Design Thinking

An Industry Perspective of Creativity with Albert Schneider

The business world is paving the way for future creativity in education. Want to learn how? Tune in to this episode of Fueling Creativity in Education as Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood welcome Albert Schneider. Albert is the Managing Principal at Aschneider Consulting LLC. and has an extensive background working for IBM and in the education field.    Listen in to learn how Albert defines creativity from a corporate perspective and breaks down the specific skills that will be needed for creativity in the future. He shares his thoughts on how creativity and creative thinking can be taught and the important role of inclusivity and diversity of thought in facilitating creative environments. Albert also speaks on the value in collaborating disciplines (school subjects) as well as his perspective of the benefits of public/private partnerships, like IBM’s P-TECH internship program.   “What I look for is how do we bring more thinking, more different thinking, constructive thinking? And often, you get that from different perspectives.”  – Albert Schneider   Albert’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:  You need to be inclusive. Find a way to reach out to every single student. Be positive from the perspective of encouragement. Not everything is right, but show them how they can do better. Give students a framework and a space where they can fail. Most things are perfected only after multiple failures.   Recommended Resources: Listen to the episode with Jonathan Plucker   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting our website,  www.CreativityandEducation.com.   Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!   Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!   You can also find The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!   About Albert Schneider: Albert Schneider is the managing Principal at Aschneider Consulting LLC.  Primary areas of expertise include global I/T infrastructure management including cyber-security, business transformation enable-ment, and new ways of working.  Other areas of interest are mentoring, volunteering, STREAM education, and just opened a restaurant www.charandlemon.com . Mr. Schneider currently works for LHC Group, a leading homecare and hospice company, where he is a contractor, leading enterprise-wide projects.    Mr. Schneider joined IBM in 1979 as a computer operator and from 1982 to 1985 became a computer programmer in PL/1 (System 370) and RPG3 (System 38). From 1986 to 1993, Mr. Schneider was in sales and marketing as a systems engineer, general client representative, and a marketing specialist. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Schneider was Program Director of worldwide I/T strategy. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Schneider was Program Director of Global Client Care. In 2000, Mr. Schneider was executive assistant to IBM's CIO and VP, Business Transformation. From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Schneider was the Director of Information Technology and Business Transformation Executive for IBM Research. From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Schneider was Director, Service Delivery and Transformation Programs within Global Technology Services for IBM.

