Future Continuous Learning - Thoughts on Education and Learning Today

When discussing how to implement creative projects in the classroom, a question can arise as to why? What are the benefits of creative learning activities? Actually, there are quite a few. Creativity is good for society. You might have heard before that ours is a “knowledge economy.” Our predominate export is no longer things we’ve constructed, but ideas we’ve generated. And if your economy relies on ideas then it relies on a creative populace. In her article, “ The Cult of Creativity: Opposition, Incorporation, Transformation ,” Kirsten Drotner writes, “If knowledge is an engine of societal survival, obviously new knowledge is its fuel” (p. 78). And you can’t have new knowledge without creativity because, as Drotner notes, “creativity is the precursor of innovation” (p. 73).  Creativity is good for the individual. And if creativity is good for society, then getting creative is good for the individual as well. Drotner writes, “Creativity is a means to an end, namely competenc...

As a middle school digital literacy teacher, one of the toughest topics to unpack is online surveillance. When we start discussing the Patriot Act and the use of cell-site simulators by some local law enforcement agencies , for example, I worry that students walk away from class feeling frightened, with vague notions that “the government” is “watching” them. While I don’t want to sow the seeds of paranoia, the fact is that government agencies (and corporations, and hackers) really are watching what users do online, and I want my students to know about it. So together we build understanding of what governmental and corporate surveillance looks like, who sponsors it, and the motivations for this surveillance. We also look at how protections from surveillance differ around the world.  But inevitably comes that comment. You know the one. We’ve all heard it: from friends, coworkers, family members.   “Well, I don’t care. I’m not doing anything wrong so I have nothing to hide.”...