Create-teeth(Creative)-Buzz

One Second Film Festival

2011-12-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

From Ms Toblerone ... A convert!

2011-04-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

I called her Ms Toblerone because when I first challenged this senior teacher that a video I showed during a particular school based training is worth viewing. She retorted by saying- "if I am not convinced then you must give a treat!" At the end of screening, she apparently wasn't. Well, that deal was worth a Toblerone. (thankfully ;) weeks later... She texted me to say "the video was indeed quite inspiring, but your toblerone was even better!")

Yesterday, I attended her research lesson on using Evaluation Matrix. I am humbled by her own willingness to learn and apply and of course, a mindful and skillful teacher does create magic in the class and I witnessed that.

This was her SMS to me.

"Cher, thanks so sharing and helping so generously. From bottom of my heart, u r a great trainer..actually to b honest with u,when I first knw muz attend this course, I was abit like "Tia~~oo~~Ng~~".. But after 2 sessions I feel tt some tools may be able help improve students' project ideas n Tt's y I try d ladder n the visual connection.. U got me to see the strength of a tool which I originally tot would only be useful if they haf nt pick their project idea.. Tt it can stil serve useful even after.. U got me thinking alot n I think u motivate edward alot!!"

mORPm- Physical Theatre @ NIE 6th Dec10

2010-12-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

Heightening awareness to:

A. Spaces (counter-points, symmetries, asymmetries, proximity, shapes, lines, focus)

B. Negative spaces

C. Complicity- when one contributes, others will support

D. Other bodies in space

E. Lights

F. Music/ Sound

G.Audience engagement

Being Focus- Like how well a camera len is focussed, the outcome can only be as good as it gets.

Group awareness & spatial awareness

Use of the physical setting to create a context

Group sculptures in motion: constantly in a flux of transformation through tableaux

Violence of articulation

Interpretations- literal versus abstract

Amplifying meaning of actions on stage

Ensemble Exiting- Use of space between actors and objects to create meaning

Puppetry Class @ NTU (27-28 Nov10)

2010-12-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

Discover The Power of Your
Creative Potential

Strike a pose

It sure was quite a journey of traveling 'outside the box', past the boundaries of the ordinary... and into a world of untapped opportunities.

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. - Plato

Course outline warned
"this course helps to awaken the eyes, ears and brain
for optimal creativity".. ooo!

Beautifully facilitated by the master-puppeteers-

Gary Friedman (who had miraculously make paper talk) and

Sharon Gelber (who could move her body as fluid as water)

oops... who died??!!

A reflective moment

yearning for the creative spark...

"you fools...."

"Abandon me not..."

"I can tell your fortune"

An intimate moment

Somebody.... Help!

Copulating Chairs?

Gee... I am bored

Banging in the Dark

We are mostly nearly ourselves when we achieve the seriousness of the child at play. - Heraclitus

The story teller watches her narrative enacted

As an ensemble, we enjoyed the creative process of learning to explore and expand new visions for our teaching and research!

Infusing Creativity or Defying Culture

2010-11-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

This morning, I received an email from a student from my Creative Problem Solving elective module in the MLS (Management and Leadership Studies) class. She is a head of department and was away 4 months for her MLS course in NIE. This was what she shared...

" Lots of changes in school since I went for MLS. Missed MLS very much. No need to manage other people expectation and frustration. Tried divergent thinking in COE meeting. Did not work out as expected. I think they had already decided on their own idea before the meeting. Felt stupid afterwards. IC said that ideas were too divergent and not convergent enough, waste time. So in reality, purpose of brainstorming in meeting is??? Ok, must have fun and stay positive, right? Trying to continue the habit of reading and reflecting. Take care and keep smiling."

This email served as a strong and genuine reminder that creativity needs to be well situated especially if people are not used to 'taking the plunge' or do not understand the ground rules for brainstorming. Very often, they may be unwilling to confront ambiguities or even simply looking at information from a different point of view. Thus, the inhibition to take the next step beyond what is known and risk censure. I am reminded of one of the 4Ps in Rhode's (1961) definition for creativity- Press. "Creative press refers to the environment the person is in, or the product is produced, or the process occurs." (http://www.buffalostate.edu/orgs/cbir/readingroom/html/Scritchfield-99.html) Understanding the Press is critical as the facilitator needs to draw out the optimism of the discussion to drive towards generating more creative ideas. Very often facilitators may risk banging their heads on closed doors when we do not gather sufficient data that addresses the team's challenge, which of course includes the team's readiness and motivation for some creative thinking.

In addition, Guilford also proposed that the facilitator should have a high degree of problem sensitivity in order to best facilitate with a focused problem statement that may sit better with the team. When a team is not ready to play with their imaginations, the contentment with preconceived solutions becomes the facilitator's worst nightmare. Yet, in my experience, when a team is ready, they embrace the process of brainstorming as they understand that complex ideas have simple parts put together with parts of other ideas to make a ‘wow’. Another point worth consideration- it is also critical for the facilitator to establish sufficient trust in order to arouse the team's curiosity and imagination, and to 'grant' full license to play with ideas and to venture beyond the "acceptable" to the possibilities- or beyond. Of course, the facilitator on the other hand should know how much time and resources is available in order to reach the 'desired outcomes' so that while he/she should feel comfortable delaying closure in the divergent process, sufficient time is given for good convergence to increase ownerships of the team's ideas.

'Feeding' the Multitude with 12 markers and 1 flipchart

2010-07-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Heard of Jesus' miraculous act where he fed 5000 (Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15) with just five loaves and two fish?

Well, I am not exactly sure how Jesus felt then. But given just 1.5 hours, how was I supposed to facilitate a collective reflection for a group of 600 pax with kids as young as 2 years old to folks as old as 80? This was my task for a church camp of such magnitude with members of 5 different Chinese speaking congregations coming together for the first time for a combined church camp.

Thanks to a very creative friend's bright spark- Ee Tuo the man behind the provocative and often entertaining banners in front of Orchard Presbyerian Church! He suggested "Why not create a book compilation of ideas- with a 'pinch' of visual challenge?" Due to budget constraints, printing a flipbook seemed near impossible then. However, working on the $$ issue, I swung to the other extreme- not a flipbook but a single sheet of flipchart and a pack of coloured markers. What can the good folks do? The simple, heuristic problem was posed - "What does a happy family mean to you?". Challenge- Thou shall not draw anything inside the figure (is it a bone? A butterfly? An angel??) I intentionally left the big ? in everyone's mind for their own interpretation of what the pre-drawn figure was.

Below are some of my personal favorites:

I was very thankful that this big challenge indeed turned out to be a favorable juncture of circumstances that turned out well. At the end of it all, the process of discussion and brainstorming was useful to gel everyone together and providing the opportunity to display everyone's creative ideas. Even the kids had some good fun and they were the really creative ones- who says it must be only 2D? As for the rest of the groups' chart, it was evident that most expressed a vision of what an ideal family may look like with articulation of the 'recipes' of some ground rules, principles, and goals.

So what do you think the ambiguous figure in the middle of the chart represents?

Never Say Never

2010-07-22T00:08:00.000-07:00

Never has enough space?
Never has enough time?
Never has enough manpower?
Or even...
Never has enough willpower?

Watch this video on WOHR Parking system ...
- stressful parking
- efficient and safe parking
- 'disappearing' cars into extended 'viewless' parking lots

Storyboarding with a Curve

2010-06-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

This is my sketch of how a story could be told 'along' the same (curved & abstract) line. An adaption building on the Figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Initially quite tough to frame each episode around that curved line and the next level of challenge was the selection of which episodes given that I only prepared 4 rectangles.

The storyboard above captured the key events that portrayed Jonah's disobedience to God's calling for him to journey to Nineveh. Of course, my children got all fascinated with what on earth is a man praying inside a fish...

I.M.A.G.I.N.E.- C.I. conference 2010: The nexus of creativity and innovation!

2010-06-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

IMAGINE a Conference that was out of the ordinary... that pushed the boundaries...

IMAGINE a gathering of amazing people, bringing the latest thinking on creativity and innovation, speaking in new ways that you have not heard from them before...

IMAGINE exhilarating exploration, innovation challenges and powerful connections….

IMAGINE creative souls gathered in an interactive community to learn techniques and strategies, unlock and share ideas .... A place to imagine the future.

Creative Innovation 2010 is the place to learn from world changing innovators, futurists, inspired thinkers and curious souls gathered together in an interactive community. It’s a place to learn techniques and strategies, unlock and share ideas and to imagine the future.

Hear from and think with Edward De Bono, Edward Luttwak (USA), Michael Rennie, David Rock, Jonathan West, Stephen Heppell (UK), Peter Shergold, Austin Williams (UK), Patrick McGorry, Gemma Sisia, Steve Vamos, Hugh Durrant-Whyte, Peter Farrell, Rufus Black, Hugh Morgan and more...

Date: 8-10 September
Venue: Melbourne Recital Centre, Australia

Check it out! To know more, do drop my friend an email
Tania de Jong (tania@mtaust.com)

Filthy water filtered innovation

2010-01-18T17:25:00.000-08:00

As I was preparing my talk later today on the Creative Problem Solving Process and hoping to zoom in to discuss more on the phase of Opportunity Finding, the video shed some nice insights. Michael Pritchard was explaining what led him to invent his Life Saving bottle while facing the frustration of how people are resistant to taking action when faced problems that are too huge. Again, "you need to think differently to solve problems" apply! His pent up frustration on the various disaster led to break down an ill-defined and complex problem to take small, actionable steps towards his invention.

KLF I: Introducing the Torrance Incubation Model

2009-11-10T22:52:00.000-08:00

I am delighted to be invited to speak during the Kindergarten Learning Forum (KLF) later this month. This is sure a stretch of my flexibility to cater to the specific needs of a special group of educators. This is even more meaningful as my own kids are in the pre-school going age, especially for Joshua where I have witnessed his cognitive development under the guidance of very creative teachers from 3 different pre-schools.

As I pondered on how best to demonstrate some of the key creative metaphors behind Torrance's pioneering work on creativity in education, I decided to design a playful approach to demonstrate learning about Creatively in an experiential manner. I am keen to observe how the Torrance Incubation Model can be the “... a simple, powerful, general-purpose teaching model that integrates creativity skills with content and knowledge” (Torrance, 1993, p. 187). In my 45 minutes workshop, I hope to explore and witness the integrative potential of this model that combines both the anticipatory and participatory teaching and learning approach.

Stage 1: Heightening Anticipation

Of late, the craze and revival of playing yo-yo struck an interesting cord with me and my kids. As a father, I enjoy the discussion and testing of ideas together with Joshua on the different yo-yo strategies and that to me was a creative engagement. We sharpened our yo-yo skills after a process with countless debates, trialing and celebrating little perks of success while trying to consider many alternatives. While dad and son were busying doing all of the above, little Joanna can't help but attentively emulate and adapt to the best of her abilities the wacky actions of dad and brother. Of course, the rich discussion arising from our 'equal footing' since we were both new to the game allowed much freewheeling, and very often, the wilder the ideas the more fun we had together.

The point here is, how do I use this platform to help these kindergarten educators return to their 'innocence' and just remain open to new ideas? I guess as a person grows and matures, he/she develops a variety of mental and social expectations. The engagement of playing with a less-than-familiar object such as a yo-yo would be a nice physical warm-up activity to effectively facilitate creative thinking, even in adults. In this regard, the yo-yo would serve as an useful metaphor to depict how we can play with our imagination, either individually or collaboratively. More relevantly, I hope to reinforce the awareness that as imaginative pre-school teachers, they can use creative movement such as warm-up games or dance as a good supplementary technique for any subject matters.