My Favorite Failure with Ron Beghetto and Laura McBain

In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood welcome back Dr. Ron Beghetto along with Laura McBain, Co-Director of the K12 Lab at the Stanford d.school. Ron and Laura recently came out with a new book, “My Favorite Failure: How Setbacks Can Lead to Learning and Growth”. As a human-centered designer, Laura’s work focuses on understanding the ecosystem of education and finding meaningful opportunities for disruptive design and innovative educational experiences.    Listen in to learn about Ron and Laura’s personal favorite failures, the relationship between expectations and failure, how to start the school year off with sharing favorite failures, and the valuable difference between mistakes and failures. The duo also shares their best tips and advice for new teachers as well as how to get students to push through feelings of failure so that they can learn and grow from it.   Questions Answered: Why is it important to acknowledge and talk about emotions in school? Are we more willing to take risks when we don’t know the potential consequences? Are we more likely to experience failure when we do not know anything about the environment? What types of failure are the most impactful for students? (ie. F letter grades, public failure) …and more! Laura’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:  Start talking about failure more. Make sure the work you’re designing for young people are worth the failure. How do you design real life examples where students are taking on work of consequence? Provide multiple opportunities for students to reflect on failure daily and/or throughout the lesson.   Ron’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:  Stay away from empty slogans that minimize emotions. Find ways to acknowledge and validate the emotional pain and difficulty one experiences when they’re failing and talk about what to do next. Encourage and take beautiful risks yourself. Invite kids to give you feedback on your failures. Recommended Resources: Listen to S1 Episode 6 with Ron Beghetto Listen to S2 Episode 7 with Ron Beghetto My Favorite Failure by Ron Beghetto and Laura McBain Weaving Creativity into Every Strand of Your Curriculum by Cyndi Burnett Bruce Tuckman’s Group Dynamics Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting our website,  www.CreativityandEducation.com.   Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!   Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!   You can also find The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!   About Laura McBain: Laura is the K12 Lab Director of Community and Implementation at the Stanford d.school. In this role, she leads the K12 Lab network and aims to use design thinking to transform education and the world. As a human-centered designer, her work focuses on understanding the ecosystem of education and finding meaningful opportunities for disruptive design. She is an advocate for equity and social justice work and is leading experiments to ensure more students have access to an innovative educational experience that will help them thrive in a changing world. Formerly Laura was the Director of External Relations at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. As the Director of External Relations, Laura traveled the globe designing and leading professional development focused on the implementation of progressive education, school transformation, deeper learning and equity initiatives. She has served as a principal of two HTH sites and has taught middle and high school classes in public charter and comprehensive schools. Laura was the architect of the Deeper Learning Conference, a 1200 person, adult learning experience aimed at activating and galvanizing educators for large-scale change.   Connect with Laura on LinkedIn Follow Laura on Twitter   About Dr. Ron Beghetto: Dr. Ronald A. Beghetto, PhD is an internationally recognized expert on creative thought and action in educational settings. He holds the Pinnacle West Presidential Chair and serves as a Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.      Dr. Beghetto is the Editor for the Journal of Creative Behavior, Editor for Review of Research in Education, Series Editor for Creative Theory and Action in Education (Springer Books), and has served as a creativity advisor for LEGO Foundation and the Cartoon Network.   Visit Ron’s website Buy his books

Discussing Beauty Over Functionality and Malevolent Creativity with David Cropley

How can teachers prepare students for the innovative future of work? In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with world-renowned author and Professor of Engineering Innovation, Dr. David Cropley, about the psychology and ethics of creativity and innovation in the context of technology, engineering, and design. Listen in to learn how educators can prepare students to be better equipped to work with machine learning and AI in creative and problem-solving environments.   “The big issue with creativity right now revolves around the future of work and the growing role of AI, so artificial intelligence and automation and related technologies, that are impacting the work place.”                                                                                 - Dr. David Cropley   David explains the difference between domain general and domain specific creativity, why it’s more challenging to feel creative as a teacher in the sciences or humanities, and the unique role of malevolent creativity in education and business. He also speaks on how rigorous, objective creativity testing can be made accessible to schools. Plus, David shares his thoughts on the relationship between and prioritization of aesthetics, novelty, and functionality in any design process.   David’s Tips for Teachers: Creativity is a multifaceted competency. Don’t think about creativity as a 21st century skill, it’s better to think about it as a general competency or capability. Creativity is about how we think and personal qualities, like openness to new experiences, willingness to take risks, tolerance for uncertainty, etc. It’s also a matter of the environment. You have the opportunity to demonstrate aspects of creativity in the classroom. Try and be very concrete about making creativity happen. Shift towards asking more open-ended questions and prompting students to solve open-ended problems.     Resources Mentioned: Books by Dr. David Cropley   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom? Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website,  www.CreativityandEducation.com.   Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!   You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!   About Dr. David Cropley: David Cropley is the Professor of Engineering Innovation at the University of South Australia. He specialises in helping people and organisations become better, more effective, problem solvers.   Dr Cropley joined the School of Engineering at the South Australian Institute of Technology (SAIT) in 1990, after serving for four years in the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy, including deployments to the Caribbean and Middle East. Following the establishment of the University in 1991, he completed a PhD in Measurement Systems Engineering in 1997, and a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education in 2002.   Dr Cropley is author/co-author of nine books including Creativity and Crime: A Psychological Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2013); The Psychology of Innovation in Organizations (Cambridge University Press, 2015), and Femina Problematis Solvendis – Problem-Solving Woman: A History of the Creativity of Women (Springer, 2020).   Books by Dr. David Cropley Connect with him on LinkedIn Follow him on Twitter

