There is to be a new digital innovation laboratory at work.
Yes.
Yes, an attempt to catch up with what goes on in industry, a test bed for ideas to be incorporated in the classroom. Something that has happened, is to happen.
Yes, bit more of the same, a mechanism of isomorphic behavior so that we are seen as doing what others are doing.
No, I am not trying to be cynical, just to be me, which means I am supporting it. However, in the past, I have seen new labs being set up, some of their metamorphoses to make them more appealing, some intended and unexpected uses of it, some people taking charge when it matters, others being taken charge of when it does not, and finally, some noise being turned off.
So this is my take on it:
Inevitable, necessary, something that needs to be done, something to live with, something that some people have decided, and some others will have to justify so as to face corporate face. Something that in a few months hopes not to be forgotten.
There is still, some room for action.
If I was to be included in this, which I have some hope for, this is what I would do to rediscover creativity using this lab:
- Instill some playfulness. So that we have some fun exercises and gradually find our way into it.
- Instill curiosity, so that those teaching and learning find ourselves as not knowing everything, in a good environment of trying and failing.
- Instill some safe failure, so that we try to break the lab by rearranging it, by inviting unexpected guests (my children, your children, my inner child, yours maybe?), by switching it on and off.
Let the fun begin!
