play

“A whole new trend is about to explode in the educational app world.” [Clare]

On 06/26/2015, in active learning, Augmented Reality (AR), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, creativity, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, K-12 related, play, teachers, teaching & learning, trends, youth, by Daniel Christian

Tech Toys (and Tools) for Learning – from edutopia.org by Jayne Clare

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

A whole new trend is about to explode in the educational app world. You may be familiar with the new tech that allows for apps to interact with tangible objects. This enhanced interactive technology is undoubtedly one that will change educational apps as we know them. Soon, the pairing of augmented reality with extensive curriculum guides will be commonplace in the classroom. Indie developers are producing a wide range of products that focus on spatial awareness, language development, number sense, problem solving, and motor skills, as well as an introduction to literacy, math, and the sciences.

What I find most exciting about this trend is the ability to get manipulatives back in the hands of children while simultaneously allowing them to interact with digital tools. As an educator, I’m relieved to know that learning through virtual technologies is able to occur in conjunction with physical play, all while fostering creativity. Suddenly there has emerged a balance between digital play and physical, imaginative, and cognitively engaging play. Kids have always learned best when they have the ability to engage all of their senses during play. The most powerful learning happens when the integration of body, mind, and brain are incorporated simultaneously. Promoting active learning can teach and model concepts and skills; children can then generalize those skills into real-time experiences and their daily routines off-screen.

“Surprising insights: How teachers use games in the classroom” [Korbey] plus other items re: games and learning

On 06/24/2015, in educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, love of learning, mathematics, multimedia, participation, play, student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

Surprising insights: How teachers use games in the classroom — from ww2.kqed.org (MindShift) by Holly Korbey

Excerpt:

More teachers are using digital games in the classroom, and they’re using them more frequently, according to a new teacher survey just released by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. But more surprisingly, the study reveals that teachers are finding that one of the most impactful use of games is for motivating and rewarding students, specifically those who are low-performing.

The survey, which interviewed 694 K-8 teachers with an average of 14.5 years of teaching experience, aims to understand how and why teachers are using digital games in the classroom.
…
Almost half the teachers surveyed — 47 percent — said low-performing students who’ve been struggling in traditional school settings benefited the most from using games. Conversely, only 15 percent of teachers said that high-performing students benefited from playing games.

How digital games can help kids learn — from thedianerehmshow.org

Description:
For as long as there have been schools, teachers have tried to find ways to keep children engaged in the classroom. Today a growing number of schools are using video and other digital games as teaching tools. Many of the games incorporate incentives and rewards to keep students engaged. Experts say the best of them are challenging as well as fun. But critics question whether game designers are promising too much. Some say not enough is known about how these games can affect the learning skills and developing brains of children. A discussion of the role of digital play in schools.

Guests

Greg Toppo national education and demographics reporter, USA Today; author of a new book, “The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter.”
Keith Devlin mathematician and co-founder and executive director of Stanford University’s H-STAR institute; he’s the co-founder and president of BrainQuake,an educational technology company. He’s also the “Math Guy” on NPR.
Leah Hirsch science teacher and curriculum designer at Quest to Learn, a public middle school in New York City.
Robert Pondiscio senior fellow with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank.

Also see:

Games vs Game-based Learning vs Gamification — from upsidelearning.com
Excerpt:

Addendum on 6/29/15:

Gamification or game-based learning? What’s the difference? — from knowledgedirectweb.com

Addendum on 6/30/15:

Top 6 Benefits Of Gamification In eLearning — from elearningindustry.com by Asha Pandey
Gamification in eLearning helps create an effective learning system that enables learners to rehearse real-life scenarios and challenges in a safe environment. In this article, I will walk you through some of the benefits of Gamification for learners and how the experience of learning (recall and retention) can be enhanced through Gamification.