O yes, not to mention, the pre-work of registering for my session already aimed to enthuse the participants with expecting the unexpected, the title and synopsis of my session reads:

“ Help me be more CREATIVE ....
I like to have my Yo Yo back, please?"

This workshop has been specially designed to re-ignite the passion to teach about Creativity and to teach creatively, using a Yo-Yo.
A father of two, John gets bundles of inspiration by simply enjoying the creative process of imagination and invention with them. For this hands-on interactive session, how would you like to:
Discover how you can enjoy learning about creativity by being 'play-full'
Get the best out of your students' imagination
Invite your students to become coachable by toying with a yo-yo

KLF II: Deepening Expectations with the YO-YO metaphor

2009-11-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

Why 'YO-YO' or Do I mean 'YEO-YEO'?

Face it, I am an EGOistic teacher. Allowing my students to 'hip-hop-ly' greet me with a "Yo, Mr Yeo" has worked to my advantage as a teacher as it established a personal connection between me and my students. Thus, to revisit this "yeo-yeo" effect to facilitate new learning, getting warmed up with a real Yo-Yo this time would hopefully help to strengthen the use of everyday objects for problem solving.

The source of inspiration was a really a story that I posted earlier this year (From Whose Perspective) when I conducted a workshop in Hong Kong where through one of the brainstorming activities, I was humbly made to realise how a simple yo-yo can powerfully turn an innovation company around.

The earlier entry talked about how Stage 1 (Heightening the Anticipation) beings the engagement process by getting participants ready to learn. The following two stages contain the information processing patterns or strategies presented as metaphors dealing with some complex behaviors likely to be encountered in the learning of creativity (Torrance & Safter, 1990).

Stage 2: DEEPENING EXPECTATIONS

The Yo-Yo is an appropriate devise to match many of the metaphors for this stage including Digging Deeper, Looking Twice, Listening for Smells, Listening/Talking to a Cat or Crossing Out Mistakes, Cutting Holes to See Through, Cutting Corners, Getting in Deep Water, and Getting Out of Locked Doors.

In my workshop, instead of me 'talking down' on what each of the above metaphors means, I have designed a series of Learning Stations for the participants to walk around and experience for themselves the strategies through some fun activities- revolving around the theme of Yo-Yo. To heighten the metacognition level of the activities, participants after diving deep into each of my designed task will spend some time to reflect and share on their learning to rest of the groups. The essence of conducting this session in a World Cafe style is to help in generalising the above metaphors to the other problems at a later stage. Some of the key principles for the metaphors infused within the learning stations include learning to defer judgment, having a sense of congruence between moving, imaginations, and visualisation, getting beyond the surface, synthesizing diverse kinds of information, and going beyond the status quo while seeking novelty.

So the Yo-Yo Playing Stations include

1) SCAMPER: Participants will first listen to a simple story of 'Little Bitty Bunny' where a group of little bunnies found a hat but knowing the purpose of this object started to invent different uses such as a boat for the water, a basket to throw balls in, a sea-saw, etc. Thereafter, they are invited to adopt Bob Eberle's (1971) SCAMPER to generate new uses for the Yo-Yo while phyiscally playing with the Yo-yos together. Some of the visuals included in this station are brief write-ups of the history of Yo-Yos, Yo-Yo tricks, etc.

2) Forced-Connection: Unlike the above activity, participants are now invited to answer the question "How can I better see the brilliance in every one of my students?" by posting quietly and individually their ideas while shifting around a series of photographs. This way, the collective wisdom could then be tapped with the group engaged in hits and clusters by selecting some of the better and more novel ideas.

3) Word-Dance: While watching the movie' Nim's Island' together with my kids, we were discussing the fascinating details of the show and wondered several times "What if..." a certain element of the plot was changed. Based on Rhodes (1961) 4Ps definition of Creativity: Person, Press, Product and Process, participants are now invited to list out some elements of a movie that they are familiar with and to re-create a new story by mixing and matching. Think-Pair-Share is the cooperative learning strategy used in this station where participants will draft their exciting story in pairs.

(Photos contributed by my friend and a highly creative photographer- Thanks Sze Kiat! sprintist_sk@hotmail.com)

KLF III: Extending the Learning

2009-11-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

Based on the Torrance Incubation Model, the final stage of bringing it all together in Extending the Learning spreads out some of the most intricate metaphors that helps to ignite and surface the most novel ideas with metaphors such as Having a Ball, Singing in One's Own Key, Building Sand Castles, Plugging in the Sun, Shaking Hands With Tomorrow.

This final activity for my session would bring together all the participants to create a giant brainstorming wall where the cumulative wisdom of all would contribute their ideas to "How Can Kindergarten Teachers Facilitate More Creativity?".

By reiterating the importance of the Brainstorming ground rules, it is hope that the participants will collaborately apply the earlier brainstorming techniques from the play stations to generate some novel and valuable ideas. While giving personal meaning to the new information and relating their personal experience to the earlier tasks, hopefully, the strategies will form a basis for helping teachers to start imagining, fantasizing, searching for ideal solutions or otherwise taking off from what is been read, heard, or encountered and find available resources of energy or inspiration to enlarge, enrich, and make more accurate one's images of the future.

By 'Shaking Hands With Tomorrow', the kinesthetic experience will help to value add the very purpose why they chose to attend this play-full yo-yo session!

Steve Job Brainstorms on a White Board

2009-11-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

My craze with APPLE.... I just (finally)bought myself a Mac Air- a dream come true. AND I can soon look forward to getting an I-phone too. But all these craze and crave for these two wonderful Apple creations goes beyond the yucky T word- Technology. I am not much of a Techie really. What struck me consistently of the products as well as the creator- Steve Jobs was really a about THE experience.

As I read about some of the highlights of Steve Job's presentation tips (http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/oct2009/sb2009106_706829.htm) I can't help but note some of the interesting pointers gleaned from the above website as well as the video of Carmine Gallo, author and communications coach (cool... but what exactly is that) who just published 'The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience' :

- Deliver MINDBLOWING keynote presentations... EVERYTIME!
- Power of EXPERIENCE- I quote "Steve Jobs does not sell computers; he sells an experience"
- Presentation skills can be coached in a STEP-BY-STEP format
- Create stunningly VISUAL presentations
- Its all about STORY-TELLING- and make them compelling
- The CEO Apple actually BRAINSTORMS and loves doing it on a white board
- Stick to the ONE thing I want people to remember- be consistent
- Avoid the least effective way to learn- NO BULLET POINTS! (opps... pardon me)
- Use IMAGES that speak volumes
- Identify an ENEMY and help people conquer that as a shared motivation
- Have fun with DEMOS- its neuroscientifically proven!

SO, if you have misgivings about the faults above, perhaps this is a baby step improvement...

Note: the above image was created in http://www.wordle.net/

Creatively Persuading about the relevance of Science Education- Science Buskers Festival

2009-07-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

I agree with Carl Rogers (1962) conditions for creativity- especially on his notion that creativity requires a willingness to toy with ideas and play with possibilities.

In this second year as a judge for the Science Buskers Festival, I am increasingly recognising the importance of how the truly creative students are able to challenge themselves with the willingness to toy with ideas and play with possibilities. Besides being a competitive platform to showcase the various ingenious acts, the Buskers Festival includes an important component whereby judges provide their inputs to participants. This is another important iterative learning process whereby judges can assess the participants' openness to learning. During the preliminary judging sessions, I was amazed with how some of them were able to take the feedback and add new dimensions to their performance. This clearly connects to their receptiveness to new ideas and often sets higher benchmark for the next rounds.

In Gardner's book 'Creating Minds' (1993), he defined a creative person as- "... [one] who regularly solves problems, fashions products, or defines new questions in a domain in a way that is initially considered novel but that ultimately becomes accepted in a particular cultural setting." (1993, p.35) I see the relevance of this openness to feedback and experience crucial as the participants learn to recognize that their act need to gain a 'place' of recognition and trust the judgement of the experts. Especially in the larger field of science, this helps us to constantly adapt and innovate.

The Science Buskers Festival is a most interesting concept of learning about the many interesting applications of our everyday Science. That said, what is more crucial is the participants ability to interest, engage, provoke and persuade the audience of their creative acts. Going beyond show-and-tell, they need to creatively change the way we think about Science. It is an interesting connection to Simonton's fifth P of creativity (1988a, 1990) - beyond the creative person, product, process and press. He advocated that leaders need to be persuasive to impress others with their creativity- "A creator claim appreciators or admirers to be legitimatized as a true creator" (p.387). This competition is fun to observe especially if you see how the participants adapt their acts to outdo one another. I see this competitive spirit of Science Busking much enliven through the enigmatic Six Senses of 'A Whole New Mind' (Pink, 2005) .

1. Not just function but also DESIGN. The outstanding acts were not just about the mundane science and its marvelous applications. Each sought to provide audience with an experience that was fun, beautiful or simply emotionally engaging.

2. Not just argument but also STORY. Pink captured it most wonderfully with "The essence of persuasion, communication, and self-understanding has become the ability to fashion a compelling narrative" (Pink, 2005, p.66).

3. Not just focus but also SYMPHONY. The group below 'Magical Science' - most charmingly arranged multiple little acts into a show- allowing audience the flexibility to indulge in the rhythm one 'finger play' performance or freely allow audience to run their palms through the syncopation of the different activities and yet understanding the gist of their almost musical performance.

4. Not just logic but also EMPATHY. Beyond logical thoughts, the whole Festival brings together a whole new dimension of science- exploding in the performers screaming out their acts to capture their pull of audience. Amidst the overload of ubiquitous information, technology of facebook, youtube, and what-have-you (yes, even reading this blog entry), the real-ness and mindfulness of each performance helps to even forge a higher level of understanding- and for some, even stronger relationships.

5. Not just seriousness but also PLAY. I recently got to learn of this concept called Hard Play. Fact is, playing can be a serious affair of cognitive development. Vivien (Zany Science, below) was extremely intriguing in how she used her balloons to teach science. Of course, she did a brilliant job to explain the science of balloon sculpturing and the many applications. But it was the science of laughter, games and humor that made the Science really larger than life!

6. Not just accumulation but also MEANING. The completeness of experience for me- seeing how each participant grew in their initial attempts, clarifying the purpose of their individual acts and discovering their sense of fulfilment, was satisfying-even to me.

References:

Gardner, H. (1993). Creating minds: An anatomy of creativity seen through the lives of Freud, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi. New York: Basic Books.

Pink, D. H. (2005). A whole new mind: why right-brained will rule the future. London: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Rogers, C. R. (1962). Toward a theory of creativity. In S. J. Parnes & H. F. Hardings (Eds.), A source book for creative thinking. New York: Scribners.

Simonton, D. K. (1988). Creativity, .leadership, and chance. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Simonton, D. K. (1990). History, chemistry, psychology, and genius: An intellectual autobiography of histrionomy. In M. A. Runco & R. S. Albert (Eds.), Theories of creativity. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Stimulating Creative Flow... with Toys

2009-04-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

It may sound ironic that participants comprising of senior managment from various organisations expecting to glean some applications on how to improve organisational innovation in my recent China's 创新与创造力研讨会, ended up having most fun and learnings from playing with the toys.

Feedback to the seminar included the following:

- 通过发散性思维进行关联创新 Through brainstorming to make new connections

- Through experiential learning the success of seminar lies in "value creation"

- Creative association and case study

- 通过互动性的交流，能调动大家积极性 Able to dynamically stimulate and engage everyone

- 互动环节 (Interactive components) helps to market futurised concept game

With such a diverse group all with different learning needs, I thought that a good way to trigger creative thoughts would be through the use of simple stimulus so that everyone can share their varied experiences all leading to the same understanding of making new connections as a creative strategy. What I observed, however, was that through the function of the learning content, the context of such an event, the activity of the learners, and perhaps most importantly, the goals of individual learners, I noted that somehow, cognition was distributed.

