Remembering the Importance of Creativity in a High Stakes Testing School Culture

(cross-posted from PlayingWithMedia.com)

Dr. Cyndi Danner Kuhn is using my ebook this semester, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing,” as her course textbook in DED 318 at Kansas State University. DED 318 is a required technology education course for pre-service teachers, and it’s great to see how Cyndi continues to iterate and evolve the focus and projects in this course for students based on changes in edtech. Recently her students responded to the question, “Why is it important to play with media?” in the private Edmodo group she’s using in her course. I created a Wordle word cloud from their responses, to identify some patterns which it exposes in their collective thinking about this question.

This is the reflection I posted in their Edmodo:

I created a Wordle word cloud with your answers. One thing I don’t see as a major concept in your answers is CREATIVITY. Remember creativity is vitally important for both intrinsic and extrinsic purposes. (It’s not just important because it creates business innovation and jobs, it’s also an important part of what makes us human beings and enables us to create and share our culture.) High stakes testing and accountability doesn’t value creativity at all, but it’s one area where the important things we need to bring to our students and our classrooms aren’t “on the test.”

What else do you think is missing as a “major idea” in this Wordle cloud summary of why it’s important to play with media?

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