Creativity and Innovation
This fifth post looks at ways in which students and teachers can improve the way they express ideas and communicate their understanding of key issues. I have also mentioned how cross-pollination into different spheres can help improve our practice as teachers – if you find this topic of particular interest please visit EatSleepTeach.com for more ideas.
Create Kaleidoscopes for Learning
I came across the FoldPlay website in one of @creativetallis‘ Tweets (well worth following for great ideas). This creative tool lets you upload a number of images and then download a .JPG kaleidoscope of your creation including instructions for putting it together – very cool. There is also a slideshow with still images which shows you step-by-step how to construct it. This would be a great addition to a task for students where they have to convey their understanding of a concept by selecting a number of images that together shape the meaning of that particular concept.
Here’s an example:
Making a Point
In Ideas for Learning and Creativity #3 I added the superb poem/talk by Taylor Mali as it shows how powerful public speaking can be with the right script and preparation (amongst other things). The following clip involves a different type of public speaking and demonstrates that age does not have to be an obstacle to a sincere and compelling speech. Truly inspiring.
Cross-Pollination
I have always tried to keep an eye on what other industries get up to, apart from education, for example how business view CPD, collaboration and the way they present information to customers. This cross-pollination of ideas is essential, in my opinion, so that our teaching practice and pedagogical ideas do not become insular and we can instead progress and explore new avenues. There are many books that can help you explore and make cross-pollination a regular aspect of your work, see this list. I also subscribe to different newsletters/RSS feeds or podcasts to keep in the loop of the ever changing world of innovation. One particularly useful source of information which I was suggested by Scott Hewitt of Real Projects recently, is the Harvard Business School – Working Knowledge . This website gives its readers insight into the cutting-edge thinking and research that is taking place place at Harvard and covers a wide range of topics and interests – well worth looking into even if you’re not interested in Business or Technology as they cover many other areas as well.
ICT and E-Learning
The Creative Beast
It’s hard to think of easy-to-use and cheap methods of producing high-quality media.
This is one of the most simple but creative ways of using text, images and post-its to communicate a message. The potential for using this format is immense whether one uses frame-by-frame animation in Adobe Flash or with a camcorder or digital camera, the results could be tremendous and the creative output for students very positive.
Besty Streeter blogs at Betsy Streeter .
WeToku: interviews made simple
WeToku was set up, according to the founders of this Korean website, because one of the team members, James, insistence that he was a true celebrity but found interviews face-to-face too inconvenient, so they made it easy for him by creating the website. Whatever the reason behind this nifty tool, it is a good resource if you want to invite someone for a meeting or to interview them for blog as you can record and then embed the video immediately afterwards. This has real potential particularly if you’re brave and decided to invite someone you’re inspired by for an interview – can you think of someone, I definitely can! WeToku can really make your blog even more interesting – I have scheduled an interview already.
Here’s an interview with Guy Kawasaki – discussion about the quality of the interviewer’s questions and prep is discussed on the website…
Clever Online PDF/PowerPoint Viewer
Have you ever tried the Google Docs Viewer ? This is a superb tool if you want to display PowerPoint presentations, like in SlideShare but without having to sign up, on your webpages. You can also embed PDF files which is a handy little feature, like this:
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