7 things parents and teachers should know about teens [Elias]

On 06/08/2015, in creativity, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, parents/guardians, play, psychology, relationships, teachers, youth, by Daniel Christian

7 things parents and teachers should know about teens — from edutopia.org by Maurice Elias; with a shout out to Brian Bailey for his Tweet on this

Excerpt:

What Teens Think About
Generally speaking, Rachael believed we give adolescents far too little credit. The passages in their lives are moments when they ask themselves important questions, such as these:

How does my life have meaning and purpose?
What gifts do I have that the world wants and needs?
To what or whom do I feel most deeply connected?
How can I rise above my fears and doubts?
What or who awakens or touches the spirit within me?

…

What Can Parents and Educators Do?
While parents and educators may have a hard time addressing issues of soul and spirit with their teens, it can help to be aware of some ways into the hearts and minds of young people that can make a difference. Here is what Rachael Kessler suggests in her landmark book, The Soul of Education.

Positive Belonging
Silence and Solitude
Reflections on Life
Joy and Play
Creativity
Linking to the Large
Shape the Passages

From DSC:
Along these lines, please see:

…and also:

How might iBeacon scavenger hunts be used in education? On field trips? Around school?

On 05/21/2015, in 21st century, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, ideas, machine-to-machine communications, Near Field Communication (NFC), play, student-related, virtual field trips, by Daniel Christian

When I saw this tweet…

An iBeacon Scavenger Hunt for Your Event? Here’s What’s Involved http://t.co/gLaheA0ZkK #Eventprofs

— PremiumThemeClub (@ThemeClub) May 21, 2015

It made me wonder:

How might iBeacon scavenger hunts apply to education? To field trips? To learning around a school?

Talk about engagement! Anticipation! A sense of play! Making learning fun!

———–

A related addendum on 5/22/15:

Play in Education — from hybridpedagogy.com by Chris Friend, Stephanie Vie, Kyle Stedman and Jesse Stommel
Excerpt:
Why isn’t school more fun?

Fred Rogers, famous in America for creating Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, said, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” Why do we assume, though, that adults don’t also learn from play? In this episode, I assert that “serious learning” happens through play at any age, and that a playful approach to classes, professions, and identity has benefits that too often get ignored in academia.

Unfortunately, school is often anything but playful. Between compulsory attendance, state-mandated testing, and the regimented routine of bell schedules, students are often expected to conform and comply, rather than to improvise and experiment. It seems there should be a way to incorporate play into education, making school something that students enjoy, look forward to, and find productive.

Adeline Koh writes that “play is serious business,” and this episode explores that assertion and tests the ways in which it can be applied to today’s educational environments.

Lance Weiler’s must-read story about the future of storytelling [Smolen]

On 05/21/2015, in collaboration, communications, design, digital storytelling, experimentation, future, higher education, innovation, interactivity, K-12 related, play, story, storytelling, transmedia, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Lance Weiler’s must-read story about the future of storytelling — from kidscreen.com by Wendy Smolen

Excerpt:

As the founder of the Columbia University Digital Storytelling Lab, and its Director of Experiential Learning and Applied Creativity, you’ve convinced some major powers that work and learning begin with a story. What does that mean to those in the industry who make products for kids?

My work at Columbia University explores how story, play and design can be harnessed to create collaborative work and learning environments. A key takeaway from our experiments so far is the value of a diversity of perspectives. We often strive to embrace a designing “with” and “for” methodology. This is a fundamental shift for the entertainment industry but the reality is the audience has evolved into storytellers. They are now their own little media companies able to push-button publish for the world to see.

As creation and consumption blend, story and code continue to collide. At Columbia we are exploring new forms and functions of storytelling. How can stories be used as a discovery method? How can they enable people to connect to the world around them? How can they become a utility that can solve everyday challenges?

Story and Code have different development cycles and require different set of skills. So at Columbia and within my own work I often benefit from assembling a kind of 21st Century Writer’s Room. My core team has expanded to include creative technologists, data researchers and systems designers. What connects the team is a series of stories that we use to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the core vision and goals are communicated.

…

The Digital Storytelling Lab, therefore, is a place of speculation, of creativity, and of collaboration between students and faculty from across Columbia University. New stories are told here in new and unexpected ways.

Also see:

If the NBA & NHL can do this, what about applying this in education & training?

