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from robinmacp @ @robin_macp
from NomadWarMachine
“Creativity” flickr photo by Melissa W Edwards shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) license
What do people mean when they talk about creative pedagogies? Are they talking about pedagogies that support creativity, and produce creative learners, or are they talking about creative (i.e. novel) types of pedagogy?
According to Wikipedia, creative pedagogy was founded by Dr. Andrei Aleinikov, and this is how he defines it:
In its essence, creative pedagogy teaches learners how to learn creatively and become creators of themselves and creators of their future.
That’s what I would have expected it to mean, and that’s what I assumed was meant when I signed up for a collaborative experience about creative pedagogies last year. But it turned out that the facilitators had a different understanding of the term. What they were interested in talking about were:
inspir[ing] faculty towards creative/innovative ways of being in classrooms
So anything that’s not just a didactic lecture, probably? At any rate, the emphasis was on what people might do in the classroom, rather than on the theoretical underpinnings to these practices (pedagogy needs to be both, in my opinion).
Would I have signed up for the collaboration if I’d realised this? Probably not. Is it my fault for misunderstanding? Probably.
But once I did realise what was meant, I started to wonder about the whole initiative. If a particular pedagogy is just an approach to teaching and learning that is innovative, does it stop being a innovative pedagogy when it becomes commonplace? Presumably it does. So actually the ‘innovative’ in the description is not really helpful – because what is new to you might be usual practice for someone else. It’s probably better, in my opinion, to talk about alternative ways of teaching and types of assessment.
Of course, your creative (novel) pedagogy might actually be to encourage learners to be creative in another sense of the word – by getting STEM students to use poetry, or humanities students to use LEGO, by setting up assessments that students can be creative about – and submit a piece of knitting or embroidery that answers the question (and kudos for those who create rubrics to assess this type of submission). This is great, but I do think that there needs to be some thought about why these might be of benefit to student learning, rather than just being something novel (innovative) to do.
Personally I prefer something like Aleinikov’s definition. The aim of a creative pedagogy should be to create learners that can think for themselves, and have the confidence to think of interesting ways of answering questions, and to think of interesting questions to ask. And, for philosophy, to help future philosophers to create concepts that are immune from capitalist manipulation.
from robinmacp @ @robin_macp
from robinmacp @ @robin_macp
from robinmacp @ @robin_macp
from robinmacp @ @robin_macp
from Andy McLaughlin @ andrewjmclaughlin
As a social studies teacher, you know how challenging it can be to engage your students in meaningful and rigorous learning experiences. You have to cover a lot of content, meet various standards, and prepare your students for high-stakes assessments. But you also want to spark their curiosity, foster their critical thinking skills, and help them develop a deeper understanding of the world.
How can you achieve all these goals without sacrificing your sanity? The answer may lie in Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an educational framework that offers flexibility and choice for all learners.
UDL is based on research in the learning sciences, including cognitive neuroscience, that shows that learners have different strengths, preferences, and needs. UDL guides the creation of learning outcomes, resources, and assessments that work for everyone by providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression.
In other words, UDL is not about finding one way to teach all students. It is about designing learning environments that can accommodate individual differences and offer multiple pathways to success.
UDL is not only beneficial for students who learn and think differently, but for all students. UDL can help you:
UDL is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It is a flexible and iterative process that requires you to reflect on your goals, your students, and your context. Here are some steps you can take to implement UDL in your social studies classroom:
To illustrate how UDL can transform your social studies classroom, let’s look at an example of a lesson on the American Revolution.
In a traditional lesson, you might:
In a UDL lesson, you might:
UDL is not a magic bullet, but a powerful tool that can help you create more engaging, inclusive, and effective learning experiences for your students.
from robinmacp @ @robin_macp
from robinmacp @ @robin_macp
from Andy McLaughlin @ andrewjmclaughlin
I recently read Stepping into a Virtual Reality Classroom for Teacher Training (columbia.edu) and I was intrigued to see the situation in Myanmar pre-pandemic described in very similar terms to how I have previously described the situation here in Scotland today:
...teachers often lack not only digital skills themselves, but also the pedagogical breadth to meaningfully engage students in inquiry-based activities that make the most of access to technology
The Myanmar: Connect to Learn project site details the issues faced by their schools when it came to developing digital pedagogies:
It was clear that knowledge, skills and infrastructure were all lacking. The same concerns raised in Scotland. Having just supported an authority with upskilling teaching staff and deploying thousands of devices into the hands of staff and students alike, I feel I have a good understanding of how these three factors impact on education here.
The ongoing work being undertaken by a number of organisations, not least council education departments and the Scottish Government's Digital Citizenship Unit, all focus on equity of access and equity of opportunity. The pandemic brought under the spotlight the negative impact caused by poverty when it came to citizens accessing information (health information, financial services, education).
In both countries, lots has been done. During Covid we saw WiFi provision for the poorest students prioritised, devices deployed and upskilling supported. In schools, we saw teachers engage head-on with developing the digital skills they needed to continue to support their learners, at least in so far as managing a work flow solution to pass work back and forth. But on return to in-person learning, the momentum was lost and many practitioners returned to their tried and trusted ways, eschewing the new digital tools.
Perhaps, most surprising though was the range of solutions proposed. While we recently upgraded the network connectivity of every school, Myanmar was deploying 3G and 4G enabled devices. They, like us, were introducing a development programs both for teaching staff focusing on the use of ICT in the classroom. And while we deliver inputs on SAMR and digital skills, and planned to develop curricular pathways around Computing Science, Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety, the Myanmar project was building a Virtual Reality sandbox where teachers could "gain additional confidence to integrate the use of advanced mobile technologies in the classroom".
If the answer to either of these questions is no, then who is responsible for making Digital a national education priority?
We are in the midst of a mammoth review of all things Scottish Education, perhaps now is time to put pressure on ministers to renew their ambition to provide devices for every learner (and, subsequently, ensure a device in the home of much of our population). With Education Scotland and the SQA under the spotlight, perhaps we can also seek opportunities to enhance the digital landscape across the nation, build our own digital sandbox, create safe spaces to share, collaborate and question. Extricate our schools from the digital fiefdoms where big tech companies have rieved them and cut them off.