Open innovation is a challenge for any educational institution and requires a process of reflection and experimentation on the part of the teacher. However, the number of initiatives around open education is still far from reaching the desired levels. The period of confinement experienced in most Western economies since the Covid-19 crises revealed many shortcomings in terms of both innovative teaching methodologies and the use of information and communication technologies.
In order to promote open innovation, the University of Murcia has opted for a physical space to promote the teaching/learning process and open it up so that all participants can collaborate in optimising new teaching methodologies. This space is intended to be a meeting place for both students and teachers. This place of experimentation will help to improve teaching innovation initiatives before their implementation in a subject, which will therefore lead to better results in the whole teaching/learning process.
The teaching innovation laboratory is composed of two spaces. The first of these is the innovation laboratory itself and is 40 square metres in size and rectangular in shape. This room has a blackboard for the participants to share, multimedia elements, television, microphones, etc. The space is also equipped with board games, books, virtual reality glasses and 360º video recording cameras. Next to the innovation laboratory, an observation room has been created to monitor everything that happens inside the laboratory. The main advantage of having this observation room is that teachers or students who are experimenting will be able to do so freely without the need for direct supervision, as this will take place in the adjoining space. This commitment to open innovation diWers greatly from the processes of experimentation of new teaching methodologies that are developed in an isolated or closed manner without involving the rest of the groups that participate in teaching. The result of the laboratory has borne fruit and today it is a pillar for the open innovation that is being developed at the University of Murcia.
More information at https://www.um.es/web/innovacion/laboratorio
