Crowd-Based Innovation for Educators
InnovateK12 Newsletter: February 5, 2019
Join Me at AASA!
a note from Eric Schneider, InnovateK12 CEO

If you’re heading to the AASA National Conference on Education in Los Angeles next week, let’s plan to meet for a cup of coffee and talk innovation! I’ll be speaking at 9:00am on Thursday, February 14th in room 501B with Dr. Bill Daggett in a session called “Future Focused Schools”. I’ll also be hosting a round-table discussion about innovation in schools on Friday, February 15th at 11:15am at Table #10. If these two sessions don’t work for you, then just click this link and schedule time for a call or a cup of coffee. I’d really love the chance to talk in person and share the exciting news about InnovateK12 membership as well as the July 2019 K12 Innovation Summit. It’s an exciting time to elevate innovation as a strategy for improvement and excellence in your district! Let us help!
InnovateK12 Cohort Updates

Friday
2/22/19

Wednesday
4/3/19

Friday 5/3/19
End of Year
Celebration
As our last few events take shape in Waconia (MN), Saline (MI), and Mexico (MO), it is exciting to see the ideas that surface in our crowd-based events turn into prototypes and start to scale. We’re connecting with our members districts and capturing those stories to share at this summer’s Summit.

Mark your calendars for Friday, May 3, when InnovateK12 districts will gather at the site of this summer’s Summit (the Minneapolis Marriott Airport) for a special end-of-year celebration. It promises to be a great opportunity to share updates on our efforts and to recognize each other for the courageous leadership that innovation requires. Don’t miss it!
New in 2019 - Choose from Three Levels of Membership
InnovateK12 now has three levels of membership for the 2019-20 school year, Innovator, Creator or Disruptor. Check out the details here and email Eric to request a quote for your district. Our goal is to develop a customized experience for you based on your district’s individual needs. The base package offers a great experience, and the advanced packages provide more features and tools for engagement!
2019-20 Member Highlights Include: 
  • Access to cohort resources and networking opportunities
  • Leadership and event consultation
  • Facilitation of an internal crowd-based innovation event using industry leading innovation software from Spigit
  • New levels of engagement using features found within the Spigit platform such as Innovator Profiles, Teams, and Badging
  • For event facilitators, the new platform brings opportunities to customize your event with customized event messaging, teams based on interest and skill alignment and badging if you want to include a gamification element during your event.
Get Your Team Registered Now for Maximum Savings!
The first round of early-bird discounts expire on February 28th, so take advantage of the lowest price available for the nation’s premier innovation conference this summer and get your team registered now! 
Member Districts: If you’re ready to secure your 2019-20 InnovateK12 membership (which includes one Summit registration), then you can request to have your full team registered via your membership invoice and save an extra $10 per registration!
"I really liked the open access - of each presenter, of the entire process, of resources. It's so rare to find such genuine collaboration and generosity within education, across districts and even across states! That is really special and reflects the entire culture that I hope to shape by using design thinking and this process as critical parts."

Emily Ferris, Academy Principal at Eleanor McMain Secondary School
InspireNOLA Charter Schools, New Orleans, LA
K12 Innovation Summit Keynote
Design Thinking for School Leaders Author Kami Thordarson Kicks off Day #2 at the K12 Innovation Summit!
What if education leaders approached their work with the perspective of a designer? This new perspective of seeing the world differently is desperately needed in schools and begins with school leadership. Kami Thordarson, Director of Innovation and Digital Learning in Campbell Union School District (CA) is a widely recognized expert on Design Thinking, educational leadership, and innovative strategies.

"Design is the rendering of intent."

Kami calls this new perspective design-inspired leadership —one of the most powerful ways to ignite positive change and address education challenges using the same design and innovation principles that have been so successful in private industry. One more reason to reserve your seat today for the K12 Innovation Summit!
Summertime in the Twin Cities... Wow!
We’re excited to announce a great new location!

This year’s K12 Innovation Summit will be held at the Minneapolis Marriott Airport, a half mile from the MSP airport and only a block from the Mall of America with regular shuttle service to both locations! The Marriott will offer the discounted price for one day before the event and one day after.

You’ll have plenty of team time during the conference and time to network with leaders from over 60 innovative districts across the country! Don’t miss it!
Minneapolis Airport Marriott
2020 American Boulevard East
Bloomington, Minnesota 55425 USA
We’re expecting great weather that weekend (of course!) There are a number of exciting things happening in the Twin Cities in the days before and after the Summit so consider extending your stay! Check our a few events below.
is a fantastic music festival on Friday and Saturday night.
The Minnesota United soccer team takes on FC Dallas on Saturday night, 7pm at the new stadium!
The Minnesota Twins host the New York Mets on Tuesday evening at 7:10pm at Target Field.
Thank you to our returning Summit Sponsors!
February Book Study: How Stella Saved the Farm
Chris Trimble and Vijay Govindarajan’s light-hearted allegorical tale about a group of farm animals who use innovative thinking to “save” the family farm is an easy, effective way to build leadership capacity in the disruptive world of leading innovation. This book provides the shared language that helps leaders manage the occasional conflict that occurs in an innovative organization and reimagine resource deployment as the organization shifts in new directions based on the new ideas that surface. The authors used case studies from Fortune 100 companies like IBM, John Deere, and BMW to ensure accuracy.

Check out the webinar in our InnovateK12 YouTube channel and then order a set of books for your team!
Spotlight on InnovateK12 Partners
At InnovateK12, we are excited and encouraged by the great work happening in the areas of design thinking and innovation within the K-12 community. If you’d like to establish a strategic partnership with InnovateK12, we would love to promote your work on our website and in our communications.
Our first strategic partnership was established recently with the team at Incubate to Innovate . Amanda Kopischke and Angela Anderson are doing amazing work helping educators integrate design thinking into their classrooms. They’ve developed a catalogue of well-crafted tools that can help your teachers learn how to engage students in deeper learning. If your teachers are looking for this kind of support, Amanda and Angela are a great resource!
2018-2019 InnovateK12 Districts
Put your district on the map for our 2019-2020 InnovateK12 Cohort!