Learning to think like a Designer with Toy Coach Azhelle Wade

How can toys help develop a child’s imagination and foster design thinking? Can apps and videogames promote creativity? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Azhelle Wade, a toy designer and Founder of The Toy Coach. Through her online Toy Creators Academy course, Azhelle uses her industry knowledge to teach aspiring toy inventors and entrepreneurs how to develop, pitch, and sell their toy ideas. Tune in to hear Azhelle’s thoughts on why toy design and design thinking should be in school curriculums, her process for teaching toy design, and opportunities for the toy industry to be more creative and innovative.  You’ll also learn how games and apps can promote creative thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as the potential impact iPads and other devices can have on imagination, play, and creativity. Plus, Azhelle shares how to do a toy challenge at home as well as her top 3 recommended toys and games for parents to gift to their kids this year. “Even inventors that come to me now, I have to bring them back to what you’re teaching your students. Who are you making this for? Why are you making this for them? Why do they need this? ” - Azhelle Wade   Azhelle’s Tips for Teachers and Parents: Know your market. Build a community in which you can discuss what you like/don’t like and what you wish you had regarding your kids’ toys. Get comfortable with foam core and cardboard. Anytime your students/kids have an idea, build mockups. That’s the first step to making something real. Toy challenges are great for getting kids excited about being creative and innovative.   About Azhelle Wade: Azhelle created thetoycoach.com and the podcast, Making It in The Toy Industry, to help inventors and entrepreneurs develop, pitch, and sell their toy ideas. Her deeply intellectual curiosity coupled with a passion and dedication to making the world a more toyetic place guides her followers to unlock their best ideas yet. Azhelle’s inspirational mantras and industry insights will be your guiding light into the fun, crazy, world of toys.     Resources Mentioned: Pixicade  Marmals  Animoodles  People of Play Week- Young Inventor Challenge   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website: www.CreativityandEducation.com    Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!  You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!  

Teachers as Designers: A conversation with IBM designer, KC Lathrop

How do you go from teaching to designing? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with creator, educator, and designer, KC Lathrop. As a former teacher turned designer, KC works to empower people to go against societal norms, change careers, start over, start again, learn anything they want, and follow all creative desires. Tune in to learn about her transition from educator to full-time designer at IBM, the similarities between teaching and design professions, and how her administrative role allows her to be creative in new ways. She also describes the fascinating 100 of Making practice and how it nurtures her creativity, design, innovation, and even mental health. “I kind of think about creativity in support your mental health. I think it’s almost the same idea as going to the gym every day for your physical health. To me, maintaining a creative practice is one of the ways that I maintain my mental health.” - KC Lathrop KC’s Tips for Teachers and Parents: Take every lesson you teach as a new opportunity to learn something for yourself. Not every class is going to be the best class you’ve ever taught. A part of learning is being vulnerable. If you want your students to be vulnerable, you also need to be vulnerable with them. Meet people where they are. No matter how much experience you have, there’s always space for learning and growing. About KC Lathrop: KC Lathrop is a designer, creator, and educator. She currently works in strategy and operations for IBM’s IT department. KC started at IBM as a User Experience Designer 5 years ago while getting her master’s degree from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). During her time at NYU, KC enrolled in the class 100 days of making, which she ended up teaching the following year. As a former teacher turned designer, she works to empower people to go against societal norms, change careers, start over, start again, learn anything you want and follow all creative desires. KC currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with her adorable dog, Waffles. Visit KC’s website Connect with her on LinkedIn Follow her on Instagram   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom? Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website,  CreativityandEducation.com.   Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!   Follow Cyndi and Matt on Linkedin!   You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!