On 03/16/2015, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, business, changing business models, communications, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, formal learning, future, global / globalization, health, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, immersion, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, play, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, technologies for your home, training / L&D, transmedia, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt:

AUSTIN, TX – Virtual reality is featured prominently at South By Southwest Sports this year, from using it to better train athletes with Oculus Rift to how it could transform the fan experience watching basketball, football and hockey at home.
…
The NHL had its first successful test of a 360-degree virtual reality experience at its Stadium Series game between the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings last month, mounting cameras around the glass that filmed HD images in the round.

Excerpt:

When basketball lovers aren’t able to trek to stadiums near and far to follow their favorite teams, it’s possible that watching games on a bar’s widescreen TV from behind bowls of wings is the next best thing. This may no longer be true, however, as a wave of court-side, 3D virtual game experiences is becoming available to superfans with Oculus gear.

Earlier this month, NextVR showed off its new enhanced spectator experiences at the 2015 NBA All-Star Technology Summit with virtual reality (VR) footage of an October 2014 Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers match-up in Rio de Janeiro. The NBA also already announced plans to record VR sessions of the NBA All-Star Game, the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, and the Sprite Slam Dunk event and practice.

From DSC:
In the future, will you be able to “pull up a seat” at any lecture — throughout the globe — that you want to?

Alternatively, another experiment might relate to second screening lectures — i.e., listening to the lecture on the main/large screen — in your home or office — and employing social-based learning/networking going on via a mobile device.

Consider this article:

Twitter Aims To Hook TV Viewers With Radical New Mobile Service
Twitter’s TV Timeline lets viewers focus on one show while second-screening

TV-friendly social network Twitter is testing a new Social TV service on iPhones which provides users with content and interaction about only one TV show at a time.

The aim is to give users significantly better engagement with their favourite shows than they presently experience when they follow a live broadcast via a Twitter hashtag.

This radical innovation in Social TV design effectively curates just relevant content (screening out irrelevant tweets that use a show’s hashtag) and presents it in an easy-to-use interface.

If successful, the TV Timeline feature will better position Twitter as it competes with Facebook to partner with the television industry and tap advertising revenue related to TV programming.

Looking at these 2 toys, do we really believe that the expectations of today’s children will be the same as previous generations?!

On 03/10/2015, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, expectations, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, personalized/customized learning, play, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Cognitoy-ElementalPath-March2015
CognitoyFramed-March2015

From DSC:
Given the above…what are the ramifications of that in our/your work?

Also see:

Kickstarter campaign: CogniToys: Internet-connected Smart Toys that Learn and Grow
2,003 backers | $243,021 pledged of $50,000 goal
Elementalpath.com
IBM Watson
A somewhat-related resource: AlchemyAPI Now a Part of IBM Watson, following acquisition

A related addendum on 3/11/15
Look at the different expectations of the generations found in this article:

What is work to a Millennial? — from clomedia.com by Ladan Nikravan

A related addendum on 3/17/15:

MIT’s DragonBot Evolving to Better Teach Kids — from spectrum.ieee.org by Evan Ackerman

Excerpt:
The overall goal for DragonBot (which, as far as I can tell, is a common platform used for many different projects) is to develop “personalized learning companions” for children. In other words, MIT is finding ways in which robots like DragonBot can effectively help kids learn.

DragonBot isn’t intended to work like that IBM Watson-based dinosaur robot; it’s not a primary source of knowledge, and it’s not actively teaching a whole bunch of new facts to kids who use it. Rather, DragonBot is intended to help with the process of learning itself, encouraging kids to be interactively engaged in whatever they happen to be learning about.

3 items re: necessary skills for the modern workplace

On 02/26/2015, in career development, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, education reform, entrepreneurship, innovation, new media literacies, play, professional development, social learning / networks, training / L&D, trends, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

digital workforce skills — from jarche.com by Harold Jarche

Excerpt:

Behaviour change comes through small, but consistent, changes in practice. So how do we move from responsibility, to creativity, and potentially to innovation? Play, explore, and converse. But first we need to build a space to practice. This is where management plays a key role: providing the space to ‘Do it Yourself’.

