Creativity

A second component of digital literacy is creativity. The definition of creativity varies from person to person but on a general consensus and when discussed with others on my course we found it was the originality of your ideas put into practice. John Kao (1997) defined creativity as ‘the entire process by which ideas are generated, developed and transformed into value. It comprises what people commonly mean by innovation and entrepreneurship.’

Everyone is creative even if we do not think we are. A person can be creative just by making something such as in a school children are creative through arts and crafts; teachers are creative with the methods they teach through such as PowerPoints and displays. The question is how can teachers create a digitally competent leaner through creativity using digital methods?

One digital skill which produces creativity is game creation. Most children play games whether it is on a game console or online. A website called Sploder.com allows anyone to create a game and it is easy to set up an account. The website guides you allowing you to pick a layout whether it is in the format of Mario or if it is a puzzle game. This is a useful digital skill, as it contributes to being digitally competent because through the creation of the game I could pick the features which allowed me to create the difficulty of the game. I was also able to pick an avatar, background, rewards and enemies which meant I could be creative and create a story which involved defeating enemies and making it to safety. This makes a digitally competent learner as they are learning through digital technologies to make a story involving the avatar as it advances through the different levels. Prensky (2001, PG 30&21) said that gaming and the whole process had 12 main benefits to everyone these here are some of the many benefits of games in education:

         ‘Games have rules. That gives us structure.
          Games have goals. That gives us motivation.
          Games are interactive. That gives us doing.
          Games are adaptive. That gives us flow.
          Games have outcomes and feedback. That gives us learning.
          Games have problem solving. That sparks our creativity.
          Games have interaction. That gives us social groups.
          Games have representation and story. That gives us emotion.’

Another website which can be used to induce creativity is Learning English Kids. This website is available to everyone and has many activities for children and students to use to develop their academic skills. This makes them digitally competent learners as they can learn grammar, reading and writing through story making, learn new sounds through the creation of making musical instruments which they make from stencils on the website. Also they become more self-efficient with their learning with the use of ICT which also allows for creative expression.

Reference:

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Game-Based Learning. New York: McGraw-Hill

Journeytoexcellence (n.d) ‘Research summary - fostering creativity’ [Online] Available from: http://www.journeytoexcellence.org.uk/resourcesandcpd/research/summaries/rsfosteringcreativity.asp [Accessed: 29th November 2015]

Learnenglishkids - British Council (n.d) [Online] Available from: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en [Accessed 29th November 2015]

Sploder! (n.d) [Online] Available from: http://www.sploder.com/ [Accessed 29th November 2015]