Interestingly, the group's interaction with the toys led to a sort of "puzzlement" as being the stimulus for learning and this somewhat readily suggests both intellectual and pragmatic goals for learning for all. In a collaborative manner, the activity served as a mechanism for enriching, interweaving and expanding everyone's understanding of the particular issue I posed as the challenge. Just as Lebrow (1993) talked about shift in values when one takes a constructivist perspective, he noted that "the seven primary constructivist values of collaboration, personal autonomy, generativity, reflectivity, active engagement, personal relevance and pluralism (1993,p.5)."

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi questions the how creativity the place of creativity and highlighted that "creativity does not happen inside people's heads, but in the interaction between a person's thoughts and a sociocultural context (1996, p.23). " He also proposes that "centers of creativity tend to be at the intersection of different cultures, where beliefs, lifestyles, and knowledge mingle and allow individuals to see new combinations of ideas with a greater ease", the activity was in my view effective to arouse this creative cognitive distribution. Further, just as there was time to allow individuals to work on their problems by toying with the stimulus, the 'aha' was more visible after a period of immersing into "me and my toy" quiet moments. This was apparent as most participants settled down after the first few minutes of elation and puzzlement before their little creative exploration with their selected toys.

What was then observed was the 'flow' in which Csikszentmihalyi describes as the state of absorption in the creative process. He defines flow as “an automatic, effortless, yet highly focused state of consciousness”, which results from stretching our abilities in the pursuit of a meaningful challenge. The elements of creative flow include: clear goals; a balance between challenges and skills; total absorption in the task; a distorted sense of time; and an absence of distractions, worry and selfconsciousness.

When the participants were invited to share on their new creative ideas, many spoke eloquently and spontaneously about their improved solutions. Almost effortlessly I must say, others around could easily sense the intrinsic rewards of their experience. If one of the objectives of the seminar was to achieve the following- 为了加强个人适合的创新和变革的能力，在实际业务挑战上学习，应用工具和流程；为了个人和组织的成功变革，学习如何灵活运用, I think the participants will agree with me that at least for the seminar most were able to revisit the simple joys and fun of playing with creativity.

Csikszenmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper Perennial.

Lebrow, D. (1993). Constructivist values for systems design: Five principles toward a new mindset. Educational Technology Research and Development, 41, 4-16.

From Whose Perspective?

2009-04-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

I recently conducted a series of Innovation & Creativity Seminar in Hong Kong & China as part of a joint effort between TUV Rheinland (China) & Centre of Organisational Excellence (Singapore).

One of the most intriguing and insightful feebacks I gained was from Mr Wong Kin Hung, Sky Technology Co. Ltd (Hong Kong). Although throughout the workshop, he appeared passively uninvolved with the group activities, after the workshop he came forward to thank me for triggering a mindset shift as well as a list of possible solutions that may help him to resolve a critical challenge he faced in his company. All simply done through the use of a YO-YO.

Mr Wong highlighted two very useful insights of his yo-yo learning experience:

1) Power of Mindfulness

Although he appeared very detached during the seminar, he explained that it was because he was actually deeply thinking or 'mindfully' focussed. He further explained that although he was first introduced to the 'mindful' concept by Dr Langer of Harvard University years back, this was the first time he experienced this state of mindfulness so powerfully that he was completely engaged mentally in the process and highly alert to the new learnings. Yet, as he was simultaneously looking at his challenge intensively, he noted that he was intuitively and cognitively very open to the new information that was disseminated during the workshop as well as the multiple perspectives from the conversation of the other group members at his desk.

2) Using Visual Connections to Radically Shift Mindset

What was most exciting was how the Yo-Yo through the activity of Visual Connections got him all started in his 'mindful' experience. When I first asked the participants to write down a challenge that needed some new breakthrough, he was initially reluctant to pen down his thoughts. However, I am thankful he shared this comment with me- "If a strategy really works, then it should be able to deliver the intended outcomes if implemented properly." After which, he wrote down the following- "How to get my clients back?" As he gave the Visual Connection Tool a chance, he simply grabbed the most colorful object on his table- the Yo Yo. As he listed the attributes of the Yo-Yo, he noted adjectives like- smiley face, retractable, colorful, produce clicking sound, etc, he found it easy to immediately connect each of the attributes to some new ideas. He also highlighted that it was initially not easy to observe the divergent ground rule of deferring judgment, he found the act of playing with the object easier to circumvent the mental barrier of not judging the silliness of the activity. However, the experience not only allowed him to deepen his thoughts on pulling out some ideas from each of the attributes but stretched his thinking further when he saw all the attributes as a whole. Excitedly, he shared that a mysterious shift of how he viewed the challenge occurred. With the clicking sound and his shaking motion, he was 'jolted' to a realisation that the past months of working on the problem was from HIS perspective, rather then that of his clients. Just as he felt that he and his team had some futile attempts to regain his clients, the activity led me to a realisation that their vision of the problem is very different from that of his clients. He further explained that some of the solutions that were offered were short term gains that other external factors such as competitors' offering could easily under-cut his discounts. However, the clicking sound led him to think of how to sustain a resonating relationship and how the smiley face got him to go back to the fundamentals of communication- looking at customers' satisfaction. Further, while he was playing with the yo-yo, he realised how inflexible their system was how there need to have an urgent review of their own sales cycle.

To conclude, Mr Wong's sharing led me to realise the common connection between business and learning- the essence of humility. He was humble and open to a new learning experience, even by playing with a simple toy. With mindful attention, even such a simple activity allowed him to re-perceive from his clients' point of view and deepen his own insights into a precious lesson on being more customer-centric. His sharing also showed me how Thinking Tools are great to evoke 'mindful playing'- with discovery of the joy of learning in a thoughtful and focused way.

Quoting from wikipedia (http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Mindfulness)- "Langer defines her version of mindfulness as a "heightened sense of situational awareness and a conscious control over ones thoughts and behavior relative to the situation" (Marzano 2003, p. 65). She explains that mindfulness is not about just paying attention. It is making a conscious effort to be "in the moment" and to not ignore the environment."

Personally, I gained a huge dose of humility and reminded me that I really do have a lot to learn about mindfully improving my craft.

Learn like an Inqusitive Child

2009-02-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

Torrance ( 1979) quoted his student's definition of the elements he considered that were important to creativity. Some examples include-

Creativity is wanting to know;
Creativity is having a ball;
Creativity is building sand castles;
Creativity is singing in your own key;
Creativity is shaking hands with the future.

These fun and joyful elements serve as timely reminders for us to return to our basics of looking at the child in us. Creativity has much to do with the freewheeling imagination that every child naturally embraces. Its like as we obseve a child busy at "work", we seem to notice how he/she can bring the intellectual, volitional and emotional functions into play all together! Rollo May (1975) believes that creative thinking represents one of the highest level of emotional health and is the expression of normal people experiencing the process of actualising themselves. Behold the "flow" of intense absorption and heightened consciousness!

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly."
- Arnold Edinborough

Torrance, E. P. (1979). The search for satori and creativity. Buffalo, NY: Creative Education Foundation.

Photos taken from Singapore's first Science Busking Festival

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Singapore/Science-Buskers-Festival/24734317997

Praise First

2008-10-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

Thinking is an art, with its own purposes, standards, principles, rules, strategies, and precautions. And it is an art well worth learning, for every important thing we do is affected by our habits of mind.
–Vincent Ryan Ruggiero

After a recent workshop, a teacher asked me in private, “Are we SERIOUSLY serious about fostering creative thinking in our curriculum?” A student jokingly commented that teachers are ‘2 fast 2 furious’ to point out flaws and judge ideas. A colleague felt proud that she has a brilliant idea to present to her team leader but at the same time felt a sense of vulnerability.

Transformational leadership (Downton, 1973) focuses on developing others to their fullest potential. In recent developments, Northouse’s (2004) listed intellectual stimulation as one of the main characteristics of transformational leadership. Based on his description that transformational leaders “stimulate followers to be creative and innovative”, are we - leaders shaping Singapore’s education landscape - providing sufficient room to “try new approaches and develop innovative ways of dealing with organizational issues” (p.177)?

What’s wrong with MY ideas ?!@#!

Do you know that you have a reptile living in your brainstem? Our “gator brain”, like that of the entire brain of an alligator is solely concerned with survival - food, protection, turf guarding , and yes…. reproduction. Animals comfortable in their natural environment will regard any change as a threat. Thus, their natural instinct in dealing with “newness” will include the following: kill it, eat it, and run from it (or mate with it).

If you want to think creatively, then you had better break away from old mental habits - think ‘out of the box’! Many people automatically kill new ideas when they start thinking “Mine-is-better” and it does not help that our tendency to over-rationalize (even at the expense of compounding a mistake), or simply to give in to irrational prejudice by way of stereotyping. Unfortunately, they also destroy the possibility of innovation, creativity, or improving morale with such early closures.

Back to our ‘gator brain’: Thankfully, we are blessed with a neo-cortex (the “innovative brain”) which has the capacity to override the primitive instincts of the brainstem. That means, MAN can be creative by treating “newness” with curiosity, defer judgment and identify possibilities in new ideas. In short, we can be smarter than gators- if we choose to be. Instead of dampening the spirit of creativity, if you spot the “holes” in the ideas first- ideas that seem too “fresh” or dangerously too risky, use Praise First to evaluate and strengthen an idea to give it extra bite!

Praise First- Pluses, Potentials, Concerns, Overcome Concerns (PPCO)

Praise First is founded on the principle of affirmative judgment. The technique allows the expression of both positive and negative responses to an idea without crushing its potential – or its originator. Instead of jumping in to critique an idea, seek first the value in it. Express what you like about it. Think about what might be possible if it worked. THEN, present your concerns as questions to invite further thinking. Praise First is a great way to strengthen the idea (and the originator) by identifying key shortcomings and highlighting key advantages by laying the cards on the table. It is also a powerful tool for the team to brainstorm on how to overcome concerns together.

Praise First is not only a great tool to analyze and improve ideas by transforming them into workable solutions, it is also very useful to provide feedback on behaviour products or proposals. (Refer to www.think-learn-grow.blogspot.com for an example of how I used Praise First during a classroom boservation)

Thomas Edison once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” The deliberate work to affirm new ideas is such an opportunity.

The Future is in Your Mind

I bought a shapes chunky puzzle for my 10 months old daughter. While she was toying with the pieces, my wife with all good intentions commented, “Darling, you cannot fit a round block into a square hole.” Shortly after, the baby amazingly took some scrap cloths to pad the base of the block and managed to make that supposedly impossible fit. The point is, to envision the possibility of change, evaluate ideas in an affirmative and developmental approach. As the former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said, “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

References:

Downton, J. V. (1973). Rebel leadership: Commitment and charisma in a revolutionary process. New York: Free Press.

Miller, B. J., Vehar, J. R.; Firestien, R. L. (2001). CPS facilitation: A door to creative leadership (3rd Ed.) . Williamsville, NY: Innovation Systems Group.