Our employer-employee marriages need counseling — from forbes.com by Dov Seidman

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Our Big Asks of employees have become so pervasive that they’re transforming into competencies. A report by Palo Alto-based non-profit research firm Institute for the Future identifies 10 increasingly important work skills. These include talents like: The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communication; cross-cultural competency; proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rules-based; and the ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning.

Andrew McAfee: The Second Machine Age is approaching. Here’s how we can prepare. — from huffingtonpost.com by Dawn Nakagawa , EVP, Berggruen Institute

Excerpt:

Nakagawa: Inequality is already a problem. How much worse will inequality get in this new future?

McAfee: The stratospheric wealth of the 1 percent presents some challenges. But I think it’s largely a distraction from the more important challenge, which is not about the people at the top pulling away. It is about the 50th-percentile worker or the 25th-percentile worker. It is about the stagnation in the prospects and earnings of the middle class. We need to focus on how to improve the prospects for the middle and the bottom, people who are finding themselves stagnating or sliding backwards. It could well be that higher marginal tax rates on top levels of income and wealth are part of the solution, but we need to broaden the conversation to look for comprehensive solutions to a complex problem.

…

Nakagawa: How do we need to change the education system, not to address the labor force skills gap we see today but to prepare our younger generation for the economy that is coming?

McAfee: Our education system is in need of an overhaul. It is frustrating that our primary education system is doing a pretty good job at turning out the kinds of workers we needed 50 years ago. Basic skills, the ability to follow instructions, execute defined tasks with some level of consistency and reliability. Machines can do all those things better than we can. What they can’t do, at least not yet, are things like negotiate, provide loving and compassionate care, motivate a team of people, design a great experience, realize what people want or need, figure out the next problem to work on and how to solve it and so on. And not all the items on that list require advanced degrees. We’re going to need people with all kinds of skills and training for some time to come, so let’s rethink our education system so that it provides the required variety.

Here’s a peek at the Minerva Project’s classroom of the future — from washingtonpost.com by Matt McFarland
Check out five ideas that could impact the way we live, work and play.

Excerpt:

“Think of the fanciest version of Google Hangouts or Skype designed to be a classroom,” explains a student. “It’s very different than a traditional classroom, but in a way it’s what a traditional classroom distilled down to its purest form I feel like would look like,” says another.

Also see:

Team-based content creation/delivery is pulling ahead of the pack!

On 11/04/2014, in A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, higher education, immersion, innovation, interactivity, learning ecosystem, love of learning, media/film, Michigan, multimedia, online learning, participation, play, psychology, real-world assignments, relationships, religion, social learning / networks, social media, society, sociology, story, storytelling, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, transmedia, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Last week I attended the 20th Annual Online Learning Consortium International Conference. While there, I was inspired by an excellent presentation entitled, “A Disruptive Innovation: MSU’s Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse – Are You Ready to Survive a New Way of Learning?“ The four team members from Michigan State University included:

Glenn R. Stutzky | Course Instructor
Keesa V. Muhammad | Instructional Designer
Christopher Irvin | Instructional Designer
Hailey Mooney | Course Librarian

Check out the intro clip on the website about the course:

From the description for the presentation:

This session highlights MSU’s award winning, groundbreaking online course that fuses social theory, filmmaking, social media, and viral marketing while students survive an apocalyptic event. http://zombie.msu.edu/

MSU created and used powerful digital storytelling and multimedia to overlay real, experiential, immersive learning. Important content was relayed, but in a way that drew upon your emotions, your ability to solve problems and navigate in a world where you didn’t have all of the information, your ability to work with others, and more.

“This innovative course integrates current research and science on catastrophes and human behavior together with the idea of a zombie apocalypse. In doing so, we actively engage with students as they think about the nature, scope, and impact of catastrophic events on individuals, families, societies, civilizations, and the Earth itself.”

“Our innovative approach to teaching and learning features: students as active participants, the instructor becomes the facilitator, storytelling replaces lectures, zombies become the catalyst of teaching, a “zombrarian” (librarian) drives research, and the students emerge as digital storytellers as a way of assessing their own learning.”

