Disrupting and Inspiring Early Childhood Education at #ECIS18
“What we have done this week is just the spark,” said HeadStarter Network board member and NHSA Executive Director Yasmina Vinci at the close of the 2018 Early Childhood Innovation Summit last week in Louisville, Kentucky. The three-day summit was hosted by the HeadStarter Network, an interdisciplinary community seeking to drive innovation in early childhood development and education. By learning, leading, and innovating in a collaborative environment, participants went home filled with action-oriented inspiration and excitement.
Taylor Bohn, Associate Director of Membership at NHSA, said of the Summit:
“The purpose of this event is to bring in more than just early childhood practitioners. We are bringing in people from disruptive industries such as technology, entrepreneurs, philanthropists… We want to bring those minds to the table and help our early ed folks think outside the blocks.”
This philosophy, of bringing together great minds across disciplines under the mutual goal of doing our best for children and families, is a cornerstone of Head Start and of early childhood education in general. And at the third annual Early Childhood Innovation Summit, the goals were clear.
Through case studies, deep-dive conversations, simulations, and workshops, Summit participants earned their first “Innovation Fitness Badge,” a hard and soft-skills distinction that demonstrates competency in:
- Understanding humans: how to identify and translate unmet needs and desires
- Design thinking: why thinking like a designer is key to solving complex problems and how to create compelling, delightful experiences for students, partners, and colleagues
- Technology: the latest technology trends and how you can use specific digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, data science, and Blockchain to create more value
- Intrapreneurship: the traits of entrepreneurs and how you can apply them in your organization to realize innovation
- Product management: how to design and develop products that are uniquely relevant
- Marketing and communications: how to tell the story of an idea, reach your audience, build followers inside and outside your organization, and drive adoption
In our pre-Summit blog post, we foretold, “Many participants [will] come up with some bold new ideas during the conference. Perhaps more importantly, all of them [will] emerge inspired by presenters and their colleagues, and take them back to the ‘laboratory’ at home where they [will] keep the momentum going.”
Shirley Wells of Rocky Mountain, Virginia, is one such participant.
Shirley, the Head Start & Early Head Start Director at STEP Inc., reflected:
“In spite of how much you learn, it’s seeing how it works in action that gives you something to take back.”
But beyond the critical goal of inspiring Summit participants and providing them with game-changing knowledge, the Innovation Summit also create opportunities for practitioners like Shirley to learn from the experiences of their peers.
“It was exciting coming to a national conference and actually meeting people from other states to learn more innovative ideas… to see how different people are doing it around the country. It’s really been a rewarding experience,” she said.
We hope to see Shirley at the next HeadStarter Network event, and we want to see you as well! Follow @HeadStarterNet on Twitter to be the first to hear about the next #InnovateEarly event.
We hope to see Shirley at the next HeadStarter Network event, and we want to see you as well! Follow @HeadStarterNet on Twitter to be the first to hear about the next #InnovateEarly event.