Northouse, P. G. (2004). Leadership: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Puccio, G. J., Murdock, M. C., & Mance, M. (2007). Creative leadership: Skills that drive change. Three Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

My Seventh P of Creativity

2008-09-10T15:15:00.000-07:00

Definition of PROVOKE (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/provoke):
1 aarchaic : to arouse to a feeling or action b: to incite to anger
2 a: to call forth (as a feeling or action) : evoke b: to stir up purposely c: to provide the needed stimulus for

Based on the article 'The internet and Malaysian politics: The perils of modernity" (http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10854822) no one can undermine the influence of the Internet- not even the government. It was reckoned that close to 60% of Malaysia flooded the internet with "an unusual combination of high internet penetration and pliant mainstream media" and influencing the 8th March 2008 elections. The internet is indeed a powerful tool to provoke people to take actions.

As a platform for community building, the internet informs, arouses curiosity and drives some people to action. Through a more interactive Web 2.0, human knowledge is expanding so rapidly students today leverage on it for endless learning at their finger tips with search engines like Google, Alta Vista, and Ask Jeeves. Ironically, many too becomes inundated with the flooding of emails and with increased time to process at rapid fire type of response needed with each mail. This invitably, creates within some an invinsible wall of apathy leading to a resistance of new ideas. While some may be provoked to making a creative difference, others nonchalently are provoked to the other extreme - indifference.

Mel Rhodes articulated the 4 P’s of creativity- Person, Press, Product, Process (1961). Simonton's 5th P-Persuasion, plays an integral part in a product (the physical manifestation of an idea) being adopted into a domain of the press. Runco (2006) identified social factors that can support, undermine, or do neither for its acceptance into a given domain. For product to gain acceptance into the domain, it then integrates as part of the press, where it becomes either internalized by the person in the form of a value or a perception of the press or as a tangible tool. (note: Runco advocated the 6th P as Potential)

Building on Simonton’s Persuasion as the 5th P, I am conceptualising the idea that Provocation may be a possible 7th P- to effect beyond persuasion to 'buy-in' an idea. To me, Provocation connotes a higher level of persuasion that strongly forces individuals to take action. This is becoming even clearer with the practical instantiation of the shift in new technologies that permit individuals greater control over the creation of content and interaction with others not confined by geographical boundaries.

On a personal 'provocative' exploration, my interest in blogging stemmed from as a journal of reflections (http://john-yeo.blogspot.com/) and propagated to several domain areas- each serving a different purpose/audience. I find blogs as an excellent way of sharing information and useful platform to build communities. As a change agent for creativity, I was glad that my workshops for creativity have built a community of teachers who are keen to learn more and for this reason, http://think-learn-grow.blospot.com/ was created. To share on innovative practices, ‘http://create-teeth-buzz.blogspot.com/, generated some energy where people were beginning to look deeper into how we sustain innovation within organisations.

Edward de Bono contributed greatly to the provocation by re-branding creativity. Yet, being dissatisfied with the term “creativity”, he reasoned that it was too broad and had a biased value judgement to what it means. He redefined creativity as a way of Lateral Thinking, which was an ability to look at things in different ways. He coined the term PO as technique to directly & deliberately provoke lateral thinking. He intended PO not just for suspending judgement, but to allow one to jump outside judgement system and conscious call to “shift” thinking. Though simply just a word to announce the desire to shift from the current track of thinking, the use of PO vocally provokes creativity.

In conclusion, I read with great interest a recent report on 'REDEFINING PEDAGOGIES FOR THE FUTURE' on how Provocation is key to impact education of tomorrow. The report was derived from a group of Singapore educators who embarked on a project to explore teaching approaches and teacher competencies necessary to engage students of the 21st century. Led by Mrs Lim Lai Cheng, Principal of Raffles Junior College, they studied the characteristics of what makes a Creative Society tick. I quote from the report

"The world, they said, has moved from being static to dynamic, from mass media
to masses of media, manipulation to relation, objective to subjective,
professional to amateur and consumer to participation. Before, we were
consumers of political messages. People these days want to participate. The role of producers and consumers has changed. In the last 5 years, trust has shifted from authorities such as media and government, to peers like you and me."

The emerging provocative forces from globalisation, transnationalism, increased connectivity with technological advances and a shift towards becoming an innovation driven economy, liberates the motivation of the creative individuals to impact new changes. From an educational angle, the above report provides evidence that Provocation will accelerate educational reform since its driven by the changing dynamics of classroom participation in this Knowledge Age.

Pictures from http://www.friendster.com/photos/38502027/1/360060383#pic=01217992268

Tapping into Personal Creativity

2008-09-02T17:03:00.000-07:00

Profiling surveys has provided me a deeper understanding on creativity- and how it is drawn from all areas of human consciousness.

For example,

MBTI: Extraverted Intuition with Feeling (ENFP): Allowed me to see how I relate spontaneously and flexibly with the outside world and enjoy using imagination and feelings to see new possiblities;.
Emergenetics: My bi-modal profile for social thinking (47%) and conceptual thinking (42%) allowed me to appreciate why my wife is God-sent with a perfect complementary profile of Structural thinking (63%) and analytical thinking (30%). Behaviourally, her firmness and level of assertivness synergises my animated expressiveness and open-minded flexibilty, and we usually make very balanced decisions together as a team. (Of course, you do recognise the potential for conflicts too!)
Foursight: My energy invest naturally as an ideator and developer-intuitive, global and conceptual in thoughts, which allows me to understand how I can best contribute to a team and the need to stay focused, apply affirmative judgement while keeping the novelty alive

I have recognised that creative processes are neither strictly cognitive nor are they wholly affective. An individual’s creativity often proceeds “intuitive leaps” precisely because it draws from the different faculties of ‘our mind and consciousness that are not wholly regulated by rational thought’ (Robinson, 2001, p154).

Creativity can be framed as an interactionist model- not a purely cognitive intellectual process, and that it may be enriched by other personal capacities or experiences and in particularly by feelings, intuition and by a imagination (Woodman & Schoenfeldt, 1999). Thus with a heightened awareness of my inner resources, abilities and limitations, I can then better develop my creative potential and inspire others to explore their inner search for creativity.

References

Robinson, K. (2001). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. Oxford: Capstone

Woodman, R.W, Schoenfeldt, J.F. (1990), "An interactionist model of creative behavior", Journal of Creative Behavior, Vol. 24, pp.279-90.

A creative video of being a Singaporean Hero

2008-08-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

Singapore celebrated our 43rd National Day on 090808 and the National Heritage Board created a very creative yet genuine video of the hero in being a Singaporean... a candid twist of the less 'propagada-ish' national day songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLqVWEI7ovc

Its good to laugh at ourselves, and yet, give ourselves a pat on the good job done. A nice product of the many years of national education and campaigns. Ha3.

We are truly a FINE country- and I mean well! :)

Wonders of Human Creativity

2008-07-31T19:44:00.000-07:00

The MILLAU VIADUCT is part of the new E11 expressway connecting Paris and Barcelona and features the highest bridge piers ever constructed. The tallest is 240 meters high and the overall height will be an impressive 336 meters, making this the highest bridge in the world.

Parking in Germany

First air-conditioned bus station in Dubai

World's Fastest Elevator installed in World's Tallest Building

Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp announced the installation of the world's fastest passenger elevator just exactly where it is needed - in Taipei 101, the world's tallest building. The elevator runs at a top speed of 1,010 meters per minute when ascending (600 meters per minute on the way down), which works out to 60.6 kilometers per hour. The Elevator can go from the 5th floor to the 89th floor in 39 seconds.

The world's fastest elevator offers the following new technologies: The world's first pressure control system, which adjusts the atmospheric pressure inside a car by using suction and discharge blowers, preventing those riding inside the car experiencing 'ear popping'

The World's First All-glass Undersea Restaurant

The World's First All-glass Undersea Restaurant Opens at the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. It will sit five meters below the waves of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by a vibrant coral reef and encased in clear acrylic offering diners 270-degrees of panoramic underwater views.

Keep it Engaging & Crisp with Pecha Kucha

2008-07-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

I am excited.

Tomorrow (15/7/08) night I will be going down to watch Pecha Kucha http://www.pecha-kucha.org/ here in Buffalo, NY after class.

To keep it short... its a presentation with powerpoint show for any presenters talk within 6min 40s with ONLY 20 slides. I think its a very post-modern creative approach to Torrance's Beyonder Skill of 'Hightlight the Essence'. Its amazing how such a simple concept by two architects in Tokyo who desire to have a performance space to talk about ideas in a most concise manner has exploded to a regular stint in more than 20 Cities. Powerful rules to rein in 'excessive redundant talk'.

Even one of my favorite writers- Daniel Pink (readto my entries on his 'Whole New Mind') did a presentation on SIGNS. In shared his presentation on how signs more emotionally intelligent- 'Demonstrate empathy; Encourage empathy'. Very insightful indeed.

In this age where we are overloaded with far too much information, and people in this fast-paced age hunger for whats most essential- its worth checking it out. If I am so inspired by tomorrow night, I will make my first 6minutes 40s speech when I get back to Singapore. Thats visionary thinking for someone who loves to 'talk'... the challenge for me- KISS: Keep it Sweet & Short

Developing Neuroleadership

2008-07-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

As I start to conceptualise my own leadership vision, study of transformational, transactional, servant leadership showed me that the heart of leadership ultimately leads to a deep awareness of self and influencing others to create change.

Yet, evidence of a fresh approach, new science that is emerging is. Neuroleadership- Another study of human functioning that may impact organisational change that infuses cognitive and social nature of change. I guess in the light of globalisation and competition, there is an urgency to develop new skills and new mindsets.

If one can grasps the following big ideas , I think "you've got it"

Be better, be different – compete on value (intellectual property, design)
Strong on ‘soft skills’ – communication, flexible, collaboration, cross-cultural sensitivities
Ability to manage complexities, unstructured, open-ended and novel situations

For those interesting in Neuroleadership and its related field, check out the following:
- Global Neuro Leadership Summitshttp://www.neuroleadership.org/
- First summit in Italy http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2007/01/the_first_global_neuroleadersh.html
- North American sumit in NY http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/6/prweb952424.htm

Maybe I should dig deeper to see if I can write a paper for the first publication of the Neuroleadership Journal! No pain no gain!

The High Concept & High Touch Whole Mind

2008-05-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

When wabbit just introduced me to Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind, she said, just read the first chapter and you'll be excited. Pinks introductory chapter started with "The future belongs to a different kind of person.... Designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers — creative and empathetic right-brain thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't." The idea that those people who "Think different" may be valued even more than ever instantaneously got me hook onto the book!

Mind map on Daniel Pink's book from http://www.learning-tech.co.ukwhole_new_mind.htm.gif/

Below is a fine piece of how Garr Reynold's combined Pink's aptitudes of Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning. with the mastery of great presentation.
http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2006/08/from_design_to_.html
In Reynold's words, "these are not the last word on the aptitudes needed by the modern presenter, but mastering these along with other important aptitudes such as strong analytical skills will take you far as a communicator in the "conceptual age."" (And yes, Reynold's blog is simply one of the coolest, well-dated and much wisdom waiting to discover!)

From an educational standpoint, since the ability to see connections require cognitive engagement, brain-based theory recommends that educators ought to engage both sides (hemispheres) of the brains to learn.

“Today the left brain capabilities that powered the information age are
necessary but no longer sufficient. The “right brain” qualities of inventiveness, empathy, joyfulness and meaning – increasingly determine who flourishers and who flounders. …professional success and personal fulfillment
now requires a whole new mind.” (Daniel Pink, p3)

With these in mind (now that our mind has “expanded”) how do we leverage on the instructional techniques associated with brain-based learning:

Creating learning environments that fully immerse students in an educational experience (Orchestrated immersion)
Eliminate fear in learners, maintaining highly challenging environment (Relaxed alertness)
Allow learners to consolidate and internalise information by actively processing it. (Active processing)

Highly recommended website (learning theories on curriculum design and student engagement) http://www.funderstanding.com/right_left_brain.cfm

Libraries of Tomorrow

2008-05-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

Just as we are cracking our brains thinking the importance (or non-importance) of how design is changing schools, I was deeply impressed on Bosch & Fjord's "point of view" approach of co-creating on actual projects that his company has managed to execute. They have recently launched their new project "The Library of the Future".

