OpenClass Blog

At OpenClass, we firmly believe:

> Ed tech tools — including online education solutions — are necessary to meet the changing demands of today’s students. Using 21st century technology is key to ensuring students learn 21st century skills.

> Educators are the core champions of ed tech. They are often the ones who tout the merits of these tools to students, parents, administrators, and peers as well as ensure that technology gets into students’ hands.

> Once educators secure ed tech for their classroom, school, or district, it’s often up to them to integrate it into the curriculum. That requires them to learn the technology, figure out how to get students to connect with it, and then police its in-class use among students.

Photo courtesy of mrpetersononline

But beyond being the classroom technology ringleaders, educators are also the creators of the best 21^st century curriculum. We can’t forget that tools are just tools — they’re nothing if the content they present is outdated, lackluster, or just plain boring. Educators are the ones who dream up interactive quizzes and design projects that help students make discoveries and inferences that translate to the real world. In short, educators are the creative spark that makes ed tech shine.

Lastly, devices can’t tell if a student is having a bad day or is overwhelmed. They can’t advise and coach students to perform at their best or explain to parents what it is that a student needs to succeed. They also can’t build up confidence or give firm constructive criticism — only educators can do these things.

The ongoing dialogue and relationship between educator and student is invaluable and special. Technology can’t diminish that, and in fact only reaffirms how much educators matter.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the ongoing importance of educators, especially in today’s tech-crazed world. Please comment below.

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) recently announced the 2013 CODiE Award Winners for the Education Technology Industry. OpenClass is listed among the 26 winners — which SIIA described as “visionaries” — taking home the award for Best Postsecondary Course or Learning Management Solution Category.

Thank you to SIIA and to everyone who has been working with OpenClass. We’re just getting warmed up!

For more information about the CODiEs, including the other two awards Pearson received, please check out the press release above.

Find out more about Openclass.

Sir Ken Robinson’s February 2006 TED Talk discussing if schools are “killing” creativity remains the most watched TED Talk of all time. It has inspired countless articles, blogs posts, and videos on the topic of creativity in education — some very recent — as educators still grapple with how to incorporate creativity into the classroom.

Most of the conversation surrounding creativity and education is focused on K-12. In many cases, it’s educators, experts, and other advocates rallying behind the idea of teaching art creation in addition to art theory, which is better suited for the idealized classroom of 30 students than a lecture hall of 100+.

But that doesn’t mean creativity is any less important in higher ed. In fact, continuing to foster creativity in college will better prepare students for a workforce that requires quick, out-of-the-box thinking and an entrepreneurial, yet collaborative, spirit.

One place you may not expect to see creativity flourish is in online education. But we’re seeing some surprising best practices for teaching creativity in an online setting. It’s a unique challenge because art — and creative expression, in general — is subjective. Further, many art classes are interactive, allowing students to comment, critique, and discuss each other’s work.

That interactive element is often one of the most compelling and arguably the most relevant to developing career preparedness skills, and hard to duplicate. Yet we believe it can be done, especially with born-digital curriculum.

One of the best hands-on, creative class examples we’ve seen on OpenClass was developed by PeachPit (pictured). It’s a comprehensive, fully online photography class that emphasizes student interaction. Students are given a photography assignment, which they interpret from their point of view, and post the resulting images online.

Through integrated discussion threads and comments, students can ask and respond to each other’s questions, share tips and tricks, and provide constructive feedback. Students are often required to comment on each of their classmates’ photos — and the quality of that feedback is graded. At the end of the semester, students have improved their photography technique, developed and expressed a creative point of view, and learned the delicate nuances of constructive criticism.

This is just one example of an online class that fosters student creativity, but we believe it can be applied to other mediums with some imagination, planning, and foresight. At OpenClass, we believe promoting the value of creativity in higher ed is essential.

How do you incorporate creativity into your online curriculum? Please share your success stories below.

Find out more about the born-digital content available through the OpenClass Exchange.