New course: Creativity in teaching & learning

by | Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Announcing a new online course for the fall semester 2008:Creativity in teaching and learning

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently… You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing that you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?—Apple Computer’s Think Different campaign (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Different)

Brief course description
Creativity is of increasing importance to educators both for their professional success and that of their students particularly given the complex, evolving knowledge ecology we are live in. In this online course we will explore a range of questions related to creativity. These include: What does it mean to be creative? Is creativity born or can it be developed/ learned/ nurtured? Does creativity reside in the individual or in the social (or organizational) context within which we live? What does the creative process look like? What is the relationship between creativity, play and humor? (In other words, do creative people have more fun?) How can we become more creative in teaching? How can technology help us become more creative teachers and learners? How can be integrate creativity in subject matter learning? How do we assess creativity? How can we develop creativity in others (particularly in learners)? What are the consequences of these ideas in an era dominated by NCLB?


The ability to be creative and flexible is critical in today’s rapidly changing world. The emergence of the knowledge economy (and the knowledge worker) means that tasks are rarely “given” or structured. We are now expected to operate in a complex and chaotic ecology where our very survival and personal identity is tied up in improvising knowledgeable answers to largely unanticipated problems. In fact, the biggest challenge in these contexts may be finding out what the problem is in the first place.

It has been argued that the solution to these concerns is an increased emphasis on creativity. In this online course we will explore a range of questions related to creativity. These include: What does it mean to be creative? Is creativity born or can it be developed/ learned/ nurtured? Does creativity reside in the individual or in the social (or organizational) context within which we live? What does the creative process look like? What characterizes a creative person? What is the relationship between creativity, play and humor? (In other words, do creative people have more fun?) How can we become more creative in teaching? How do we assess creativity? How can we develop creativity in other (particularly in learners)? What are the consequences of these ideas in an era dominated by NCLB?

A critical part of becoming creative is being able to play—to play with ideas, with concepts feeling comfortable in doing so. The activities in this course will seek to develop such an approach. In an interactive series of modules we will explore the meaning of creativity—how it is defined and explore some strategies for developing, nurturing and supporting creativity. This course will be extremely hands-on with multiple opportunities for discussion and exploration. Each of the issues/topics will also be illustrated with multiple examples from the world of education, psychology, and business, interspersed with games and puzzles connected to the ideas being discussed.

Goals & Learning objectives
The essential paradox of creativity: Creativity cannot be taught, but it can be learned.
Goal: This course will explore the meaning of creativity (emphasizing both the cognitive and affective components)—how it is defined, and understood, and explore some strategies (psychological, behavioral, and institutional) for developing, nurturing and supporting creativity. Of particular emphasis will be the development of creativity in the classroom (both in terms of creativity in teaching, and in student learning).

Learning objective 1: Participants will be able to define and identify creativity in professional, personal and institutional contexts and recognize the two key models of decision making.

Learning objective 2: Participants will learn the 5 standard steps in the creative process, particularly the importance of finding and imposing patterns.

Learning objective 3: Participants will engage in multiple creative tasks based on the idea of finding and seeking patterns and will seek to extrapolate their learning from this task to other contexts.

Learning objective 4: Participants will understand that creativity happens best under playful conditions (something difficult to capture in specific learning objectives – which turns out to be another paradox of trying to teach creativity).

Learning objective 5: Participants will learn multiple strategies for applying creativity in their professional lives: as a teacher, educator, parent and learner.

Tentative outline of activities: A warm-up activity that would feed into the upcoming topics.

Module1: Defining creativity, through examples and discussion. The relationship between creativity and innovation. The fox and the hedgehog—as two models of approaching the complex world of decision making.

Myth: Creativity is a “big sudden insight available only to people with certain talents.” Contrast this with what people have found, that the essence of creativity is finding variations on a theme—a process of finding and tweaking “knobs.” The idea of slippability.