Others outside MUS have found out about the course and have requested access to it. As a result of this, they’ve opened it up to non-credit seeking participants and now various people from police forces, Centers for Disease Control, and others are able to take the course. To make this learning experience even more accessible, the cost has been greatly reduced: from $1600+ to just $500. (So this talented team is not only offering powerful pedagogies, but also significant monetary contributions to the university as well.)

For me, the key thing here is that this course represents what I believe is the direction that’s starting to really pull ahead of the pack and, if done well, will likely crush most of the other directions/approaches. And that is the use of teams to create, deliver, teach, and assess content – i.e., team-based learning approaches.

So many of the sessions involved professional development for professors and teachers – and much of this is appropriate. However, in the majority of cases, individual efforts aren’t enough anymore. Few people can bring to the table what a talented, experienced group of specialists are able to bring. Individual efforts aren’t able to compete with team-based content creation and delivery anymore — and this is especially true online, whereby multiple disciplines are immediately invoked once content hits the digital realm.

In this case, the team was composed of:

The professor
Two Instructional Designers
and a librarian

The team:

Developed websites
Designed their own logo
Marketed the course w/ a zombie walking around campus w/ brochures and a walking billboard
Used a Twitter stream
Used a tool called Pensu for their students’ individual journals
Made extensive use of YouTube and digital storytelling
Coined a new acronym called MOLIE – multimedia online learning immersive experience
Used game-like features, such as the development of a code that was found which revealed key information (which was optional, but was very helpful to those who figured it out). The team made it so that the course ended differently for each group, depending upon what the teams’ decisions were through the weeks
Used some 3D apps to make movies more realistic and to create new environments
Continually presented new clues for students to investigate. Each team had a Team Leader that posted their team’s decisions on YouTube.

They encouraged us to:
THINK BIG! Get as creative as you can, and only pull back if the “suits” make you! Step outside the box! Take risks! “If an idea has life, water it. Others will check it out and get involved.”

In their case, the idea originated with an innovative, risk-taking professor willing to experiment – and who started the presentation with the following soliloquy:

Syllabi are EVIL

Syllabi are EVIL and they must die!
Listen to me closely and I’ll tell you why.
Just want students to know what is known?
See what’s been seen?
Go – where we’ve been going?
Then the Syllabus is your friend,
cuz you know exactly where you’ll end.
But if you want to go somewhere new,
see colors beyond Red, Green, and Blue.
Then take out your Syllabus and tear-it-in-half,
now uncertainty has become your path.
Be not afraid because you’ll find,
the most amazing things from Creative Minds,
who have been set free to FLY,
once untethered from the Syllabi.

Glenn Stutzky
Premiered at the 2014
Online Learning Consortium International Conference
October 29, 2014

“The number of infected in Michigan has reached critical mass.” CSM Quintero #sw290 pic.twitter.com/F6m8ZaoRyG

— MSU Zombie (@MSUZombies) June 19, 2014

They started with something that wasn’t polished, but it’s been an iterative approach over the semesters…and they continue to build on it.

I congratulated the team there — and do so again here. Excellent, wonderful work!

By the way, what would a creative movie-like trailer look like for your course?

iBeacons give visitors to the Palmer Museum of Art a customized experience [Jacobs]

On 10/27/2014, in Apple, art, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interactivity, love of learning, machine-to-machine communications, Near Field Communication (NFC), personalized/customized learning, play, by Daniel Christian

iBeacons give visitors to the Palmer Museum of Art a customized experience — from news.psu.edu by Katie Jacobs

Excerpt:

Soon, there will be new, high-tech additions to the Palmer Museum’s galleries — small electronic devices that will be stuck to walls behind paintings, hidden under shelves or concealed in corners. You won’t be able to see them, but your mobile devices will.

The devices ares iBeacons, small transmitters created by Apple that communicate with nearby smartphones. If a visitor has the correct mobile app installed, content will be automatically sent to the phone with more information about the nearby artwork.

…

“Sometimes I’ll lead tours with visitors and focus on the works of art I think are particularly fascinating,” says Kletchka. “I thought it would be wonderful if everyone could have that experience here — they can learn more about the objects they are interested in on their own terms.”

