Plugging Educational Gaps through Idea Management Services

Innovation is critical to the improvement process and
educational sector is not left behind. With continuous demands on
education and training to explore new learning opportunities, innovation
works out new ways and means to improve the system of education,
deliver increased learning outcomes, equity and student satisfaction.

Further, with technological innovations bringing
about a sea change in the way the gen next looks at using new
technology, the global educational establishments and universities are
incorporating technology into the educational system. However,
innovation in the education sector is unlimited. With educationists
struggling to find out ways and means to improve the present educational
system, a creative thought or idea can set a benchmark for future
innovations. Global academic institutions over the past years have made
use of idea management services to ensure growth in the organization.

Educational
institutions in their attempt to gain a strong international footing
make use of effective crowdsourcing software and idea generation methods
such as contests and events for parents, faculty and students, to
capture innovative ideas to work on. U.S. Department of Education in
collaboration with National Education Association (NEA), in their
attempt to improve the potentials of school education, initiated an open
innovation contest. The “Challenge to Innovate” was a platform for
numerous teachers to present their ideas which resulted in modification
of the traditional classroom model, with a model wherein student
involvement in the learning process was much more.

Open
innovations have time and again proved the fact that great ideas can
also come from outside the walls of the enterprise. Understanding the
problems faced by the developing world in providing education to all,
the news publication house of ‘The Economist’ in collaboration with
innovation agency InnoCentive Inc. challenged the public with a “21st
century cyber school challenge”. They offered a $10,000 reward to the
person who comes up with the best idea for providing educational
opportunities to millions of children in developing nations around the
world.

Dr.
Andrew Deonarine, a third-year medical resident at the University of
British Columbia emerged the winner with his EduCell – a cellular
phone-based content creation system to teach literacy and Maths. With
the growth of cell phones market gaining grounds, this innovative
product would help global institutions and government to plug the
educational gap prevalent in the developing world.

However,
innovation in the educational sector is not restricted to only academic
institutions taking steps for idea management implementation. Leading IT
providers like Microsoft collaborate and engage in idea generation
techniques and developing crowdsourcing software to assist millions of
teachers and students to unleash their creativity to share knowledge for
academic growth.