Finally, an organizational culture that allows designers to take some risks and that places a value on the unique contribution of designers to the creation of learning environments is important.
It would be wonderful to see more educators involved in the design and creation of learning programs / environments within their own schools.
elf-reflection that leads to professional growth
Self-reflection is definitely an important step, especially for educators. I feel like we are often so caught up with getting through the material and covering all the standards that we don't always take the time to reflect on the overall process. I think that making time for self-reflection would make a big impact on how we do things and would definitely help in the process of designing more effective learning environments.
The movement between generating and refining ideas involves thinkers using analytical and evaluative measures to focus their understanding of the content and developing an outcome that most clearly and comprehensively addresses the identified problem or need.
This is something that I work on with my students a lot - creating something and then evaluating it and applying a new skill to their existing work in order to make it better or to show understanding of the new skill. It's often very difficult for my students. Many of them have the mindset that once they have created something, then they are done. They have a hard time understanding how to evaluate and make changes.
the challenge among schools is to develop within students the ability to engage as 21st century thinkers
I agree that this is extremely important, but struggle to figure out where / how to begin with many of my students.
“excellent at remembering and analyzing other people’s ideas, [they were] not very good at coming up with ideas of their own”
I think this is very true. I teach first graders and, sadly, the majority of them do not have any sense of make-believe or imaginative play. When we work on creating stories they don't go beyond telling about something they have done (very limited experiences) or something that a character on TV has done. Even at recess their play often mimics things they have seen on TV or in video games.I don't know the solution to this, but it makes me sad for the students that I teach and worried for future learners.
They may be less concerned about either effectiveness or creativity.
As an educator, this statement was difficult for me to wrap my mind around. I can't imagine creating a product / lesson and not being concerned about how effective it is!
examples of situations in which the skills will be used
This is something that is stressed even in the elementary years. It is important for students to connect their learning to the real world and things that they are familiar with in order to help them understand why the things they are learning are important / relevant.
if “creative instruction” is an important characteristic of the instruction to be produced, then an array of questions can be asked during the formative evaluation to determine just how creative the instruction is perceived to be by learners
Reading this section regarding formative evaluation provided me with a bit of an a-ha moment. While I do make it a point to know my learners and evaluate them in the way that I feel best meets their needs, it has never occurred to me to follow-up and ask them questions about how they perceived my instruction and assessment. I guess that's another way that, as the teacher, my ego comes into play - planning as I see fit and not providing enough voice / choice for my students...something to think about and work on!
The first was learner analysis
I can definitely see why learner analysis was named as a critical area for designing creative instruction. As an educator, it is extremely important for me to know and understand my students (likes / dislikes, interests, areas in which they excel / have difficulty) before creating any lesson plans. It is absolutely necessary to have a good understanding of your students in order to provide effective instruction. Once you have a good instructional plan in place, I believe you can then add those extra elements that will make it creative.