Creativity and Learning from February's #Ideachat

For last Saturday’s monthly #Ideachat, its creator Angela Dunn turned over the moderation role to Pam Moran and Ira Socol as they led an incredibly active #Ideachat on “Creativity and Learning." As usual, #Ideachat attracted so many smart, intriguing people from around the world tweeting away wildly on how creativity and learning intersect in the classroom, the workplace, and elsewhere. I’m not even sure how many new people I followed on Twitter during #Ideachat, but I know it was at least five in the first two minutes!

Going back through my #Ideachat retweets and interactions, here are paratweets of some of my favorite inspirational comments from throughout the chat:

Creativity in the Classroom

• Ira Socol / @irasocol: I often encourage my grad students to 'mutiny' & do their own thing. They struggle w/ creativity.
• Jennifer Bond / @teambond :  I have had Innovation Day in my third grade classroom twice now...and both days have been powerful and full of creativity. @pernilleripp introduced me to Innovation Day, a day where kids created their own learning...for an entire day! We need to add time into our curriculum for free, creative time where children can learn self-regulation.
• Pam Moran / @pammoran: Love MIT Kindergarten for a lifetime- the engineer nerds see this as key for creativity bit.ly/gvyaa6

The Learning Process

• @CoCreatr / Bernd Nurnberger: Everyone is a beginner - at something
• Ira Socol / @irasocol: Philip Glass recently said that he learned when he put himself in "a place of total ignorance"
• Tara Markus /@TaraMarkus: When we are in learning flow - we have absence of anxiety and sensation of joy!

Problem Solving and Challenges to Creative Success

• Ira Socol / @irasocol: Lowering the "cost" of failure is critical to learning and creation - see games v school (My Thought: The idea about "Lowering the cost of failure" is important. It’s the key to creativity in many situations.)
• Woody Bendle / @wbendle:  Imagination in the pursuit of "art" is different from imagination in the pursuit of solving a problem.  Ira Socol / @irasocol: @wbendle do you think so? Isn't art always "problem solving"?  (My Thought: That's what I was thinking! Art can be in everything!)
• My Contribution: Failure when pursuing creativity is when something doesn't work out as expected. The failure can create something wonderfully unexpected or be something that needs more creativity to fix it.

Connections and Creativity

• David Britten / @colonelb : Perhaps ideas are really a remix of information?
• Vala Afshar /@ValaAfshar:   Rather than focusing on connecting the dots, focus on connecting people. Make imaginative thinking a team sport.
• Jesse de Agustin / @JdeAgustin : To be our most creative we have to always be "on", tuned in, and receptive to learning from others.
• Simon Harvey / @Simon_GB:  When you connect within you open your mind to limitless possibility. Flow.
• Tara Markus /@TaraMarkus: Delve into robust conversations. Drink in the wisdom of others.
• Woody Bendle / @wbendle:   Is there anything more exhilarating than a new idea? That flow of creativity is awesome as everything begins to "connect"
• My Contribution: Imagination for me is fueled by loose connections – “This” reminds me a little of “that,” and then “that” reminds me of something else.

The Act of Creating

What’s glorious is creating something tangible from your ideas. Through creation, you leave something behind to endure or to be deconstructed & redone with brand new creativity!  - Mike Brown