Our Journey Toward Launching an Educational Innovation and Entrepreneurial Network

Our job as educators is to prepare our students for the future. But what does that future now look like?

“Innovation and Entrepreneurship” are the top areas of focus for colleges and businesses. Literally billions have been set aside by several state legislators to foster these skills in business and education. But how do we “teach” innovation?

StartEdUp is an organization to bring these skills to the forefront, so we can stop talking about changing education, and start creating opportunities for our students to become “innovative” and even “entrepreneurial.”

My “call to adventure,” was last year. I was presenting on why we need innovation in education, and what my students were able to accomplish. After the presentation, a teacher came and said, “I wish my son could take your innovation class.” She then paused and asked, “why don’t you put some resources online, so my son can learn with your network?”

This was my call to action. She was right, I’ve been pushing hard to grow an innovation curriculum for high schools, and help sow the seeds of innovation for elementary and middle schools. Developing classes online could help this movement accelerate. But I needed help, so I’ve assembled a team of entrepreneurs, innovators, authors, CEOs, and most importantly, former students. (You can meet our founding team here).

Our first (of several) online classes is designed to introduce creativity and innovation to more schools. I don’t want to go on too long, but rather you take action. If you are interested in taking our new 6 week crash course on creativity and innovation, please sign up here.

In the past few months I have put together several courses that involve innovation, entrepreneurship, and social media student training, among others.

However, we wanted to start off by working with teachers to challenge them to think like innovators. Thus, our “Innovation Crash Course” is now live! This class has been beta tested by over 100 teachers, administrators, and entrepreneurs. The feedback was awesome:

Here is one example received from Alisha Smith, a 5th grade teacher from Wichita Kansas.

“I believe in innovation and I want to be able to provide the best possible learning environment for my students. I believe it’s time for an educational shift in our country. I hope to help make our education system what it needs to be for kids!”

Here is what entrepreneur and founder of Moon Express , Naveen Jain said:

We are serious about action. We no longer want “talks” and book studies on innovation, or let “Shark Tank” be the only place where student entrepreneurs are celebrated. Rather, we want to work directly with you, and have the power of a network focused on innovation and entrepreneurial mindsets.

If you are an educator or homeschool parent, I invite you to take our first course. But rather than just take the class, we will be conducting follow up activities and encourage you to participate in our network. A network that already features world-renowned teachers, entrepreneurs, and innovators.

I no longer want our educational system throw buzzwords like “innovation” and “entrepreneur” around. It’s time to start innovating, empowering.

It’s time to #StartEdUp.