Let’s talk systemic change

In recent presentations/discussions, I’ve been making the point that grassroots level approaches to reform in education are being hampered by systemic barriers. The structure of systems of education impedes future innovation. What is required, of course, is a reformulation of educational institutions. As is often the case, we are not entirely without examples. Consider Cisco’s pursuit to redefine itself to better compete in a networked world: “Today, a network of councils and boards empowered to launch new businesses, plus an evolving set of Web 2.0 gizmos — not to mention a new financial incentive system — encourage executives to work together like never before. Pull back the tent flaps and Cisco citizens are blogging, vlogging, and virtualizing, using social-networking tools that they’ve made themselves and that, in many cases, far exceed the capabilities of the commercially available wikis, YouTubes, and Facebooks created by the kids up the road in Palo Alto…”Without changing the structure of your organization,” Chambers told the analysts in September, “I would argue that [innovation] will not work.”"