This was one of the most 'core' words I heard from Rosan Bosch as she explained why designing to bring out the individuality in all aspects of work, play and chill means a great deal. "You need to have room for your personality at work otherwise you cannot be creative."

Their amazing works brings together "opportunities, common to all of humanity, for experiencing a new sensibility, tactility, and sociality - by also investigating the various codes and games in which the body takes part, and the spaces established around such games, be it in financial, cultural, or social terms." http://uk.bosch-fjord.com/content.asp?page=text&ID=164

Do catch a glimpse of this on http://www.bosch-fjord.com/ Check out the mind blowing pictures on the Library of tomorrow!

Ambidextrous Organisations & Other processes

2008-05-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

Innovation can be an extremely chaotic and messy business. Many theories, many alternatives, many views. Yet, the real thinking needs deepen to understand what works for us and be well contextualized for innovations for tomorrow.

One article that I was greatly inspired is the ‘Ambidextrous Organisations’. It pointed the different models of organizations that deals with both incremental and radical innovations well.

"... these kinds of companies "ambidextrous organisations", and we believe they provide practical and proven model for forward-looking executives seeking to pioneer radical or disruptive innovations, while pursuing incremental gains. A business does not have to escape its past, these cases show, to renew itself for the future."

On why Singapore Quality Assessment is still key to put organizations ‘in place’ people need understand that the difference in the process of SQA and innovation is in the extent of turbulence created by the external environment. An organization need have an understanding of how to respond to changes around. Theodora Tan, Supt of E5, extracted the concept from the book by Brent Davies and Linda Ellison entitled 'Strategic Direction & Development of the School’. It explains the differences between emergent strategy, intraprenuership, strategic planning and strategic intents.

The SQA process assumes that there is a high level of understanding of how an organisation should respond to the challenges it faces. Hence it plans and puts in place processes in a systematic manner. However, when the level of understanding is low, which is essentially the work that we do and what innovation is all about - breaking new ground, the process is messy and a lot more fluid.

Can all the approaches co-exist in an organisation? In my mind, the answer is 'yes'. It just depends on what aspect of the work we are talking about and the level of understanding of how we should be approaching it.

Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?

2008-05-12T02:13:00.000-07:00

Christophe Vorlet

The New York Times
by JANET RAE-DUPREE
Published: May 4, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/business/04unbox.html?ei=5087&em=&en=12f4319f96a5d073&ex=1210737600&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1210583527-C/L6paCiUVnguCtJ9hBl4w

"HABITS are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative connotation."

Author suggest that it seemed antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. Yet with the advances in neuroscience, brain researchers have discovered that with conscious development of new habits, parallel synaptic paths are created and even allows new neurons to 'jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.'

"Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.

Dawna Markova, author of “The Open Mind” and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners noted “the first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder ... But we are taught instead to ‘decide' ... and to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”

Whats interesting is that: researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. The argument goes on to say that with standardized testing in schools, analysis and procedure that is highlighted would then disallow people to use their "innovative and collaborative modes of thought."

New personal mastery can come by developing new habits. "If you’re an analytical or procedural thinker, you learn in different ways than someone who is inherently innovative or collaborative. Figure out what has worked for you when you’ve learned in the past, and you can draw your own map for developing additional skills and behaviors for the future..... If you have a pathway to learning, use it because that’s going to be easier than creating an entirely new pathway in your brain.”

Ms. Ryan and Ms. Markova identified 3 zones of existence: comfort, stretch and stress. "Comfort is the realm of existing habit. Stress occurs when a challenge is so far beyond current experience as to be overwhelming. It’s that stretch zone in the middle — activities that feel a bit awkward and unfamiliar — where true change occurs."

When we enter the stretching zone, “it helps keep your brain healthy. It turns out that unless we continue to learn new things, which challenges our brains to create new pathways, they literally begin to atrophy, which may result in dementia, Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. ... but scientists speculate that getting out of routines makes us more aware in general.”

Interestingly, the May 08 issue of Harvard Business review interviewed John J. Medina and sought his views on how 'The Science of Thinking Smarter' can show managers way to improve productivity.

He stated that scientists still know very little about how to apply the new knowledge of neuroscience to real-world settings.
Whats for real though, would be that by "unpacking the neuroscience of stress, companies can dramatically improve the productivity of their knowledge workers and thus gaining a competitive edge."
Also, it is established that the brain is highly sensitive and can respond very differently to external experiences and thus implies that we can "literally rewire it through exposure to cultural influences."
How learning is fixed is unclear and he notes "memory is not fized at the moment of learning, and repetition improves the odd of retrieval."
What is common knowledge is that the brain, like a muscle, gets larger and more complex with increased activity and experience.
Oh, and that exercise-known to be improve cardiovascular system enhances blood flow and blood vessels in the brain and thus, reduce chance of contracting Alzeheimer's disease

Ms Ryan proposed the practice of kaizen, a Japanese technique that calls for tiny, continuous improvements. “Whenever we initiate change, even a positive one, we activate fear in our emotional brain,” “If the fear is big enough, the fight-or-flight response will go off and we’ll run from what we’re trying to do. The small steps in kaizen don’t set off fight or flight, but rather keep us in the thinking brain, where we have access to our creativity and playfulness.”

Ms. Markova suggests that by taking a look at how colleagues approach challenges, it brings about intellectual diversity in the business. "We tend to believe that those who think the way we do are smarter than those who don’t. That can be fatal in business, particularly for executives who surround themselves with like-thinkers."

They encouraged that by churning through the initial confusion state with new activities, the brain then starts organizing the new input, leading to the creation of new synaptic connections if the process is repeated enough. But if, during creation of that new habit, the “Great Decider” steps in to protest against taking the unfamiliar path, “you get convergence and we keep doing the same thing over and over again,” she says.

“You cannot have innovation ..... unless you are willing and able to move through the unknown and go from curiosity to wonder.”

The Cognitive Age

2008-05-12T01:44:00.000-07:00

New York Times By DAVID BROOKS
Published: May 2, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/opinion/02brooks.html?ex=1367467200&en=cc3f18b330bcead4&ei=5124&partner=facebook&exprod=facebook

Brooks argue that we need look beyond the globalization paradigm Although most agree that globalization is the chief process driving our age and that our lives are being transformed by the increasing movement of goods, people and capital across borders.

The changing of historical narratives shows that what used to determining boundaries are blurred where capital flows freely and technology levelling the playing field allowing for fiercer global competition.

Yet the globalization paradigm has evolved and is no longer the central force driving economic change. "Pankaj Ghemawat of the Harvard Business School has observed, 90 percent of fixed investment around the world is domestic. Companies open plants overseas, but that’s mainly so their production facilities can be close to local markets."

Brooks identified that the chief force reshaping manufacturing is technological change. "Thanks to innovation, manufacturing productivity has doubled over two decades. Employers now require fewer but more highly skilled workers. Technological change affects China just as it does the America."

The central process driving that is changing the ecomomy landscape is no longer globalization but a skills revolution - a more demanding cognitive age.

"In order to thrive, people are compelled to become better at absorbing, processing and combining information. But the most important part of information’s journey is the last few inches — the space between a person’s eyes or ears and the various regions of the brain. Does the individual have the capacity to understand the information? Does he or she have the training to exploit it? Are there cultural assumptions that distort the way it is perceived? .....
But the cognitive age paradigm emphasizes psychology, culture and pedagogy — the specific processes that foster learning. "

How Google Fuels Its Idea Factory

2008-05-09T17:35:00.001-07:00

CEO Eric Schmidt describes the simple principles driving the company's steady stream of innovations http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_19/b4083054277984.htm

Think like a CEO: Imagine if you were the CEO, what would you say?

Do companies have to manage innovation differently in a downturn?
Can other companies emulate Google's famous model of letting engineers spend about 20% of their time on projects outside their main job?
Why aren't many other companies doing this, too?
What obstacles does Google face in continuing to innovate?
So you still need that face-to-face contact?
Google has a reputation for doing a lot of R&D in-house, as well as buying companies to bring in other technologies. Are you shifting that toward getting outside talent to contribute in a bigger way than they have?
So we're likely to see even more acquisitions by Google?
Does this mean it's tough for people to adjust, and will that limit the number of companies you can comfortably buy?
How does Google make sure it's producing innovations that change the game enough to create big new markets but also continue to appeal to its main customers, who might not want so much disruption?
How do you make sure all these Google engineering projects actually turn into useful services?
How much of a concern is it that Google has seen both executives and engineers depart for other companies or startups?
Can innovation really be managed, or is it a case where you have to keep the company and its managers out of the way?

Innovation Matters

2008-05-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

In one of my earliest blog entry on No-big-deal Innovation http://create-teeth-buzz.blogspot.com/2008/03/innovation-is-no-big-deal-really.html after being so inspired by dining with thoughts leaders of the different fields, bringing the learning back home, I am increasing sensing the great disjoint.

I think my exasperation lies in this observation- that Singaporeans are only hung up over "innovations is good to have, we believe its the next tipping point, we know it drives change,...." and the wonderful list goes on. YET, it leaves many to wonder, what worked for the thriving firms on innovation or why didn't it work for us? I wish to probe deeper then that we need to re-examine- how many truly embraces this level of change? What does this change management entail? How can we contextualise innovation for ourselves?

A paradigm shift: Straits Times (April 30, 08) carried the article 'Clash in Innovation Incentives' by Richard W. Carney and Loh Yi Zheng that highlighted the conflict that I am grappling with. It identified in bold the root of the problem-

'Singaporean managers and employees may be exceptionally creative. But Singaporean institutions foster conflicting innovation styles, their efforts do not produce any sustainable innovation activities of either type.'

Some food for thoughts...

Singapore face a 'considerable difficulty in building a durable base of entreprenuerial activity- despite being richer than France, Germany and Japan on per capita basis and numerous government efforts to spur innovation.
Is our culture is simply too risk adverse or do we lack creativity? Or could the writers rightly identify it as the fault of institutional arrangements?
What are the types of incentives of institutions that will allow both incremental (or small scale improvements to products or services) AND radical innovation to take place?
For long term focus, incremental innovation matters most. It involves cumulative learning with specialised training of workers to prevent other companies from "poaching" these skilled workers. With clients and major suppliers, investment into specific physical assets in important. Such practices establish a culture of 'trust, certainty and camaraderie throughout the value chain'- thus spreading the benefits of costs, benefits and risk of R&D for all to grow in the process and generally uninterupted by the 'occasional difficulty of the individual firms'.
Role of dominant owners: shield from short-term capital market pressures and producing long term productivity goals. Impact on managers: focus on 'low-risk strategies and continous improvements on established products, ... to build a competitive edge.'
Conversely, radical innovation focus on the short term- 'hit and miss' of seeking the next 'blockbuster' product, which would 'recover the cost of all other unprofitable endeavours'.

SO here's the big argument...

Firing of employees with the requsite skills and the knowledge after if a product does not materialise, essentially is no big deal! In fact, writers opined that 'arm-length relationships also enable such firms to poach the highly valuable 'drop-outs'. The writers argue that since fast evolving sectors' success depend on speed and flexibilty, our strong commitment of inter-firm relationship is thus a reliablity.

