Connecting Across Boundaries to Life & Learning

Creativity, Connection & Change

MaryLoftus

Tony Wagner – Creating Innovators

The world does not ask, what knowledge you have?

It asks what skills do you have?

What can you do?

Are you motivated?

Creativity is not about creating ‘something out of nothing’…

Creativity encodes, selects, re-combines synthesises already existing facts, ideas, facilities, skillsArthur Koestler (1964) The Act of Creation

What does a creative person look like?

My Dad

DiggingMy Grandfather cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toner’s bog. Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods over his shoulder, going down and down. For the good turf.

70s oil shortages? Not a problem :)

And he’s infected his grandchildren…

• Creativity is about tapping into what is alive in us• It’s why we’re here

• We need to make and keep a connection to it

“A teacher used to say "Susan Ryan! Rathmines Town Hall today, Carnegie Hall New York tomorrow!" I never forgot that and when I did perform at Carnegie Hall I sent him a card to let him know I had fulfilled that vision he had for me”

“a few teachers… treated us like individuals with our own minds and opinions”

“I was the last child; I was singing from an early age and identified strongly with my musician mother… Her death propelled me more deeply into music, writing, philosophy, finding meaning: it helped, immensely”

“there's mental health issues in the family (hey, we're Irish) and hence there's high incidences of creativity in those families”

“my Dad gave me a clear message that artistic creativity was of no value however he was an inventor with an entrepreneurial mind (did I tell you he invented the Catch Bar?) and was certainly a creative thinker, so I have him to thank for what I call my cultural entrepreneur side, and the tendency to be hell bent on doing something if someone tells me I can't (a trait common in entrepreneurs)”

• Paradoxes of Creativity• It requires failure,

exposure and overcoming vulnerability & shame

• The antidote to shame is empathy

• Unused creativity is not benign. It clumps inside us, turning into judgment, grief, anger and shame

We can’t make space for our students to Draw from their creative well

If we don’t fill our own well first

We have to be innovators, model, take risks, make mistakes, learn from them, work collaborativelyWhere am I modelling play, passion, purpose?

How do you nurture your own Creativity and what is alive in you?

How could you nurture it some more?

tinyurl.com/icteduq1

• Creativity + Connection

• The Internet is a machine made out of people - a connection machine – dana boyd

• Connection is also why we’re here• It’s why many of us are here in Tipp today

• Schools are hugely powerful• Last community resource• Educators, students and communities have an important

role to play in imagining and building the future• - Keri Facer

Songs from the East Village – Susan McKeown

What gets measured gets managed

• What are we measuring?

• Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership - Demming

• The Hawthorne effect is a kind of "tell-me-what-you-measure-I-will-tell-you-how-people-react-to-it" effect

• PISA scores inversely correlated with innovation – Pam Moran / Ira Socol

Connecting Across Boundaries – how?

Schools

Industry

Universities

CoderDojos

Giving kids and young people all over the world better access to the Magic behind the technology that surrounds us and touches almost

everything that we do in our lives, CoderDojo is a global community of free programming clubs for young people.

The Kids “Ninjas” ChampionsMentors Parents

• Attend sessions

• Learn skills

• Coding

• Presenting

• Interpersonal

• Become part of an

international coding

community

• Coach kids

• Demo to kids

• Create content

• Help kids to find

answers to

questions

• Kids who become

adept at coding

through CoderDojo

make the best

mentors!

• Set up & run

Dojos

• Often mentor

• Coordinate

everybody

• Primary liaison

for interactions

with the

Foundation team,

Local Businesses

& Venue etc.

• Facilitate their

children’s

learning

• Support their

local Dojos

through

maintaining the

environment of

“One Rule: Be

Cool”

Notice where the parent is (left)and where the children are (leading the room)

MissionV is providing a highly creative, totally immersive, game based learning environment for schools and industry. We’re putting the focus

on 21st century skills, helping students to become original digital creators with 3D modelling and programming skills.

MissionV allows students to connect, create and collaborate in a 3D world entirely of their own making.

Real world context

oUse real world problems

oDraw on real world Experts

oUse real world methods

oDevelop tech skills & “soft” skills

Student-driven learning

oKeep it project-based

oDraw on flipped classroom

approaches

oGive opportunity for creativity

oUse a team approach

oBuild in opportunity to “fail”

Coding & technology

oKeep it creative

oFocus on purpose

oUse familiar technology

oUse full range of free software

oDraw on self- or peer-learning

Creativity and technology can go hand in hand

Creativity can & must be learned thru tech

Course content &

pedagogyTools , training

& support

AFG AwardsExpert Community

Apps for Good – a free programme for schools

Education partners receive:

Course content &

pedagogy

oCourse plans

oPresentations &

videos

oStudent activities

oTeaching notes

Tools , training

& support

oCourse induction

oCoding materials

oSchool-to-school

support from our

Ninja Education

Partners

AFG Awards

oNational competition

oOpportunity for your

students’ apps to go

on the market, owned

by them

Expert Community

oAccess to 600+

Tech professionals

oVideo content from

top names in tech

oExamples of work

from real world

products

Find out how to join for free – www.appsforgood.org

Creativity:

Wholistic integrated thinking ‘and’ not ‘or’ CollaborationMessy & requires comfort with making mistakesBenefits from Mentors & Muses

- Debbie Forster, Co-CEO

Find and foster a community of young coders and digital makersGet them 'civic hacking' together: using their skills, to improve their communitiesPromote peer to peer learningProvide a fun, inclusive and supportive environmentEquip these young people with the skills to become the tech stars of tomorrow

What creative educational related connections and collaborations do

you want to nurture?

tinyurl.com/icteduq2

Young Digital Makers UK - Key Recommendations

The high levels of interest in digital making amongst young people and parents need to be

capitalised on further.

Young people need to be supported as digital makers

across the UK, not just in London and areas that have

high provision.

Non-professionals – such as volunteers, parents, teachers, and young people themselves

– need to be mobilised.

There needs to be greater access to a variety of making opportunities catering for a

wider variety of young people and their different interests,

ages and genders.

Clear pathways to excellence should be built to grow young people’s ambitions as digital makers and help them fulfilltheir potential, in and out of

school.

Schools must exploit their potential as a hub for digital making opportunities, work

with informal learning organisations, raise parents’

awareness and recruit volunteers.

Digital making organisations need to be supported to grow sustainably through new and

existing partnerships with grassroots organisations and

private companies.

What policy or system changes would you like to see to promote more creativity and innovation in

the education space?

tinyurl.com/icteduq3

Summary

Nurture your own Creativity

Connect with Others

Push for Change

Action Praxis

Backup Slides

3rd Level

Bridge to Learn - Trinity

Student as Producer – Lincoln University

Online Education – NUI Galway

MOOCs – Sligo IT

Carl Rogers‘Saw himself as a facilitator -one who created the environment for engagement.

•Active Listening•Creating a safe space

There were 'ways of being' with others that foster exploration and encounter‘ Smith (1999)

Further reading:Joe McCarthyDonald Clark

• Realness in the facilitator of learning • Prizing, acceptance, trust • Empathetic understanding

Mentors

Is there a teacher or mentor who’s made a difference –2/3rds said yes

Many of these mentor teachers were outliers