Create (evidence of learning and new knowledge)
What do students need to be able to create?
Creative works
New Knowledge
Shared Learning
Creative Works
Do you have to be creative to cReAtE?
What if you create without Cre8ivity?
Creating is taking pieces and putting them together. We can all take pieces of learning and put them together. In some cases this is information and in others it is media elements.
Students do need to be creators. Making meaning is creating new connections. If students are creating they are making connections and learning.
New Knowledge
‘Ain’t ain’t in the dictionary.” I grew up with that phrase being repeated by my teachers. Interestingly, it is in the dictionary. Lexicographers decide which words go in the dictionary. There are five times as many words in the English language now than in Shakespeare’s time. I don’t want to be stuck with only the word’s or the tools from Shakespeare’s time. New words are being created daily. It should not be discouraged. I was in an online course in April and we used ‘wikiing’ and asked if it was okay to do so. Of course it is. Words are intended to communicate.(The teacher’s woes about the word were wasted as it is in the dictionary but now in common usage now anyway.)
In addition to new information that has not been discovered, there are ways of recombining knowledge to create new knowledge.
Mash Ups – YouTube remix, Google Maps, QuikMaps, DIY Tutorials,
We can use technology to do traditional methods of learning however, we need to move beyond traditional methods to transformative methods. Powerpoint can be a stand and deliver method with the use of multimedia. It is just a fancier way of showing your work with bells and whistles. This does not show better learning. Powerpoint could be used transformatively; it is not the tool, but the way the tool is used.
It is possible to use technology to do the same type of learning. What makes it transformative?
Using technology to do things they would not have been able to do before with traditional methods. Publishing for others to see, collaborating with writing and sharing ones work with someone in a different country. Going outside the walls of the classroom, having others contribute to their work, using media forms to reshape and recreate their work. Taking a 2D format and creating a 3D
When students are creating and publishing on the web, we do want them to create credible sites so that other students can read their site and reference their learning. Stanford University supports a site that lists 10 ways to boost web credibility. You can use these 10 suggestions to assess a site’s credibility too.
The 10 items have been tweaked to look at credibility from the viewer instead of creator.
Is the information easy to verify the accuracy?
Is a real organization behind the creation of the site?
Is the expertise of the organization highlighted?
Are honest and trustworthy people associated with the site?
Is it easy to find contact information?
Is the design appropriate to its purpose?
Is the site easy to access and use?
Does the site display the date last updated?
Do adverstisements interfere or conflict with content?
Is the site free of errors?
For more details, see http://www.webcredibility.org/guidelines/index.html (Fogg,2002)