How to teach creativity and innovation to learners?

In my previous posts, I put together a definition of creativity and innovation. You will notice that these skill sets are not hard skills but soft skills. How do you teach this skills to learners? Teachers can not stand in front of the classroom and transfer creativity and innovation to learners. They must model and demonstrate these skills and they need to demonstrate them.

This is much different from learning as we know it in a traditional classroom. It is all about learning by experience. I am convinced that the only way to prepare learners for the next generation of jobs is through practice and real world experiences. The traditional way we would look at this would be to design a class in creativity and innovation and put slides together on what it is and test learners on the concept of creativity and innovation. I know this is a simplistic view of how this is done but it will help get my point across. Learners would never acquire the creativity and innovation skill doing this. We need to look at this in a completely different way. We need to ask ourselves what kinds of experiences do we need to design to allow learners to be able to practice creativity and innovation skills?

Of course, I believe that we need to do this in a context. Since I am a technologist and a runner, I will stick with what I know when I describe this.

Systems Inquiry Overview

Before I go any further in the innovation skills realm, I want to describe a systems worldview that will be the focus on my blogging from now on. Systems inquiry is three interrelated domains - systems theory, systems philosophy, and systems methodology. Systems theory is about the science of wholeness. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The new Science that Margaret Wheatley talks about in her writings falls into systems theory. Systems philosophy is a systems worldview; systems thinking is an approach to new ideas and possibilities. The systems philosophy I will use is the cultural-history school of psychology. Systems methodology are the methods used in systems investigations and the tools for application of systems theory to problems. I will use activity theory and appreciative inquiry as the systems methodology. Systems consists of both hard systems and human systems. You can not look at the world with only a hard systems or a human systems lens. I will look at the systems using a holistic approach. Systems require looking at the people, processes, and technology of the system. You also need to consider the culture and community. When I talk about systems, I will be using the community as a system in my posts. I feel that the community is central to understanding innovations and the adoption of innovations. Sometimes innovations will create a new community around the innovation which to me is a disruptive innovation or a new process and/or technology is introduced to a community which transforms the community. Activity theory is used to show activity of a community and the transformation of a community. Each individual has an unique identity in a community. The innovation skills that I have talked about up to this point focus on the individual skills needed for innovation. A person can not exist in isolation but belong to some community. Now, an innovator could create their own communities if they do not exist but they usually come from some community where their identity is formed. So, you can not isolate the innovation from a community. They coexist. To be successful, an innovation needs a community to be a successful innovation. Remember the innovation must be of value to be useful to a community. This is line of thought I will use when discussing innovation in my blog.

Tools as Mediating Artifacts

In Activity Theory language, a tool is considered a mediating artifact between a subject whom uses a tool that transforms some object that becomes an outcome for the subject. Lets look at an example of a farmer. A farmer uses tractors to transform the land to be able to plant, cultivate, and/or harvest crops. In this case the mediating artifact is the tractor.

All Web 2.0 tools are all mediating artifacts in the activity theory language. Subjects uses Web 2.0 tools to transform some object into an outcome. So, there are three questions we need to ask ourselves when we make statements that Web 2.0 will transform the world.


* What is the subject who will use the tool? Who are the person or persons who will use the tool?
* What is the object the subject will act upon or transform?
* What is the outcome of using the tool?

There needs to be some motivation for someone to use Web 2.0 tools and we need to make sure that we are meeting a true need. Web 2.0 tools just on the face of it looks very promising and will make the interactive Web a reality. I see Web 2.0 as enabling communities and people to collaborate, communicate, and share.

Typically, when using mediating artifacts over time allows an activity system to transform itself. What are Web 2.0 tools going to transform? I believe it is the user experience and also the Internet will become the computer if Web 2.0 lives up to its promises.