[MUSIC] Welcome to 21st Century Skills, Creativity Tools. In this presentation, we're going to take a look at a variety of Web 2.0 tools related to encouraging creativity in your students. Remember, you should try to understand the type and nature of an instructional task or problem before you choose a Web 2.0 tool. In this module, we will focus on creativity task and tools. Fostering creativity may have long-term positive benefits, so don't forget that creativity is an important 21st century skill. Researchers have said that creative people are more likely to get promoted, be satisfied with their jobs, be in better physical health, and be more resilient. If you want your learners to focus on their creativity skills, the next step is to identify the type and nature of the task. Creating new ideas and knowing idea creation techniques is a valuable commodity in the competitive market today. The creativity continuum shown here is a way to understand the nature of the creative task. The continuum shows three forms of creative tasks using words, visuals, and one that includes both visuals and words and also sound. This continuum is also a way to group and arrange your Web 2.0 creativity tools. But this is just one way. You can group and arrange Web 2.0 creativity tools in other ways based on your skills. What do you think is the nature of the creativity issues in your classroom? Let's look at this continuum with some examples. Learning words and being creative with words is one of the elements of the creativity continuum. For example, a teacher might use the Web 2.0 tool, Visuwords, in her presentation to show the structure and history of a word and its relation to other words. Other Web 2.0 tools like Wordle creates word clouds from text you paste in a text box. And Tagxedo allows you to create word images in different shapes. These tools are useful when you want your learners to be creatively involved with words. Many people say that a picture is worth 1,000 words and so working with visuals is another creative way to nurture learning. An English teacher may encourage creative writing in students through pictures using the Web 2.0 tool Bookr. Students look at given pictures or collect their own pictures, and write stories that connect each picture, and finally convert the story into a book. Other Web 2.0 tools like Sketchpad allow users to create their own sketches and drawings. Another tool, Graffiti Creator, helps students expand their creativity by using colors and fonts that look like graffiti. These Web 2.0 tools promote creativity through visual learning. The third element in the creativity continuum is a combination of words, visuals, and sound. For example, a teacher may ask students to create digital stories about spies during the American Revolution using a tool called WeVideo. Students can use pictures, texts, short video clips, background music, and narration to create these stories. Other Web 2.0 tools like Alice allow you to learn computer programming in a 3D environment. With StoryJumper, users can create stories that look like comic strips. These tools foster creativity in various ways, using sounds, visuals, and words. By now, you realize that there are many tools that can serve multiple purposes. Some are more complex to learn and use while others are very easy to use and implement. So as you explore more tools and use them in your class instruction, you will find creative ways to implement the tools depending on what you want to do and your level of expertise. There are hundreds of Web 2.0 creativity tools today with lots of different features. Therefore, I can't emphasize enough the need to understand the type and nature of the instructional issue or task in order to be able to choose a specific tool with just the right features that can help solve the instructional issue you are having. Let's look at a short example. The Hour of Code is celebrated in classrooms every year in order to interest students and help them see the creative side of computer programming. But most of the students are not interested, or they hesitate to take part because they can't visualize what programming and codes can actually do. If you want to help your students to not only write the codes, but understand what each line of code means and how to translate that to what you can see and hear, you might need a specific Web 2.0 tool. Since students are not interested in programming due to the lack of visuals, sounds, and words, the type of instructional issue is related to creativity. The next step is to find out the nature of the creativity problem. You want all your students to take part in understanding codes and what programming can do. You want to bring better understanding and creativity to computer programming through words, visuals, and sounds. Now that you've figured out the nature of the problem, you need to find a Web 2.0 creativity tool that provides features that closely match the things you want your students to do. Scratch is a Web 2.0 tool that supports the creation of interactive stories and games and also helps students to understand the basic concepts of programming using building blocks of code. It's a fun way to see and hear what the codes on the right side of the screen do to the objects and pictures on the left side of the screen. Etoys is another great web 2.0 tool that teaches programming through a media rich environment. Like Scratch, it fosters creative and critical thinking skills about programming through visuals, sounds, and words. Voila. Both these Web 2.0 tools provide the specific features you're looking for and solve the instructional problem presented. Remember, closely matching the type and nature of the identified instructional problem or task with the features of the Web 2.0 tool can help in accomplishing the task effectively and efficiently. I hope this presentation gave you some ideas about using Web 2.0 creativity tools. Now we'll learn how to identify and choose a Web 2.0 Tool for a teaching scenario. [MUSIC]
