Dec 13th blog

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teachertube video

here's my project.

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

From Kim's blog: http://kamworkinprogress.blogspot.com/

An article by Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler

Creativity: the future for tomorrow's schools?

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66

After watching this very inspiring video, I feel that creativity is a necessary skill that students need to succeed in today's world, especially in the job force. Let's open this up for discussion:

How does evaluation/assessment enhance or limit creativity? How can it do either?

What is the first step in this process of reforming education to include a deeper focus on creativity and outside-of-the-box thinking?

What are our schools doing specifically that "educate" or stifle the creativity out of us?

How can we become more like children and understand their creative ways?

I have collected these quotes from various websites. I'm sorry I didn't reference them, but if I stumble across them again I will.

A. A. Milne:

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.

Abraham Maslow:

The key question isn’t "What fosters creativity?" But it is why in God's name isn't everyone creative? Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question might be not why do people create? But why do people not create or innovate? We have got to abandon that sense of amazement in the face of creativity, as if it were a miracle if anybody created anything.

Albert Einstein:

You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.

Albert Einstein:

Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.

Albert Einstein:

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

Arthur Koestler:

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Beatrix Potter:

Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.

Buckminster Fuller:

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

Buckminster Fuller:

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.

Carl Sagan:

It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.

Carl Sagan:

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.

Edward de Bono:

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

Edwin Land:

Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.

Erich Fromm:

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.

Erich Fromm:

Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self.

Franklin D. Roosevelt:

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

Georg C. Lichtenberg:

Eveyone is a genius at least once a year. A real genius has his original ideas closer together.

Henry David Thoreau:

The world is but a canvas to the imagination.

Linus Pauling:

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.

Linus Pauling:

The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.

Margaret J. Wheatley:

The things we fear most in organizations -- fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances -- are the primary sources of creativity.

Marie Antoinette:

There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.

Martin Luther King Jr.:

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Monica Baldwin:

The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen. And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot. The possibility is always there.

Niels Bohr:

Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true.

Nietzsche:

You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.

Oscar Levant:

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.

Pablo Picasso:

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Ralph Waldo Emerson:

A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree; or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely . . . but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw him at every attitude . . .

Ray Bradbury:

Life is "trying things to see if they work."

Rita Mae Brown:

Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.

Rollo May:

Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem.

Saul Steinberg:

The life of the creative man is lead, directed and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.

Theodore Adorno:

A successful work of art is not one which resolves contradictions in a spurious harmony, but one which expresses the idea of harmony negatively by embodying the contradictions, pure and uncompromised, in its innermost structure.

Unknown:

[C]reative ability and personal responsibility are strongest when the mind is free from supernatural belief and operates in an atmosphere of freedom and democracy.

Victor Hugo:

An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.

Virginia Woolf:

Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order.

Virginia Woolf:

It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything.

William Golding:

Marx, Darwin and Freud are the three most crashing bores of the Western World. Simplistic popularization of their ideas has thrust our world into a mental straitjacket from which we can only escape by the most anarchic violence.

William James:

Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.

10 ways to boost creativity - from another website

1.	Listen to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. If Bach doesn't make you more creative, you should probably see your doctor - or your brain surgeon if you are also troubled by headaches, hallucinations or strange urges in the middle of the night.

2.	Brainstorm. If properly carried out, brainstorming can help you not only come up with sacks full of new ideas, but can help you decide which is best. Click here for more information on brainstorming.
3.	Always carry a small notebook and a pen or pencil around with you. That way, if you are struck by an idea, you can quickly note it down. Upon rereading your notes, you may discover about 90% of your ideas are daft. Don't worry, that's normal. What's important are the 10% that are brilliant.
4.	If you're stuck for an idea, open a dictionary, randomly select a word and then try to formulate ideas incorporating this word. You'd be surprised how well this works. The concept is based on a simple but little known truth: freedom inhibits creativity. There are nothing like restrictions to get you thinking.
5.	Define your problem. Grab a sheet of paper, electronic notebook, computer or whatever you use to make notes, and define your problem in detail. You'll probably find ideas positively spewing out once you've done this.
6.	If you can't think, go for a walk. A change of atmosphere is good for you and gentle exercise helps shake up the brain cells.
7.	Don't watch TV. Experiments performed by the JPB Creative Laboratory show that watching TV causes your brain to slowly trickle out your ears and/or nose. It's not pretty, but it happens.
8.	Don't do drugs. People on drugs think they are creative. To everyone else, they seem like people on drugs.
9.	Read as much as you can about everything possible. Books exercise your brain, provide inspiration and fill you with information that allows you to make creative connections easily.
10.	Exercise your brain. Brains, like bodies, need exercise to keep fit. If you don't exercise your brain, it will get flabby and useless. Exercise your brain by reading a lot (see above), talking to clever people and disagreeing with people - arguing can be a terrific way to give your brain cells a workout. But note, arguing about politics or film directors is good for you; bickering over who should clean the dishes is not.

