Incremental vs Conceptual Change

I recently heard Mary Cullinane give a keynote address at the Learning Forward Summer Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. One of her key points that stuck with me was regarding change in the education system. She used the example of ATMs to illustrate the difference between incremental and conceptual innovation. The implementation of ATMs was a conceptual change from tellers, whereas the change to deposit a cheque without having to input information into the ATM is an incremental change. It is different, but it is more of a slight process change, it doesn’t require a whole different mindset. If you understand the solution, it is incremental. If you understand the problem, it is conceptual.

Most of the change that has occurred in education in the past few decades has been incremental, where there has been tweaking and other changes, but it more or less is the same as it was fifty years ago (at least as a generalization). Students are in desks, usually in rows and most of the learning is teacher directed, especially for upper elementary and higher. Although most of these changes have been good, they haven't really been enough, based on how different the students that we see in our classrooms today are. What we need to happen is conceptual change. For this, we need a better understanding of the problems in education. This is not an easy task, it is a huge undertaking, but if we want to make a real difference, that is what needs to be done.

Some of the necessary conditions that Cullinane outlined are:

·        People maintain a tight connection between new technology and education value.

·        People aren’t bound by the traditional constraints of their industry or market, encourage innovation.

·        People don’t face career destruction if an idea fails; it cannot be a punitive environment.

·        People should have clear and direct incentives for success.

What resonated with me the most was the idea that people should feel safe to make educated mistakes.  If we don’t allow this, people will not take responsible risks, which is how we can get further down the road to conceptual change in education.

Based on the keynote presentation at Learning Forward 2011, by Mary Cullinane - July 19, 2011 - Indianapolis, Indiana

Focus on Professional Learning

Many of us educators have been in a professional development session, either as a participant or a presenter, only to hear the comment from another participant that "we had this last year". As an system, educators are constantly looking for and expecting the latest and greatest idea in education, sometimes at the expense of other, current initiatives, programs or ideas. Why is this so often accepted in our profession, when it would be scoffed at in so many others? Can you imagine a professional athlete telling their coach that they did these drills / exercises the year before or a doctor saying that they learned about cataract surgeries two years ago, so they don't need any more about it? Despite the fact that we have the understanding that 'drill and kill' is a terrible thing for our students, it has been shown countless times that skills are developed with deliberate practice. Think of the  concert pianist, elite athlete or current music star and you can imagine the hours of practice that each of these individuals did to hone their skills.

I'm not advocating for drill and kill as a way for students to learn the curriculum, however, it is to illustrate the importance of focus for professional development. Ainsworth's (2003) work with teachers and administrators in improving assessments found that years of practice on the same area of focus in professional learning yielded vastly superior professional work and student results. The more focus, the better the results. If one's focus is spread over too many areas, the results are also diffused. I for one, can say that my classroom lessons and assessments, as well as discipline improved as I practiced more. In fact, I wish I could apologize to the students that I taught in my first few years of teaching, when I look back on how much I have improved as an educator.

Educators should not use this concept as a crutch to hold onto something that research shows as unsuccessful, but to grasp this concept for their own professional development or growth plans and understand that it is not only permitted, but should be encouraged to have the same focus from year to year.

Ainsworth, L. (2003). "Unwrapping" the standards: A simple process to make standards manageable. Englewood, CO. Advanced Learning Press.
Reeves, D. (2010). Transforming professional development into student results. Alexandria, VA. ASCD