Creative Learning Through the Digital World

Many educators in today’s classrooms recognize the importance of creative learning. Whether it’s bringing the arts into academics or encouraging project-based learning, educators recognize that students need to develop a creative mindset in order to meet future challenges. 

Technology and the digital world can be a great catalyst for creativity. While there is certainly a risk of passive technology-use, active technology-use encourages students to try new things and create. For example, in Youth Speak Out International’s Today’s Digital Citizens curriculum, students engage with technology in a creative way by using iPads to film a public service announcement (PSA).  They engage in the creative process by brainstorming, storyboarding, and filming a short video over the six-week course. With the iPads, students can get creative with camera angles and filming techniques. 

“When I look at technology, there are so many ways for students to create and develop problem-solving muscles with video, audio and multimedia content,” says educator and designer Michael Cohen. “Students don’t have to draw, but they do have to have a vision and look at the world in an imaginative way or in a way that they can see when something is deficient. Thomas Edison wasn’t creating a light bulb, he was creating a way for people to see in the dark.”

Developing a creative mindset is critical to our student’s future success. But it also has the added benefit of making lessons more fun. Students are more likely to engage when they’re able to create and explore– even if it’s scary for some students at first. Creative learning makes students active participants in their education, and digital technology opens even more doors to engage learners.