expand your creativity

http://www.creativityforlife.com/

Evaluation Techniques

Evaluation techniques


Behavior Observation Checklist: a list of behaviors or actions among participants being observed. A tally is kept for each behavior or action observed.

Knowledge Tests: information about what a person already knows or has learned.

Opinion Surveys: an assessment of how a person or group feels about a particular issue.

Performance tests: testing the ability to perform or master a particular skill.

Delphi Technique: a method of survey research that requires surveying the same group of respondents repeatedly on the same issue in order to reach a consensus.

Card-sorting/Q-sorts: a rank order procedure for sorting groups of objects. Participants sort cards that represent a particular topic into different piles that represent points along a continuum.

Self-Assessment: a method used by participants to rank their own performance, knowledge, or attitudes.

Questionnaire: a group of questions that people respond to verbally or in writing.

Time Series: measuring a single variable consistently over time, i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, annually.

Case Studies: experiences and characteristics of selected persons involved with a project.

Individual Interviews: individual’s responses, opinions, and views.

Group Interviews: small groups’ responses, opinions, and views.

Wear and Tear: measuring the apparent wear or accumulation on physical objects, such as a display or exhibit.

Physical Evidence: residues or other physical by-products are observed.

Panels, Hearings: opinions and ideas.

Records: information from records, files, or receipts.

Logs, Journals: a person’s behavior and reactions recorded as a narrative.

Simulations: a person’s behavior in simulated settings.

Advisory, Advocate Teams: ideas and viewpoints of selected persons.

Judicial Review: evidence about activities is weighed and assessed by a jury of professionals.

Draw a picture

Tell a story

Portfolio assessment

Appreciative inquiry

Open reflective evaluation sheet: This asks almost no questions, but encourages the participant to reflect on an activity and write down their thoughts, observations and impressions

A round of "I" statements: Each participant is asked to say out loud, to the rest of the group, how they thought the activity went. It usually helps to make 'I' statements, and to make them positive, rather than negative. For example, "I thought the … went well. It really mode me think" seems more helpful than "I didn't like the …"

Round Robin: Round Robin evaluation is a method of eliciting, collating and rating every course participant's most positive and negative comments about the course, as well as their suggestions for improvement or further topics.

Snowball Review: A snowball review is a group-based evaluation method which takes participants through a number of formal steps during which their opinions and comments are elicited, shared, reviewed and compiled into a final list of strengths and weaknesses of the course.

What went well and why: This method, which can be called WWP, is a group based evaluation method where the participants reflect on an educational event and, as a group, decide what went well, what went less well, decide why and then plan how things could be done better next time. It is particularly useful when group "process" is being explored.

Digital Strategy: There are numerous approaches to conducting digital strategy, but at their core, all go through three stages: identifying the key opportunities and/or challenges in a business where online assets can provide a solution; identifying the unmet needs and goals of the customers that most closely align with those key business opportunities and/or challenges;[1] and developing a vision around how the online assets will fulfill those business and customer needs, goals, opportunities and challenges [2] and prioritizing a set of online initiatives which can deliver on this vision. Within each of those stages, a number of techniques and analyses may be employed.

Participant observation

Kiddie Focus Groups: Wells developed “kiddie focus groups” to help design a nature center to serve children (M. Wells, personal communication, September 13, 2005). As a formative evaluation, Wells took children on field trips to a variety of nature centers, parks, and zoos. The children were given surveys to evaluate how interesting they found each site. After visiting several sites, the children came together with Wells to discuss what was good, bad, and otherwise about those sites. The children gave their ideas on the development of the new site, and ultimately a set of interpretive principles was developed to guide the design of the new site. This evaluator successfully adapted the focus group strategy to her audience by making questions simple and explaining the purpose and intent of the evaluation to the children.
The use of kiddie focus groups addressed the challenge of multiple goals in nonformal education programs by obtaining input directly from those affected by the program to target the most valued goals. Similarly, kiddie focus groups could be framed around predetermined indicators of quality.