Module 2: The 5 “standard” steps in the creative process. The importance of both finding and imposing patterns. Examples of both.

One way of being creative: On imposing a discipline (as long as you are willing to change it later). Group activity: On the systematic exploration of metaphor.

Module 3: Individual, social and organizational aspects of creativity.

How can we generate group creativity? Exploring creativity strategies.

Module 4: Creativity in teaching

How does creativity play out in an era of NCLB? How do we assess creativity in teaching?

Module 5: Creativity in the classroom

Getting students to be creative, particularly in subject matter areas? Assessment of creativity and learning?

Module 6: Bringing it all together

Topics related to this post: Creativity | Design | Fun | Learning | Online Learning | Psychology | Teaching | Technology

A few randomly selected blog posts…

e. e. cummings on the battle for identity

Patrick Dickson just quoted e. e. cummings (one of my favorite poets) and I just had to look it up. To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can...

Ideas are cool

My colleague and friend David Wong has this cool idea, about making ideas cool. Actually, he has been espousing these ideas for a while now (check out his scholarly publications, in particular The Rebirth of Cool [Word doc]). But now this academic has stepped out of...

Undo this

Wouldn't it be great if life came with an undo key-stroke-combination? Just a thought I threw out today during a meeting which led to a discussion of how this could be a great movie idea. Seems intriguing...

The infinity of primes (proof as poem)

The math-po (and sci-po) stream keeps flowing. Math Mama Writes, who started the whole math-poetry movement has some more on her blog, and here is Erin Nash with some really beautiful biological poetry. And of course, here's her husband Sean Nash having his students...

Qualitative research in an age of AI

Qualitative research in an age of AI

Qualitative data can be extremely rich, complex and insightful, allowing us to uncover the complexities of human experiences, perceptions, and interactions. It can also be complicated and messy. And the way we make sense of it is through the one-two punch of thematic...

TE150 wins MSU-AT&T Award

Matt Koehler and I just arrived in New York, 3 hours late, checked into our hotel, paid 14.95 for internet - and guess what it was all worth it. One of the first emails I had received informed us that we had won the 2008 MSU-AT&T Instructional Technology Awards...

Presentation at University of Zurich

Presentation at University of Zurich

I was invited by my friend Dominik Petko, Professor of Teaching and Educational Technology at the Institute for Educational Science at the University of Zurich to make a presentation to their faculty and staff. The video of my presentation (Contextualizing TPACK...

Miami / Globe Video Update

Miami / Globe Video Update

I had posted earlier about the work our design initiatives team is involved with at Miami Junior-Senior High School. Essentially the entire faculty and leadership at the school have taken on the challenge of re-imagining the 7/8 curriculum through an integrated...

Mishra & Girod (2006/2007)

Mishra, P., & Girod, M. (2006/2007). Designing learning through learning to design. The High School Journal. 90(1). 44 – 51. Reprinted in K. M. Cauley, & G. Pannozzo, (Eds.), Annual Edition: Educational Psychology 07/08. McGraw-Hill: NY. Abstract: This paper...

7 Comments

  1. Denise Brookbank

    I would like to know if there is an online course for creativity in teaching and learning in the near future as I feel strongly about this point and I would like to have more convincing points for my teachers
    Many thanks

    Reply
  2. Claire Parker

    It seemed a great course. If i could have this…

    Reply
  3. Waco Cars

    Great post! I look forward to reading more on how the course affected others and their creativity level.

    Reply
  4. Joyce Soriano

    I need some helpful tips regarding on how to be a good trainor to the early learning stage about creativity to teach the best way…..

    Reply
  5. Diane

    This sounds like a fun course and an interesting query – How useful is creativity in teaching and learning? Perhaps I can revise my course plans…

    Reply
  6. Jeremy

    I’m so excited about this class. I can’t wait to take it. It will incorporate everything I love.

    Reply
  7. Sharon

    I’m excited about this course. Sadly, I will likely not be around for it.

    Reply

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