Can creativity be taught or learnt?
I don’t have a perfect answer for this but what I know is that given the right platform to think and learn students can create original content to demonstrate their understanding in a very creative manner.
One of our unique experiences with creating such learning environment for students was at Global Indian International School, Noida. The students were engaged in a week-long project based learning experience about UN Sustainable Development Goals where they were expected to choose one of the 17 global goals to work on in pairs, find out information about the same and define the problem statement they’d like to work on and offer solution for the same.
We introduced UN Sustainable Goals using Adobe Spark and using the same interface we worked with students giving them a self-learning path. In this Spark, we used the blended learning model where we had one hour of face to face interaction in which we introduced the project that the students were to engage in over a week. Learning expectations and outcomes were defined and shared with the students for them to work on. Spark made by the mentor teacher included the learning tasks right from introduction to UNSDG to search questions, resources using Pinterest board that could be used during their search for problem statements and offering solutions.
The students worked in pairs towards a chosen SDG and were expected to complete the tasks within a week in a self-paced manner. This gave them the freedom to work in their own space and at their own pace yet being monitored by their mentor teachers. As a result of this newfound freedom, students took upon themselves to divide task and work collaboratively with their partners to complete the project in a timely manner. Adobe Spark gave them the power to create their own images, web pages and videos. Having understood the problem and ways to find solution towards the same students conveyed their understanding by creating original pictures, info graphics and videos rather than lifting them straight from the web. In this journey, they learnt how to accept other’s ideas and build on them thinking critically and analyzing what best suited the context. Each group created their individual Spark to convey they learning journey creatively. All the work done towards this project was collated in one Spark (view it here by clicking on link) and was showcased to the larger audience including some members from Adobe Global leadership team – rare opportunity for students to be appreciated and encouraged by such dignitaries.
Adobe Spark provides a platform for personalized creative expression and enables demonstrating understanding using various media by creating post, web page and video. Using spark the students are more engaged and are co-constructing knowledge by brainstorming ideas, accepting other’s point of view and creating original piece of work, This helps fostering 21st century skills amongst students and make them life-ready which resonates with our vision of creating lifelong learners.
All this was possible as the school was very supportive of Adobe Digital Disha program which their school has adopted to foster creativity in the classroom. This program gives all students and teachers access to Adobe Spark premium version free of cost to all educational institutions in India. This is an endeavour to bring creativity in classrooms by creating stunning visual stories that reflect your concept, cause, or personal thoughts in the easiest and quickest way.
To learn more about Adobe Digital Disha program for your educational institution please leave a message and we’ll connect with you.
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