There’s a reason that learners these days are more attracted to video games than books. Video games have a lot of thought and creativity poured into them to make them as exciting, engaging, and artistic as possible, and encourage learners to bring out their artistic selves and express themselves in ways that they did not think possible.
It is impossible to understand technology’s full potential if we don’t start thinking of it as a paintbrush rather than a television. Essentially, we must stop looking at computers as though they were machines, but rather new mediums for creativity.
The thing that many teachers hate the most, technology, can be excellent in helping students express their creativity. Here’s how:
Digital Storytelling
For centuries, stories have been used to convey information and knowledge in a way that is easy to understand and internalize – it is a powerful way to communicate with others. It can improve learners’ creative skills and help them explore the meaning of their own experience and work. There are several tools to help students create their own digital stories, like Slidestory and StoryBird.
Creative Thinking Blogs
Blogs are an excellent tool for students to develop their writing and creative thinking skills. They allow learners to post whatever they want, comment on other learners’ material, and share them.
Topics can be discussed openly, which provides a space to vent and discuss their interests without worrying about grammatical errors or grading. Virtual classrooms, like Pedagogue, can be a great place to implement this idea.
Audio and Visual Tools
There are plenty of easy-to-use tutorial and video creation tools that teachers and learners can use in the classroom. They can be used by students to create their own videos and share them with the class, providing an excellent opportunity for them to develop creativity.
Their creations can even spark class discussions about the material they are learning. These videos can be posted to the creative thinking blog mentioned above so that learners from other classes can see and discuss them with one another.
Some video tools include Camstudio and Jing.
Why is Student Creativity Important?
Without creativity, kids will turn into mindless drones that do as they are told without really thinking for themselves. When you foster creativity in your child, you’re preparing them for the real world. There isn’t going to be someone guiding them for their whole life, and they’ll need to be able to think creatively about a lot of things.
Creativity is also essential in the classroom since the school system itself has contributed to the decay of creativity in students. Specific skills and subjects are prioritized over others, making children robotic and systematic in their thinking, rather than autonomous and capable of critical thinking.
Wrapping Up
Creativity is an essential skill that every learner needs, and what better way to develop such a necessary skill than to use the thing that pretty much every kid loves – technology. We hope that you’ve been inspired to incorporate tech into your class, rather than resist it.
Gloss