Digital tools to spark creativity

Is it possible to support or spark creativity with digital tools? 

Of course it is. Any resource that challenges, encourages and fosters a sense of enthusiasm in the classroom can have an impact. However, the same could be said for a wild animal running into a learning space.

It is crucial to focus on the purpose of digital tools and their ability to add value in a learning environment. This blog post looks at three examples of online tools that I feel any teacher or learner can use to spark their creativity.

About the learning

We should consider digital tools as part of a plethora of resources available to teachers and learners. Used appropriately they can have significant impact. Used without planning or careful consideration they can be an utter waste of time. It isn’t about the technology, it is about the learning. If there is no clear identifiable additional value in using technology to support learning it should not be used.

Effective digital tools are those that provide learners with the opportunity to be innovative, to approach challenges from different perspectives, and to develop their own creative solutions. In recent years a justification for using digital tools is that they enthuse and energise learners. These can no longer be the only reasons. There has to be a tangible benefit to the learning process.

Whilst teachers can be creative in using digital tools to enhance their presentation of lesson materials, this doesn’t necessarily spark learners’ creativity. The real impact can be identified when learners take ownership, are asked to justify and explain their digital choices, and are encouraged to deliver on the higher potential of such tools.

socrative_v1

Socrative

Socrative is a quiz, survey and feedback tool. It can be used to deliver a quiz during a lesson and then shared with the entire class to identify progress. However, it becomes far more powerful when learners are challenged to create their own activities.

This tool can spark creativity by encouraging learners to construct their own digital reflection. They can gather feedback on their latest work, test understanding and evaluate the impact of their work. They can also share their proposals with the rest of their class, gather feedback and then ask for votes on that feedback. This is straightforward within Socrative and enables an effective collaborative and creative process.

Classtools

Classtools.net

Classtools.net is a splendid online collection of tools to spark creativity. It allows anyone to create their own learning and reflection activities. Again, this is most powerful when learners are challenged to create their own versions. There are 40 freely available tools and frequent new additions.

One of the best examples is ‘Fakebook’. Learners can create their own Facebook-like page for an individual or topic that they are studying.  For example, they can create profiles that track the impact of an important event, reflections on a political debate or a stream of creativity that led to a musical masterpiece. This is precisely the additional value that a digital tool offers that simply isn’t possible via a more traditional medium. It isn’t a replacement for other resources but rather an extension or catalyst for creativity.

Kahoot

Kahoot

Kahoot is my personal favourite digital tool for learning. It allows anyone to create their own quizzes for classroom competition. These quizzes, or ‘Kahoots’, can be shared with a whole class who answer using any device from mobile phones to desktops. There are multiple layers to this. When first used it seems like an entertaining plenary exercise. A scoreboard based on response time appears and a whole additional layer of competition reveals itself. It becomes both an intellectual and timed response challenge. Do learners try to press the answer buttons as rapidly as possible or should they take time to read the question carefully?

As with Socrative, the greatest impact is when teachers transfer ownership to students. This sparks learners’ creativity by asking them to create their own learning activities. They have to decide which aspect of a topic to focus on, design their own challenging assessment and take ownership of the learning process. When a ‘Kahoot’ is shared across multiple classes, regardless of geographic location, it enables a far deeper learning process which empowers learners.

Enhancing the learning process

Every day new educational resources become available. It is important that both teachers and learners become discerning users and don’t immediately see the latest flashy tool as being some form of digital silver bullet.

The above examples add considerable value to the learning process. Approaching such tools with critical enthusiasm enables teachers and learners to deliver on their creative potential and embed digital tools within their learning.

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7 thoughts on “Digital tools to spark creativity

  1. The question about digital revolution is still dubious, but it would not be a mistake to notice that life with technologies became more productive. Numerous education tool can shorten the distance between student and teacher. And thank you Andrew for this marvelous, ultimate list! Some things I would like to add, from a literature teacher’s point of view. There is a great need to teach students and kids how to write. For kids, I use Story Bird http://storybird.com/ and they like it very much. If to talk about adults, the idea of writing competition works. What is more, I teach them to write honestly, that is why we check essays with https://unplag.com/ together. And the last thing is feedback, yes, all students can express own opinion about group-mate’s written work.

  2. Thank you both for your comments.

    Rosalie, I very much agree with the need to support the development of writing skills. Storybird looks like an interesting tool, especially in terms of creative writing. As mentioned in the blog post, it is very much about encouraging the use of tools that can enhance what teachers already deliver in the classroom. Technology than can support this is very much worthy of consideration, especially, as you mention, support for collaboration and peer feedback.

  3. These are excellent tools for teaching with digital technologies, However, i would like you to suggest ways to integrate technology in English lessons.for level V
    Please specify examples

  4. please share some examples of how to integrate technology to teach English language lessons meant for grade V

  5. Hi Saira and thank you for your comment. The above tools are actually suggestions for any teacher to make use of in any subject.

    For English lessons you could, for example, ask learners to create their own quiz based on interpretations of poem or chapter within a book. They could use some of the above tools to create and share their quiz with the rest of the class.

    There are a huge range of digital tools that can support any subject. When we consider such tools as part of a teacher’s repertoire of resources it is possible to use them it a variety of creative ways. What I would suggest is consider what outcomes you wish to focus on and then provide learners with an opportunity to use technology to support their studies. This way you can encourage learners to consider the impact of such tools – meaning they can identify when to make use of technology and when to use more traditional means.

  6. Thank you Andrew! I really appreciate your quick reply.
    Yes of course, keeping the learning outcomes in mind while planning a lesson is of utmost importance..
    I have tried softwares like slideshare, for summary writing, story jumper for creative writing and now planning to make a good use of voice thread. However, socrative is my favorite but I am still taking time to utilize it.

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Andrew Field
By Andrew Field

Andrew is eLearning Manager at Cambridge Assessment International Education. He has fifteen years’ teaching experience, originally as History teacher then Head of Faculty for Computing and IT. He was an Adobe Educational Leader for ten years, developing a range of eLearning materials and resources.

View all posts by Andrew Field