Ink-blot test

Post-it® Surveys: Judy Machen (n.d.) of the Bradbury Museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico, developed a technique called Post-it® Surveys. She initially designed this data collection method to evaluate participants’ understanding of the scientific content of an exhibit. Machen placed a large easel in the museum lobby. At the top of the white paper was a question about the exhibit’s content. Located near the easel were pens and sticky notes for participants to use to respond to the evaluation question. Machen found that participants were very interested in using the sticky notes to respond to the question, and soon participants also began to respond to each other’s sticky notes as well. Machen was able to compile the information from her surveys to bring back to the scientists and designers of the exhibit. They then redesigned the exhibit according to the participants’ feedback. The use of sticky note surveys can address challenges associated with the drop-in nature of nonformal education programs, programs with multiple goals, and programs that serve individuals participating in multiple programs to meet similar learning needs. For example, by having the sticky note surveys available at all times, nonformal educators can collect data from a number of participants at any time, even those who participate sporadically or only once. In addition, to address the challenge of multiple goals, questions can ask participants to write statements that reflect their top three learning goals and whether these goals were met. To address the challenge of individuals who access several programs for similar learning goals, questions could ask how this particular program differs from other nonformal education programs they attend. The convenience of the survey board allows collecting data on a wide range of carefully worded questions to inform decision making about ideas, content, presentation, and so on (Wells and Butler, 2004).

Naive Notions: Borun (1990) of the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia developed a technique called Naive Notions. In the context of her work in museum settings, Borun recognized that visitors often had misperceptions about gravity and that they were bringing these perceptions to their understanding of exhibits on gravity. She wanted to
uncover people’s naive notions and develop exhibits that would resolve these misunderstandings. To do so, she conducted front-end interviews to determine preexisting notions about gravity, designed a series of mock-up exhibits, interviewed visitors following their viewing of the mock-ups, and modified the exhibits on the basis of these results. Follow-up interviews demonstrated that visitors’ misconceptions surrounding gravity decreased
significantly. This clarifying exercise should enable the evaluation to focus on the most important goals.

Archival Data: Wells and Butler (2004), used archival data, including guest books, gift shop purchases linked to postal codes, and donation boxes as unobtrusive means for collecting data.
These records are often created for other purposes but can provide a wealth of information to evaluators. For example, by examining the postal codes of people making gift shop purchases, the evaluator can often determine where visitors live and can analyze purchasers in the context of a variety of demographic indicators, including income level, educational attainment, and proportion of rental properties versus owner-occupied units. A spatial analysis using the postal codes can inform program staff whether they are reaching their target audiences, the extent to which certain demographic groups are either over- or underrepresented, and so forth. The use of archival data may address challenges inherent in drop-in programs, by providing baseline and
demographic data.

Talk aloud: Another creative approach to data collection is a talk aloud. Similar to think-aloud evaluations done for usability testing, talk alouds ask participants to say what they see or what they are thinking as they encounter an exhibit or experience a component of a nonformal education program. M. Wells (personal communication, September 13, 2005) has used
talk alouds with museum participants, and she suggests that this technique can be used for both formative and summative evaluations. A participant walks through an exhibit with an evaluator, who asks the participant to talk aloud about what he is seeing as well as what reactions he has as he makes sense of the exhibit. This technique elicits participants’ subjective views of the exhibits that yield good insights, especially helpful at the formative stage of the evaluation. It can be particularly useful for programs that are pursuing multiple goals and those with a range of variables to define quality. By guiding the talk aloud, for example, the evaluator can prompt the participant to talk about the goals that the nonformal education program is seeking to
address or to discuss the agreed-on quality variables. The interactive nature of the talk aloud provides opportunities to observe initial subjective reactions as well as to encourage the responder to elaborate for deeper understanding.




REFERENCES

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/112492113/PDFSTART

http://ohioline.osu.edu/b868/pdf/b868.pdf

CREATIVE DATA COLLECTION IN NONFORMAL SETTINGS 77
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR EVALUATION • DOI 10.1002/ev

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