Paradoxically, since the nimbleness to mandate only fall on managers, and require little consultancy with the workers OR even the owners, the tendency for managers to 'wield greater powers' disperses the ownership. This frees up firms with 'liquid and virbrant equity market' to better to 'coping with novelty and catering to investors with heterogenenous risk appetite'. On investment, the stock market then allows venture capitalist to exit easily after IPO. It then suggest that this key to driving a bigger thrust for innovative companies to emerge with this constant flux of knowledge spillover to renew itself through the formation of new firms and new R&D competencies. In fact, some of my friends that visited US recently commented that the park/garage of temp 'car-stayers', was a highly regarded as anyone in there could be jolly well the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

Our BIG problem then would be....

when we want encourage both incremental and radical approaches, we are at a fix then with how to set the incentives for innovation. Also, since coporate ownership is so high, we also then tend to focus more on the low risk strategies for improvements.

The authors thus challenges companies to either choose ONE of the following:

Create longer term employment and stronger inter-firm relationships
Disperse coporate ownership and cultivate a thriving venture capital market

Which then would be approach that best suits our 'unique cultural and economic circumstances'?

Learning Spaces

2008-05-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Space is a constraint in Singapore.

A man who parked his bike illegally stirred the media last year when he revengefully locked the doors of the National Library after his bike was locked couple of times. NLB said that it posed a danger as a fire hazard, he refuted the argument. Now, NLB brought in the bicycle rakes for users who decide to go green by not using petrol/diesel. hmm...a situation where opportunity arised from conflict perhaps.

On the other hand, one of the first mega schools in Singapore- Anderson Primary School, merged 3 primary schools together was not exactly 'mega' in size. Yet the tiny plot of land in Ang Mo Kio has caused the management to innovatively optimise the use of space/lack of space :) I was marvelled by the use of the white overhead beam along the walkway into the courtyard of the school. Most schools would have installed a overhead television to screen programs, announcements, or other edutaining purposes. They cleverly converted that space into a wide screen projection area. Definitely well utilised to capture attention, many times better than a large screen TV. A simple, little frills, but highly economical innovation.

I recently shared the article "Design of the Learning Space" from Educause Review (July/August 2005) with the Innolab team and DCPD circulated it to rest of directors. Some importants questions as school leaders need to re-think.

What were the "formal" spaces of learning yesterday? How have we changed the use of space today? What do we envision for learning spaces tomorrow?

In my earlier blog entry, I shared how Hellerup Skole in Denmark reshaped learning spaces to be more student centred (rather than activity/schedule centred). I like to challenge educator then to ask: how can we consider the instructional implications of these spaces along our corridors, hall ways and even canteen (would blog about my mini PBL project in next entry) One thing is for sure, our students are increasingly becoming digitally literate (and believe me , I lost countless games on maple story when I play with my 9 yr old niece-her ability to multitask and strategise online is something worth carrying out an enthnography). How should we be concerned then with creation and support virtual learning spaces? Brown stated "Learning spaces encompass the full range of places in which learning occurs, from real to virtual, from classroom to chat room".

To me, there is a pressing need, especially with our small size land area, to study about the driving force within the design process and set our own new benchmarks for progress to be measured. In the article, the authors suggested 4 areas t consider aspects of change- life-cycles, how people learn, technologies for teaching, and students themselves. I would just like to focus on 2 key areas:

How people learn-

How would expert learners differ in the way they are engaged as compared to novice learners?

How does that impact deeper learning?

The article suggest that expert learners have a more developed scaffold of experience and knowledge that allows them to assimilate and process new information. In contrast, novice learners will "fare better if they reconcile new information with prior knowledge." For educators, I believe this has implication on how we differentiate our instruction in a mix-ability class. When novice learners may struggle with transferring of "problems and data from one context to another", expert learners have greater ease with "reflecting on learning, or metacognition".

As I always encourage teachers to purposefully question the our students learn, it is evident that deeper learning implies a "disciplined perspective" of a practitioner. And beyond the knowledge management, teachers as facilitators need be highly midful that deeper learning occurs when learning is social, active and promotes student ownership. I sense many teachers today are less comfortable with ambiguity in the classroom. I agree that I previously insisted that my teachers have a clear lesson plan. However, that to me is a prerequsite to a good lesson preparation. But beyond that, the teacher needs to clear the collaborative atmosphere in class can only be established if teachers provide prompt and ongoing feedback. To balance between skill set and mind set of a teacher facilitator, a good teacher needs be a reflective practioner! It boils down to unravelling the principles behind PBL, TfU, UbD- which is to identify the meaningful learning experiences and study how we could shape this environment to promote learning. In essence, I think as educators, we need to ask ourselves beyond looking at the instructional needs, do we also consider the learning needs of our students?

The Net Generation -

Face it, I know my students are so much more comfortable with technology than with their teachers, yes, even Mr Yeo :) My ex-students are so much freer to communicate with me via MSN, facebook or even their blogs then to pick up their phone and greet:"Hello Mr Yeo..." (sigh...) Except when one called to say, Mr Yeo, can you attend my wedding! Ha3. The kids today are of the Net Generation and this IS their preferred modes of interaction, communication and socialisation. Our kids love to "augment" with 'formal and informal small groups and discussions". In fact, recalling the first national award that I mentored in 2003, was a group of Sec 3 students who designed a Biology game on SEX-the human reproductive system. Yes, apart from a sexy biology teacher, they had all the skills of designing and programming a splendid digital story- while I had none of their mastery and competence. What I had (then..ha3) was my ability to advise on the content, story board and suggest ideas to make the game more sex-citing. Needless to say, we got first!

I guess it leaves me to ask "What technology skills and preferences do students currently have?" "What skills do they have in future?" "What skills do they need?" and "How will we meet these needs?" Much room for thought.

I welcome post for comments/concerns. For the teachers in Anderson, please share with me how these ideas would change the way you go into your classroom next week? I look 4ward to your thoughts....

Bird : Innovation & Creativity, Team Dynamics, Leadership 1

2008-05-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

In an article from the McKinsey Quarterly (April 2008): 'Innovation lessons from Pixar: An interview with Oscar-winning director Brad Bird' by Hayagreeva Rao, Robert Sutton, and Allen P. Webb
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Innovation_lessons_from_Pixar_An_interview_with_Oscar-winning_director_Brad_Bird_2127

Although stimulating the creativity of animators might seem very different from developing new product ideas or technology breakthroughs, Bird’s anecdotes are powerful to stir the imagination of innovation-minded executives in any industry.

These were some of his other creative insights from the interview-

Creativity and Innovation

Great ideas come from unexpected places. Who could have predicted that bicycle mechanics would develop the airplane or that the US Department of Defense would give rise to a freewheeling communications platform like the Internet. Seek inspiration in surprising sources.

Fear becoming complacent. Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull, and John Lasseter said, in effect, “The only thing we’re afraid of is complacency—feeling like we have it all figured out. We want you to come shake things up. We will give you a good argument if we think what you’re doing doesn’t make sense, but if you can convince us, we’ll do things a different way.”

Value failure. Bird joined Pixar after coming off a film that was a highly regarded financial failure. Yet, for a company that has had nothing but success, they invited him to "Go ahead, mess with our heads, shake it up". "I worked on a number of badly run productions and learned how not to make a film."

Provide room to experiment ideas - "the heads of Pixar gave us leave to try crazy ideas."
Be 'dirty' In order to do things differently, he had to shake the purist out of those who are things really well—"essentially frighten them into realizing I was ready to use quick and dirty “cheats” to get something on screen if they took too long to achieve it in the computer."

Embrace inequality. "Not all shots are created equal. Certain shots need to be perfect, others need to be very good, and there are some that only need to be good enough to not break the spell. "

Team Dynamics

Importance of pushing teams beyond their comfort zones, encouraging dissent, and building morale.

Get the "involved" for better innovation. Don't just go for the passionate folks; pick people who are involved and engaged- "what they have in common is a restless, probing nature: “I want to get to the problem. There’s something I want to do.” If you had thermal glasses, you could see heat coming off them."

Value of “black sheep”—restless contributors with unconventional ideas. When managed opined that the production of Incredibles would need 10 yr and US$500 million to shoot, he then built him team with "artists who are frustrated", "have another way of doing things that nobody’s listening to" and probably "headed out the door”. He noted "a lot of them were malcontents because they saw different ways of doing things, but there was little opportunity to try them, since the established way was working very, very well."

Synergise diversity. "... find a way to get them to put forth their creativity in a harmonious way. Otherwise, it’s like you have an orchestra where everybody’s playing their own music. Each individual piece might be beautiful, but together they’re crazy."

Innovation takes TIME to make and break, & vice versa. "By the end of the film, that animation team was much stronger than at the beginning, because we had all learned from each other’s strengths. But it took two months for people to feel safe enough to speak up."

Be transparent, even to conflicts. When project failed, instead of working with the individual teams(as previous directos had done), he brought them together and created magic "... we all have different strengths and weaknesses, but if we can interconnect all our strengths, we are collectively the greatest..Everyone will get humiliated and encouraged together. If there is a solution, I want everyone to hear the solution, so everyone adds it to their tool kit. .... if you see something different, go ahead and disagree. I don’t know all the answers.” "I saw directors systematically restricting people’s input and ignoring any effort to bring up problems. As a result, people didn’t feel invested in their work, and their productivity went down. " "..... but the money gets on the screen because we’re open in our conflict. Nothing is hidden."

Face challenges ...humbly. A staff said to Bird, “I want to know why you’re doing this.” Bird thought:" And there was a part of me that wanted to say, “Because I’m the director, that’s why. Do you want to take this problematic thing over?” After a pause, he explained his rationale. He noted that once he gave that answer, everyone felt, “OK, we’re on this ship and we’re going toward a definite destination.”

Work on the morale. "In my experience, the thing that has the most significant impact on a movie’s budget—but never shows up in a budget—is morale."

Reach for the impossible dream. "The first step in achieving the impossible is believing that the impossible can be achieved. ...You don’t play it safe—you do something that scares you, that’s at the edge of your capabilities, where you might fail. "

Encourage people to upgrade. Pixar calls thier optional classes “PU,” or Pixar University- to basically encourage people to learn outside of their areas, which makes them more complete. "Sometimes, people even move from one area to another."
Weed out the passive agressive people - people who don’t show their colors in the group but then get behind the scenes and peck away—are poisonous (toxicity in organisations)

Leadership
Innovative leaders are subversive. "I think the best leaders are somewhat subversive, because they see something a different way. "

Be open minded to change. "They(the old animators) were masters of the form, but they had the attitude of a student."

Bird : Design of Physical Space 2

2008-05-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

Someone recently commented that we do not need to add 'meaningless' structures or objects in the passage way, just to make people interact more. She questioned how much would it then make the workplace a more creative space, leading to a change in the 'dry' culture. I appreciate her concern. Based on the profiling tool of Emergenetics, I can understand such people whose minds are wired with a strong structured thinking(versus one with high social/conceptual thinking) would consider the photos of my earlier entries as superficial (( = superficial, superfluous, or even Silly). My gut feel, has always been, structures/sytems change behaviours. I remain true to this.

Its subheadings says: What does stimulating the creativity of animators have in common with developing new product ideas or technology breakthroughs? A lot. http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Innovation_lessons_from_Pixar_An_interview_with_Oscar-winning_director_Brad_Bird_2127

Brad's thoughts on the design of the physical space:

The Quarterly: What does Pixar do to stimulate a creative culture?
Brad Bird: If you walk around downstairs in the animation area, you’ll see that it is unhinged. People are allowed to create whatever front to their office they want. One guy might build a front that’s like a Western town. Someone else might do something that looks like Hawaii. Steve Jobs initially didn’t like this idea, but John Lasseter said, “We’ve got to let it go a little crazy where the animators are.” John believes that if you have a loose, free kind of atmosphere, it helps creativity.