DanielChristian-Combining-Digital-Physical-Worlds-Oct2014

iBeacons, sensors, & similar M2M communications: Connecting the physical world with the digital world

On 10/16/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, blended learning, communications, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, ideas, innovation, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, library / librarians, machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, mobile technologies, Near Field Communication (NFC), participation, pedagogy, platforms, play, second screen apps, smart classrooms, tablets, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, trends, ubiquitous learning, universities, user experience (UX), wearables, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
iBeacons, sensors, & similar machine-to-machine (M2M) communications: Connecting the physical world with the digital world while opening up enormous possibilities for education & training-related applications.

DanielChristian-Combining-Digital-Physical-Worlds-Oct2014

It’s Not Film. It’s Not TV. It’s Convergence. Here’s What It’s All About. [Bernstein]

On 09/28/2014, in art, communications, convergence, creativity, digital storytelling, innovation, media/film, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, platforms, play, story, storytelling, transmedia, by Daniel Christian

It’s Not Film. It’s Not TV. It’s Convergence. Here’s What It’s All About. –– from indiewire.com by Paula Bernstein
A new wave of creators is blurring the lines of storytelling to span multiple platforms. Here, a handful of those creators from this year’s New York Film Festival Convergence program explain what convergence means to them.

Comment from DSC:
If this trend continues, I would guess that it would affect education as well. That is, students no longer want to be passive consumers, but active participants. Hmmm…sounds very familiar to me. Aren’t we already there (i.e., active learning, project-based learning, makerspaces, and more)?

Also see:

YFF Convergence: What’s to Be Gained With Immersive Storytelling? — from by Kel O’Neill | Indiewire September 25, 2014 at 12:31PM
In this guest post, Kel O’Neill, an alumnus of the New York Film Festival’s Convergence section, who co-created “Empire” with Eline Jongsma, explains the benefits of immersive storytelling.

Check Out ‘The Empire Project:’ An Interactive Documentary Making Its World Premiere at the NYFF Convergence –– from indiewire.com by Paula Bernstein
“Empire,” the new project from the transatlantic filmmaking team of Eline Jongsma and Kel O’Neill, is a perfect example of true interactivity and transmedia storytelling.

Some items re: creativity and how to promote it

On 09/15/2014, in art, creativity, entrepreneurship, experimentation, ideas, innovation, participation, play, by Daniel Christian

Opening minds to critical knowledge on play, creativity and learning — from legofoundation.com

Cultures of Creativity (foundation research) — from legofoundation.com
Cultures develop when people find ways to play, make, and share. This report describes how human cultures can be characterised by their similarities rather than their differences, and emphasises the importance of recognising playfulness and creativity to develop societies prepared to accommodate the rapid changes associated with technology and globalisation.

Cultures of Creativity, nurturing creative mindsets (video) — from legofoundation.com
Creativity is one of the most important competencies of the 21st Century. Yet, the puzzling question is how to nurture it? Children are creative from the day they are born and the film describes how to support creativity across cultures. The content is based on the report, Cultures of Creativity, published by the LEGO Foundation, 2013. Authors: David Gauntlett and Bo Stjerne Thomsen and 20 leading international experts on play, learning and creativity.com

Inviting the world to play –– from cardboardchallenge.com/
This fall, the Imagination Foundation invites the world to participate in our 3rd Annual Global Cardboard Challenge.

.

With a shout out to Mitch Resnick for posting
these resources on Twitter. Mitch is going to be talking about
“Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society” this Wednesday w/ Adobe.

