A Creativity Crisis? How do we make Space for the Hackers and the Makers?

Presented by: Mary Loftus

Doc Brown used plutonium to power the De Lorean. What are the secret ingredients required to power education and our young people back to our future? I believe Creativity, powered by Technology and Motivation, may be part of the answer. My Dad is a maker. When I was growing up, we never saw a plumber, an electrician, a builder or a mechanic. He piped, wired, built and fixed his way through life. These days, he makes flutes out of Wavin pipe and makers out of his grandchildren. What I notice about him most is his lack of fear, his willingness to persevere and to try new ways to solve a problem – especially if it’s something no-one else has tried. In ‘Creating Innovators’, Tony Wagner suggests that we need some changes in mindset to create the space for creativity and to nurture motivation: we need to value iteration and continuous improvement – not see them as failure. We need to recognise play, passion and purpose as the keys to harnessing intrinsic motivation. We need to facilitate learning more than ‘teach’ or ‘train’. Carl Rogers and Paulo Freire have also left us some important thinking on facilitating creativity in learning. By comparing how creativity is managed in Industry, Academia, School and the Coderdojo-type movements, I hope we can identify some common requirements for creative learning spaces.

Presenter Biography:

Mary Loftus is an educator, an IT manager, a CoderDojo mentor, a primary school board of management member and a parent – but mostly she is a learner. She is fascinated by the potential of people working together with technology to facilitate learning, thinking, meaning and creativity.

 

 

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