneapolis Public Schools announced that Edison High School and Washburn High School will be overhauled in response to under-performance. As part of the “fresh start” agenda, nearly all staff members at each school received notice that their contracts would not be renewed, and they would have to reapply for their jobs. (See this Minnesota Public Radio story for more information.) At around the same time, Edison High School and Leapfrog Institutes committed with each other to explore how to build a new culture of innovation within EHS.

At the Synergy 2008 conference, Arthur Harkins and I had an opportunity to interview Assistant Principal Jerry Pederson, Teacher Amy Conger, and Wendie Palazzo, Director of Career and Technical Education for MPS. We wanted to hear their take on EHS’s fresh start, and what innovations are underway at the school that aims to become worthy of the Edison name:

The World Futures Society has published a special issue of Futures Research Quarterly, focused on the Leapfrog Principle.  These papers will serve as the knowledge base for the upcoming Leapfrog conference in Anqing, China this October.  Online copies should be available through EBSCOhost in the near future (check with your library for access).  Contents for the Spring 2008 (vol. 24, nr. 1) issue:

• The role of Leapfrogging in the future of youth work and workforce preparation by George Kubik
• Leapfrog principles and practices: Core components of Education 3.0 and 4.0 by Arthur M. Harkins
• The Leapfrog Principle and paradigm shifts in education by Xian-rong Wang
• The significance of Leapfrog education development in China by Changde Cao
• Four scenarios of Leapfrog for teacher training curriculum in China by Hongzhuan Song
• Utilizing digital technology to achieve leapfrog learning by Jun ma
• Technological applications of Leapfrog by John Moravec
• Leapfrog Education: An alternative present and future for Chinese tertiary education by Yi Cao

(Earlier drafts of each paper are available here.)

The Minnesota Elementary School Principals’ Association published an article on Leapfrog Institutes in their latest newsletter:

The Leapfrog Institutes at the University of Minnesota intends to foster a sustainable culture of innovation in our schools. You are invited to participate in discussions on building positive futures for PreK-21 education in the communities served by the Leapfrog Institutes. MESPA is a Collaborating Institution in this incredibly important infusion of creativity and innovation in education.

[...]

Leapfrog Institutes can visit your school and share what Leapfrogging is all about, possibilities for how to address your district or school needs, and how imagination, creativity, and innovation can expand at ridiculously low expense. And these expansions don’t need to occur in the regular school day. They can be extracurricular, involving self-chosen teachers, students, parents, and other members of our education communities!

Thank you, MESPA!

Last week, John Moravec and I were the guests of Destination ImagiNation during the DI Global Finals in Knoxville. We were delighted at experiencing the largest imagination and creativity gathering ever to assemble - anywhere! Our greatest respect and admiration was for the kids’ impressive demonstrations of intellectual, academic, and personal skills - just three of their many other attributes. Many with their parents in tow, over 1,000 teams of kids and young people ranging from elementary to college levels were there, some from countries such as China, Korea, Turkey, Canada, and Mexico.

Soon, we hope to begin collaborative work with the Minnesota affiliate of DI, and with the national/international level as well. Is it an exaggeration to say that DI is doing what the majority of schools (and colleges) are avoiding, namely to promote imagination, creativity, invention, and innovation? We think not! Hats off to everyone associated with Destination ImagiNation!

John compiled a short video from our visit:

At last night’s Destination ImagiNation 2008 Global Finals opening ceremonies, the Minnesota delegation LEAPFROGGED into the Thompson-Boling arena at UTK!

(If the embedded video doesn’t play, you can view it here.)