From Calvin College-based staff and faculty:

A whack on the side of the head : how to unlock your mind for innovation / Roger von Oech ; foreword by Nolan Bushnell ; illustrated by George Willett.
Von Oech, Roger. (Author)
Sparks of genius : the thirteen thinking tools of the world’s most creative people by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein
The learner-directed classroom : developing creative thinking skills through art — edited by Diane B. Jaquith, Nan E. Hathaway ; foreword by Patrick Fahey.
Jaquith, Diane B. (Added Author). Hathaway, Nan E. (Added Author).
Nurturing creativity in the classroom — edited by Ronald A. Beghetto, James C. Kaufman.
Beghetto, Ronald A., 1969- (Added Author). Kaufman, James C. (Added Author).
Improving Learning of Computational Thinking Using Creative Thinking Exercises in CS-1 Computer Science Courses — by Miller, Soh, Chiriacescu, et al. (2013)
Fostering the Creative Development of Computer Science Students in Programming and Interaction Design — by Ferreira (2013)
Integrating Creativity into Computer Networks Course Teaching — by Hsiao, Liang, & Lin (2003)
Pixar Cofounder Ed Catmull on failure and why fostering a fearless culture is the key to groundbreaking creative work – from brainpickings.org by Maria Popova
Why the greatest enemy of creative success is the attempt to fortify against failure.
Excerpt:
We need to think about failure differently. I’m not the first to say that failure, when approached properly, can be an opportunity for growth. But the way most people interpret this assertion is that mistakes are a necessary evil. Mistakes aren’t a necessary evil. They aren’t evil at all. They are an inevitable consequence of doing something new (and, as such, should be seen as valuable; without them, we’d have no originality). And yet, even as I say that embracing failure is an important part of learning, I also acknowledge that acknowledging this truth is not enough. That’s because failure is painful, and our feelings about this pain tend to screw up our understanding of its worth. To disentangle the good and the bad parts of failure, we have to recognize both the reality of the pain and the benefit of the resulting growth.
How Disney’s Imagineers keep the magic ideas coming – from fastcompany.com by Rebecca Greenfield
Peter Rummell, the former chairman of Disney’s Imagineers, shares inside stories and secrets about how Disney’s teams work together to make magic happen again and again.
10 ways to teach innovation — from blogs.kqed.org/mindshift by Thom Markham
Excerpt:
One overriding challenge is now coming to the fore in public consciousness: We need to reinvent just about everything. Whether scientific advances, technology breakthroughs, new political and economic structures, environmental solutions, or an updated code of ethics for 21st century life, everything is in flux—and everything demands innovative, out of the box thinking. The burden of reinvention, of course, falls on today’s generation of students. So it follows that education should focus on fostering innovation by putting curiosity, critical thinking, deep understanding, the rules and tools of inquiry, and creative brainstorming at the center of the curriculum. This is hardly the case, as we know. In fact, innovation and the current classroom model most often operate as antagonists. The system is evolving, but not quickly enough to get young people ready for the new world. But there are a number of ways that teachers can bypass the system and offer students the tools and experiences that spur an innovative mindset. Here are ten ideas…
How schools kill creativity — from TED.com by Sir Ken Robinson
Barriers to Creativity in Education: Educators and Parents Grade the System [Adobe]
Perhaps some ideas at a Do It Yourself (DIY) type of site could be relevant, such as org/skills/innovator
Perhaps have the students use digital storytelling in an assignment, see:
Digital Storytelling Helps Students Practice Essential Skills – from elearningindustry.com by Tiziana Saponaro
5 reasons why you should be using storytelling in training – from dashe.com by Ben Nesvig
Excerpt:
Storytelling has been a popular tool for learning since the dawn of civilization, but thanks to technology bringing new mediums for storytelling, it has been on the rise in training in the workplace. Despite the fact that storytelling is a powerful vehicle for teaching, some still prefer to do a “data dump” because it’s easier than constructing a narrative, though not more effective. Below I provide 5 reasons why storytelling should be used more frequently in the workplace.
Mesmerizing fairy tale on the power of transmedia storytelling – from frametales.com by DRAFTFCB Madrid and posted by Filip Coertjens
Expanding learning opportunities with transmedia practices – Parts 1-6 [Laura Fleming]
erikjohanssonphoto.com

AdobeMax2013-ErikJohansson

Learning Ecosystems

7 things parents and teachers should know about teens [Elias]

iBeacons give visitors to the Palmer Museum of Art a customized experience [Jacobs]

It’s Not Film. It’s Not TV. It’s Convergence. Here’s What It’s All About. [Bernstein]

Some items re: creativity and how to promote it

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