Breaking traditions 2013

A Creativity Crisis?

• How do we make space for the hackers and the makers?

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

We are educating young people for a future not yet invented

• But we do know that it will be a future that demands creative approaches to life, work and community

20th Century 21st CenturyWorker ParticipantConsumer Innovator

Charles Leadbetter

The future is open for us to act on it, but not for us to control- Edmund Phelps

Are you a creative person?

We used to think creativity was given to just a special fewWe were mostly afraid of them

Elizabeth Gilbert – creativity is a kind of divine intervention – arrived at by hard work

Creativity is not just an economic imperative today – it’s a personal one

And a social one

Knowledge is a commodityThe world does not care about what you know

The world cares about what you can do with what you know

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?

To be a Continuous learner / Active informed citizen:

Critical thinking / Problem solving

Collaboration across networks –

leading by influence

Agility / Adaptability

Initiative / Entrepreneurship

Effective Oral / Written

Communications

Accessing / Analysing

Information

Curiosity / Imagination

What does a creative person look like?

My 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. Digging

70s oil shortages? Not a problem :)

Power outages?

Stove Starter

Stove won’t light?

Leftover Wavin pipe?

And he’s infected his grandchildren…

Do we educate these attributes out of young people?

Risk Taking

Tenacious, Never give

up

Not hung up on

process

Just Do It

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

Economic Requirements - skills in creativity, design, problem solving and innovation will be essential for high productivity

• Una Halligan, Chair, Expert Group on Future Skills Needs 2009

Our main brands

Lean Manufacturing – Flow

Improve quality, Eliminate waste, Simplify

Identify problems and empower local users to solve using the Scientific Method (Lean Six Sigma)

Flatten hierarchies

Manage Risk

What our students will make and use – hasn’t been invented yetBecause our students will invent them

Resilience and ability to weather change

The font of creativity is vulnerabilityThere is no innovation or creativity – without failure

Creativity in schools 1:04 3:55

Schools are innovating

Christmas Concert

Schools are hugely powerful

• Keri Facer

Last community resource

Do we protect children too much?

• Keri Facer

Can civic society and school work together to build new futures?

School as centre of local innovation?

Coder Dojo

Apps for Good

Young Rewired State

CoderDojo – notice where the parent is (left) and where the children are (leading the room)

Apps for Good

Academia

Online Education – NUI Galway

MOOCs – Sligo IT

Student as Producer – Lincoln University

Bridge to Learn – Trinity

#Edchatie

Student as Producer

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

What can each one of us do?

Nurture our own creativity

We have to be innovators, model, take risks, make mistakes, learn from them, work collaboratively

Where am I modelling play, passion, purpose?

Connect with others doing the same

Create safe spaces

Model Creativity

Make connections with students & outside our institution

Get out of the way

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