Then there’s our building. Steve Jobs basically designed this building. In the center, he created this big atrium area, which seems initially like a waste of space. The reason he did it was that everybody goes off and works in their individual areas. People who work on software code are here, people who animate are there, and people who do designs are over there. Steve put the mailboxes, the meetings rooms, the cafeteria, and, most insidiously and brilliantly, the bathrooms in the center—which initially drove us crazy—so that you run into everybody during the course of a day. He realized that when people run into each other, when they make eye contact, things happen. So he made it impossible for you not to run into the rest of the company.

My thoughts: Perhaps we then need to address, how can we help people to learn to USE these spaces, more comfortably perhaps?

The key to Schooling FOR the Future- Projects

2008-05-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

All these talk about preparing students to be well equipped for the 21st Century. What are the distinguishing attributes of their program that separate them from the rest of the world?

Project Management—A 21st Century Skill
KaosPilot International
International School of New Business Design and Social Innovation -Training entrepreneurs and project leaders with a creative edge and a global mind.

http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/27/most_unusual_college_in_the_world

Their incredible Tibet Project that has a documentary produced on it. http://www.tibet.net/en/flash/2003/1103/261103_1.html

Their website with their big projects http://www.kaospilot.dk/docs/HotProjects.asp

Some thoughts: Although Kaospilot is really one of its kind, in general, the Danish education system and the philosophy of teaching does provide foundations for development of creative minds in people. The focus of education is on problem-solving, emphasizing on analysis and application. Diversity that comes with not banding pupils according to abilities builds acceptance that there will always be different ways that people learn and relate, and allows for people to bring ‘different things’ to the table.

New Tech Foundation
Extracted from: http://www.newtechfoundation.org/press_articles.html

December 2007 Real Projects in a Digital World, Principal Leadership Magazine
By Suzie Boss & Jane Krauss

Managing a complex project is the stuff of real work. In the business world, a good project manager is a master communicator, an efficient time manager, a careful budgeter, and a
tireless troubleshooter. These skills can be applied to the world of teaching and learning, too. Few teachers have received formal training in project management.... help teachers think about the tools and strategies they can use with students for managing time, collaborating with team members, and assessing progress.

For example, teachers will need to:

Communicate with students and others about the project
Make milestones and events visible and notify students of changes
Get resources to students

Assess student work from many angles and give just-in-time

Feedback on student work as it develops, not just when it’s completed.

Students will need to:

Manage their time and flow of work

Manage materials and control work drafts

Collaborate with team members and experts
Get and use feedback on their work (through self-reflection, team input, and teacher advice)

Work iteratively and see how parts add up to the whole.

Some thoughts: In the face of NCLB in US, the opportunity to bring forward different school models help to free up the public school system to raise quality. A visit last March to San Francisco allowed me to see how New Tech Foundation transformed schools through the pervasive practice of Problem-based learning. An honored opportunity to meet Bob Pearlman, Director of Strategic Planning and his team showed us that technology could be a very powerful way to drive learning as students articulate the problems posed by teams of teachers, using internet to gather their information and synthesize their learning in a truly authentic manner. The foundation's philosphy is anchored on making the 21st centuries literacies embedded and enlivened in their curriculum design.

For more info on Bob and the New Technology Foundation and the schools: http://www.bobpearlman.org/

In Singapore, the papers highlighted an interesting project that was shared during the 10th Hwa Chung Institution's Students’ Research Symposium commended by SMS Lui for their creativity. The team had conducted surveys, organised other secondary school students to watch the movie "A beautiful mind", as well as produced their own musical, to educate students on the history, research and symptoms of mental illness, culminated into a handbook distributed to almost 300 students.

CNA Online noted SMS Lui commented that R&D was a driver for economic growth and a strong pillar for our long-term competitiveness. To succeed, we(Singapore) needed to attract and grow a sizeable crop of research talent that would enable us to sustain a critical mass of advanced research activity over the long term. He added that we could not wait til the university level to interest our youths in research and innovation. Thus, a need to start them young and allow them to experience the thrill and excitement of being part of a team that was involved in carrying out research that was deeply meaningful and truly significant.

Report noted SMS Lui as saying that it was not hard to conduct research for a project, but by incorporating the topic into reality, it was able to bring about changes.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/343879/1/.html(Posted: 26 April 2008)

A possible flipside to making Mathematical problems too problematic???

Students ‘learn better with symbols’ (Straits Times, 26/4, P48)
Report, taken off Reuters and New York Times, on a research conducted in the United States on maths teaching methods.

Report noted researchers’ argument that maths concepts taught in abstract symbols and various formulae registered better than when students were taught with real-world examples. The research also found that students who first learnt maths concepts using abstract symbols were better able to transfer that learning to other problems when tested. Report also noted that adding extraneous details in story problems made it hard for students to extract basic mathematical concepts and apply them to new problems.

Report additionally noted that the findings cast doubt on the widely used practice of using concrete examples to teach abstract maths concepts, although some mathematicians warned against over-generalising the findings.

Even Standard has an adapted version of PBL- Its called P5BL. http://pbl.stanford.edu/index.html

Of Trust, Respect, Assumptions, Co-creation TO Innovation

2008-04-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

I see 1: Build a culture of trust and respect between people; people feel safe about challenging assumptions

Danes and Swedes are bold in conceiving ideas and trying them out.

Nacka Community: children encouraged to question actively and respect diversity and individuality. Teachers are facilitators of learning and comfortable learning from children.

Lars Kolind, CEO of Oticon, removed the hierarchical middle management. Officers were allowed to choose or bid for projects to work on, people whom they like on their team, and mentors to seek guidance from.

I see 2: Co-creation

Design is core Danish strength
Key design principle: include perspectives of customer/ end-user.

IT-University: Inputs from alumni, students, employers and faculty members gathered to inform curriculum development. This spawned the idea of virtual collaboration with Peking Uni.

MindLab: Policy formulation includes conducting ethnographic studies before concept development. Users are also engaged to validate relevance, value and interest of ideas before full implementation.

Bosch & Fjord: Consultants have a process to understand user-needs when designing spaces and a process to help users to learn to use spaces differently.

I see 3: Collaboration and network as multiplier, not burden. Permeability of boundaries breeds innovation

Collaboration helps to overcome size constraints, tap into expertise of others, and provoke alternative ideas.

Hyper Island and Kaospilot: Collaborative behaviours and competencies emphasised. Hyper Island: 4 weeks of team-building); Kaospilot (close ties among graduates across the globe to collaborate on projects)

INDEX: Overcame budget constraints to host delegates in Danish homes instead of conventional ballroom.

LEGO: allowed fans to modify Mindstorm products; fans helped in product development in lean times.

Galvanising a vision that allows people to Act Through with a Bifocal Lens and Optimising Use of Space

2008-04-14T03:12:00.000-07:00

Example of an orgnaisational culture that is open and boast of freedom to test ideas. Current team in US study trip. Photo by Dee Chia.
Tagline "Ask Forgiveness, not Approval" - The spirit of the Silicon Valley.... almost everyone we spoke to....those in IDEO, Plug and Play and even the NUS undergrads at Stanford said the hallmark of the Silicon Valley experience is rewarding failure. Fail early to succeed sooner!

I See 4– Innovate from the core; define an organizational vision that galvanizes and identify areas for innovation

Draw on strengths, rally staff around meaningful vision and channel resources to work on key strategies aligned to vision.

LEGO: Core competency is designing toys for independent learning and vision is simple and powerful: Learn through play.

Kaospilot: To be the best organization for the world. Focus on developing skills and mindsets to enable positive contributions to society.

Carlsberg: 7 areas for innovation (beer packaging, beer experience, social and environmental responsibility, consumer health and well-being, easy access, connecting people and brand image.

I see 5 – Act through, not just think through; no need to be perfect
Leave sufficient uncertainties in plans to allow things to evolve and change in execution. [ Contrast with our approach of having a detailed and perfect plan prior to execution.]

Trust in the people doing execution, but also have good monitoring mechanism in place
ITU, SKUB and INDEX are experimental projects set up to explore feasibility of such schools; all had no detailed blueprints provided by government.

Specially identified CEOs brought in to co-create the plan with stakeholders.

I see 6 – Dilemma for big organizations: creativity vs systems, seed vs scale
Operation model (efficiency and accuracy) vs innovation model (experimentation and risk-taking)

LEGO: Dichotomy is between creativity and systems lens
- Systems: take care of current business and run things efficiently
- Creativity: Spot future trends that could bring organization to new heights and invest in experimentation
Bifocal leadership development program to help managers use both lenses depending on context.

I see 7 – Optimal and creative use of space to influence behaviour

Bosch & Fjord: Humans are creatures of habit and we must change environment to trigger desired behavioural changes.

Hellerup Skole: Spaces designed to encourage students to explore new learning and discourage teachers from frontal teaching.

Breaking barriers to create more interactions:

Such a fabulous Blop!

Check it out: More photos in earlier post on Tuesday, March 11, 2008

I found this on the web: SImply AWESOME! http://www.designverb.com/2006/08/22/red-bull-hq-london-whoohoooo

http://positivesharing.com/2006/10/10-seeeeeriously-cool-workplaces/

http://positivesharing.com/2007/03/12-ways-to-pimp-your-office/

Tinker 1: Innovations based on PASSION (Lets rock on together!)

2008-04-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Management to identify intractable/challenging problems and invite staff across different divisions/ branches to work on “passionate projects”.

Assumptions:
a. We are not talking about Corporate Planning Teams!
b. We are talking about officers like YOU to volunteer and choose to contribution/ lead a project of your own passion!
c. And yes, your boss will consider it as part of your work scope!

Still don't get it????
If Mr Glorious from History unit is passionate about teaching Creativity across all levels and Ms 'Cooped-in-cubicle' from Astrology unit has ideas on testing how to assess creativity. Senior Head of Zoology thinks it’s a brilliant idea! Director of Research knows good ‘lobang’ and has expert knowledge about curriculum design.

Now, what say you on this project idea?

Tinker 2: Engaging Hearts, Enriching Minds: Co-creating for the Future

2008-04-13T02:00:00.000-07:00

Gathering inputs from users from beginning of design process to look at issue with fresh lenses, by combine expert knowledge with fresh insights for policy/ programme development.

Assumptions:
a. FGDs and pilot testing are great BUT we do care about co-creation FROM THE START.
b. We CARE about how end users (students / teachers) love to own their learning.
c. And yes, we STILL CARE about rigour and standards of learning.
d. Curriculum unit rethinking how we need to evolve to better support and partner stakeholders.

e. Designing as a tool to enhance a brand new experience of engagement.

Still don't get it????
Students from Ha Chong JC and Kaya Lebar Sec school are avid gamers. As avant garde in the online gaming world, they have interesting ideas on how games can help students to learn better in specific subject. Their teachers think it’s a nice idea but unsure of how to help the students realise their ideas. Folks in Curriculum and Technology units know there is potential in media literacy and role of games in learning. They think they can rope the students as experts to conceptualise and develop an educational game.

Now, what say you on this idea?

Tinker 3: Creativity vs Systems

2008-04-13T01:30:00.000-07:00

Develop a ‘bifocal’ mindset that balances between
- Operational dimension: emphasizes on efficiency, safety and accuracy
- Innovation dimension: requires experimentation, risk taking and challenging of the status quo.

Assumptions:
a. Innovation is everybody’s business
b. We read your mind… “no time, I scared if fail how, where got $$, can challenge policy meh*#!@%!!”

