The last two days I have been re-writing chapters for my book on organizational innovation in schools. We KNOW that connectivity is an absolute key to innovation; it has been since the Renaissance, in coffee shops, billard halls, or online. We also know that generally younger information age knowledge workers are more comfortable, in fact seek out, opportunities to connect and learn in informal ways that are NOT proscribed by bosses. They find and pursue what interests them, wherever, whenever, and however they can. And schools are the home of knowledge-based workers. So leaders: this is where and how your people learn. This is where the Constructal Law collides with Zuboff Mutations (read on!).
This morning the evolving global neural network of knowledge creation and management that I call the cognitosphere was at work on Twitter in the weekly #satchatwc, the West Coast time zone version of an educators Saturday morning on-hour chat (hosted by @burgess_shelley and @dculberhouse). Many educators shared ideas on professional development, technology, latest trends, summer readings, and more. No one got paid for their time, yet here they were, spending an hour learning and sharing knowledge.
This is Bejan’s Constructal Law at work: the development of a system of knowledge flow that was not possible before about five years ago. The widely accepted Constructal Law dictates the form of this flow system, and it was evident today in the #satchatwc. Those individuals and organizations that join this flow will increasingly become the major trunk lines, the important pathways of learning. Those who, due to inertia, fear, or lack of resources fail to join these connections will be relegated to the fine capillaries. This will hold regardless of how big and important you or your school/institution is today. This represents a fundamental mutation in the learning system as articulated by Shoshona Zuboff. It is more than a disruptive innovation. It bypasses normal routes of professional development, and leverages key assets, in this case the knowledge of teachers who have heretofore been seen as receptors, not creators, of knowledge.
Much more on this later; I just found a new, important bit of narrative for my book and need to get back to re-writing!
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