Page 124 - Microsoft Word - The Future of Learning April 2017.docx

112
Entrepreneurship
Once again, for learners to have time to follow their passion, educators need to allocate them time to explore. This extra time is why the changes in our practices as educators as outlined in this resource are so critical, as they create the extra time that learners require. We need to drive efficiencies so we allow time for learners to develop the capabilities that they will need to be successful in this century.
Standout successes in innovation such as Facebook, Virgin Atlantic, Ashoka, Apple, Google, Nike and Emirates Airlines may well inspire us to mimic their success, but every day there are hundreds of innovative and ingenious solutions that do not make the major headlines. Often the results of innovative thinking are ingenious new products, systems, environments or media that we take for granted, but for every one of those there was an original idea, concept or concept framework, initiated by a prompt and a process driven by their curiosity.
An example of this process is the product born out of Waverley Labs in the USA in 2016. A small team of entrepreneurs came up with a problem: people who speak different languages were not able to speak to each other quickly via a natural conversation.
After much research, dead ends and trialling, the team came up with a solution: an earpiece, called the ‘Pilot’, which was linked to software run on an app that was downloaded to a phone. The Waverley Labs team designed, and subsequently built, this earpiece and software.
The learning intention for this innovative challenge was:
Making money is not always the greatest driver for innovation, and entrepreneurship is not restricted to creating products, systems, environments and media that are sold for a financial return. Within all communities there are numerous people that recognise those situations that require support and encouragement to fulfil their desires and ambitions in new and unique ways.
The Fred Hollows Foundation is one such entrepreneurial non-profit organisation that has dramatically changed the lives of over two million people, in over 25 countries, by restoring their sight.156 Fred Hollows developed simple procedures that could be carried out in remote locations to restore the sight in people of all ages for a very small cost. Four out of five people who are blind and live in underdeveloped countries do not need to be blind.
Entrepreneurial activities that are not-for-profit are everywhere, and without them our communities, whether rich or poor, would not function as equitably. Encouraging learners to apply their entrepreneurial vision to assist those less fortunate than themselves can be the most rewarding endeavour they will ever engage in. The range of contexts that exists for charities and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), that can benefit from social entrepreneurship by young learners, stretches across every possible domain.
The role of social entrepreneurship is to create products, systems, environments and media that have the potential to restore a person’s dignity and independence such that they can contribute back to their community, where possible.
Innovation and ingenuity are powerful agents of change when they are harnessed and applied to situations where we are inspired to make a difference in others’ lives, some of whom then go on to do the same for their communities. Solutions need to be self-sustaining and scalable over time.
155 The Babel Fish (PSPlaya426). (2009, March 4). The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuumnjJWFO4
156 Hollows, Fred. The Fred Hollows Foundation (2015) Retrieved from www.hollows.org/au
The Pilot should be the
world’s first smart earpiece which synchronously translates between users
speaking different languages.155 The Ultimate Babel Fish!