Fusing Creativity and Tech

Henriksen, D., Mishra, P., & Fisser, P. (2016). Infusing Creativity and Technology in 21st Century Education: A Systemic View for Change. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 19(3), 27-37.


Often in education, we as teachers think about everything from standards to our lessons, student growth and the technology we want to use.  Rarely, if ever do we consider how creativity fits into our teaching.  Where's there a standard for creativity?  One may ask.  The truth is that many apps and businesses today required an individual or group of people that decided to take a risk and develop something innovative.  According to Henriksen, Misher & Fisser (2016), the explosion in technologies  for content  sharing and  development is  transforming how  culture,  art, and knowledge emerge within disciplines" (p.31).

In the article," Infusing Creativity and Technology in 21st Century Education", Henriksen, Misha & Fisser (2016) delve into how 21st-century classrooms cannot just rely on technology for students to improve their achievement.

One theme I have continued to see pop up through my MAET courses is that students are no longer expected to simply be consumers of technology, but also be producers of material.

While this is a novel idea, many teachers would say it is difficult enough just to incorporate technology into the curriculum along with their content, and then there is the added challenge to get students to create technology that the teachers may not be comfortable teaching.  Mishra, Koehler, and Henriksen (2011) have argued that the best uses of educational technology must be  grounded in  a  creative mindset  that embraces  openness for  the new  and intellectual  risk-taking.  This is  a tremendous challenge for  any teacher, but especially  new teachers" (p.32).

Creative new technology can breed and spurn inspirational for new technology.  If we really want to teach kids 21st-century skills we need to allow students to test things out on their own, to take intellectual risks and to fail in order to ultimately help them reach their potential.