Still don't get it????
I once heard a very wise leader comment that innovations of organisations can be broadly classified into innovations for today (ie. improving on products/services provided currently) and innovations for tomorrow (ie. new ideas that have potential to address future needs). She opined that most officers are probably focussed on “bread-and-butter” innovations and even making time for these can be a challenge as it is. We may have to look at carving out time for innovations for tomorrow and integrating it as a part of our job-scope and not just a “good-to-have”.

Now, what are your thoughts on how we can innovate for today and tomorrow?

Act through versus Think through

2008-03-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

People have asked me as the director, how did this play all got started. To cut the long story short, I was initially just advising on what are some approaches the team could embark. However, the journey evolved from seeding of an idea to taking ownership of the idea. It didn't come easy. There were plenty of risk, especially the circumstances and context of the church's history and culture. Nonetheless, I always felt that given the clear vision and the right support, any risk could be turned into an opportunity.

The original script that we adopted did not work. From much argument and trying of different styles, I was at my crossroad. However, the exhaustion and frustration led me back into my core- my love for my family. That, I realised became the strongest driving force for any creativity- where your passion lies, there your strength will be. Great things came around: new partnerships were forged, ground-breaking concepts tested along the way, inclusion of strong and experienced (and willing) actors, etc. So much I could give thanks for. As for the inspiration, it all lies in my personal aspirations of the kind of life I hope my son will have one day- one of courage, humility, openess, integrity.

If I was desribe my own creativity journey throughout this process, I think I really experienced what I "preach" on the brain-based theory:
1. Creating learning environments that fully immerse self in an open and honest experience (Orchestrated immersion)
2. Eliminate fear of failure, maintaining highly challenging environment (Relaxed alertness)
3. Allow self to consolidate and internalise information by actively processing it. (Active processing)

Concluding my journey, I realised that it was the ability to see new connections and thereby making new meaning of each experience was the key to bring about the final outcome.

“Today the left brain capabilities that powered the information age are necessary but no longer sufficient. The “right brain” qualities of inventiveness, empathy, joyfulness and meaning – increasingly determine who flourishers and who flounders. …professional success and personal fulfillment now requires a whole new mind.” (Daniel Pink, p3)

The Mime that was never thought possible

2008-03-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

After months of hardwork, the show that I have painfully put together is finally ready. Tonight the full dress rehearsal was one of the most satisfying moment when I saw the whole story finally in place. I have not directed a theatre piece since 2001`- let alone a mime with interactive digital video and several new song compositions. Yet, God miraculously humbled me to learn to once again completely trust in Him. I am excited for the creative product to be staged this Good Friday 21 March and Saturday 22 March 08 @ 7.30pm.

For more photos to the mime- check out my facebook account! Look for John Yeo.. yo yo yo!!!

Singapore a 'tribal' island to a global nation <1819 to now and beyond>

2008-03-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

World.Singapore: Singapore in the World; The World in Singapore http://www.sedb.com/edb/sg/en_uk/index/news_room/news/20060/0.html Teo Chee Hean's speech last April highlighted 4 key attributes that Singapore needs as our new growth formula- Trust, Knowledge, Connected and Life. TKCL in short. May I propose an additional C for Creativity and suggest as TKCCL. In the book "The Extreme Future" it suggest that "globalisation, a force of modern civilisation, may overcome the issues and barriers that create division, conflict, and inequities." (p186) Yet it is evident from the daily tabloid that this "force for global progress, collaboration, and cultural understanding" is increasingly hijacked by opposing values that comes about from a lack of understanding between cultures, nations and lack of tolerance for diverse ideas. I believe strongly that we need to start then from nurturing of the creative minds of our young, with greater social participation working with communication and collaboration skills. Yet, in this idealised pursuit, I reckon that our creative journey needs to be highly instructive and embodies a deeper and broader universal understanding of what creativity means. In the different phases of our growth as a nation, the faces of our multicultural society needs to gather creatively new ways to find our Singapore soul and then to organise our thoughts around this core identity. During the last hours before we depart Copenhagen, I witnessed the march and protest outside the hotel. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=776416&id=748497641#pid=776417 It left me wondering, what then is true democracy? Just as globalisation brings about transformation of economics, culture, innovation and trade into a new global synthesis, we in Singapore face the same challenge for the relentless race to encourage diversity- to recognise the new, the different and the odd. Perhaps our education needs then to to tap into new ways of finding pragmatic answers to foster more meaningful engagements and enhance deeper understanding for all. It doesn't matter if its the small red dot or anywhere in the world. Our world, is indeed flat.

Flowing into Creativity

2008-03-14T23:35:00.000-07:00

"Humor and creativity are kissing cousins. If you want to develop your sense of humor, invite more creativity into your life -- and vice versa. In the presence of humor, new creative perspectives naturally occur. You can't stop them."
~ Joel Goodman, founder and director of The Humor Project

In 15 min, we were instructed to construct from a pile of lego bricks a handphone holder. From the bustle of excitement and anxiety, the room silenced almost instanteously as we focussed on our individual masterpiece- a creation by touching and experimenting, systematic thinking and rich imagination. What came forth were all beautiful Lego inspired work of colours, individuality and practicality. Hong Meng even thought of creating a hand scuplture holding onto a phone- in all sense of the word- handphone.

Learn more about Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's concept of Flow:
http://complexworld.pbwiki.com/Flow
http://www.goodlifecoaching.com/CreativeLife34.html

Denmark is beautiful

2008-03-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

This is my first time seeing precipitation in the form of ice pellets. (or is it sleet?) http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=764128&id=748497641

Time flies... Copenhagen is really beautiful. I love the architecture here- truly eclectic. A good blend of preserving the old and yet unafraid to step into their physical future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duJDzacldPo&feature=related

Can Singapore have a "Hellerup Skole" of our own

2008-03-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

Deeply inspired by Lars Kolind and I believe Singapore neeeds a school where students and teachers can ‘co-create’ this whole new learning experience. Flatten the hieracrchy.... no principals, just head master. Let the students choose their own the project leader... I wish this can be a reality for Singapore in the very near future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhdqWXi2x3I&feature=related

My dream is to have every child explore and chart their own learning, beyond our prescribed syllabus. As part of the secretariat of Curriculum 2015, we may have need to change our exploration from “how would a globalize, world class curriculum look like in 2015?” to “How would we envision a child in 2015”.

In this trip, I am really questioning what we understand of student-centred teaching and learning. Are we really doing it? I completely see the value of exams, are we over hung up with assessment issues, rather than looking at the ‘processes’ in our curriculum. Who I am today, is not the grades but the experience of education that has make me to be myself. The school visits in the past few days just affirmed that there are many opportunities to synergise and build new holistic experiences and ideas across different disciplines and areas of knowledge. I see in the Danish kids their inspiration to create and collaborate. I sincerely believe that technology can help integrate art, science, music and even engineering in the most creative ways.

My vision includes working alongside with teachers on how we can learn with the students, yet not compromising on the good aspirations of our Singapore education or losing the culture or discipline. I believe whole heartedly in personalize learning, cos I am not one student whom conformed to the traditional system. Innovative design through collaboration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG2uOUBUEQ0&feature=related This freedom to find their own voice and own place allows each child to learn respect and trust.

But I am not sure if the system will accept my radical ideas. Progressive really? Actually its the fundamentals to what education should be all about- nurturing a complete child. That simple.

Physical work environment makes a BIG deal

2008-03-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

Tony Lai + Conceptual thinker = Innovator <*?=> Creativity

2008-03-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

Breathing, living, drinking, Tony Lai....in Copenhagen. YOu ain't get enough from this man. ONe whom I regard as an important catalyst that makes Singapore a creative society, especially the work he is brewing in The Idea Factory. One thing I say he has that most civil servants lack is his candid sense of humor! Indeed humour has its place to foster a more "let-loose" "chill out" environment.

Yet, as he is smoothly facilitating this Innolab trip, I recall an important discussion we had some time back on "Innovation versus Creativity". INteresting food for thought.... especially as we are talking to the leading thinkers on Innovation here in Copenhagen.

I (naively) wrote on 19/10/07:
Hi Tony

Something been disturbing me for a while. Esp with the Innolab thing coming along and after experiencing your Experiential IP with the JMC. Would like to seek some clarification.

Whats your take on creativity? I know u guys are the key drivers in innovation- across ministries, organisations, etc but where would you place creativity. I guess, it seems obvious that through your IP processes, it ultimately drives towards CHANGE. Not discounting how "valuable" that really is, but definition wise, would it then just be the implementation of creative ideas? I know it sounds silly, esp if it just seems a simple issue of linguistic, but to me, I ascribe strongly to Rhodes 4 Ps- Press, Person, Product and Process. In this case, I thought, innovation would then lead perfectly as a creative process that brings about a creative product.
what say u?

john

His (garang and wack it hard baby) reply:
Hi John,
It would be my pleasure to engage you in this conversation.

There are so many parts of your email below that is worth dissecting and interpreting for sense-making. Let me see if I can share with you my thoughts around those.

Where do I place creativity? I place creativity at the individual level and a person's ability to create things. But I am VERY obsessed with the nuances of what "create things" REALLY mean. After my experience with working across different countries, I realize that it's very easy to generalize things. So..."create things" for me could include creating new perspectives, creating fresh insights, creating new opportunities, creating new ideas, creating new processes and finally creating new products/things. Therefore the ability to create things will require the ability to see things differently and "create" from there. That's where creativity is at its most exciting level.

Creativity has essences that are non-linear, differential and uncommon. It is more than just a part/phase/stage of a process and worse still...a specific definition. If our aim is to write a dictionary, then it has to have a definition. But if our aim is every else in life, creativity is extremely organic and emerges at usual places.

So then I come to your belief system that you ascribe strongly to Rhodes 4 Ps. May I ask you a few questions please? Do you need to ascribe to any paradigm or theory strongly? Let me ask this differently. WHEN do you need to ascribe to a theory strongly? When you asses and evaluate a theory, do you need to agree/associate with the entire theory's principles? What about the other theories that you do not ascribe strongly to...are there elements that are useful/fascinating in them? If there are, and you included it into Rhodes, what would you have? Would you not be in a creative mode then? And what would happen?

Let me switch the questions down another path. If you never ascribed to any theory strongly but could keep in your head all the various theories of creativity available, would that be a useful process? What happens when you could explain and understand different issues using different combinations of those multiple theories? Would you find new answers? What happens when you assess every issue using Rhodes theory only? Would not the world and its new problems seem "un-new"? Where are you looking at for creativity?

I think you get the gist of my question. But what is most interesting in your paragraph below reflect your strong desire for clarity and absolutes. Let me cite the examples.

(A) "it seems obvious that through your IP process, it ultimately drives towards CHANGE". Perhaps...but that's not the important part really. The way it achieves change or transformation is where the excitement really is. Innovation is a process where there are several unique combinations of activities that are highly contextual to the problem. The ability to solve a multitude of complex problems leading to the change is more important than the final change itself because otherwise it cannot happen. You got to be careful not to only just see the end outcome. Its like saying "isn't everything in life meant for progress?". Very sweeping my friend. There are very few things that can use the words beginning with "ultimately drives towards...". They tend to be very moralistic or idealistic. In real life, the woods and the trees are equally important.

(B) "innovation would then lead perfectly as a creative process that brings about a creative product". I have no problems with your statement except for the words "lead perfectly". Nothing leads perfectly. This may be true in some circumstances and may be completely ridiculous in other circumstances. Can we imagine situations when innovation does not lead to a creative process? Of course.

Do you need a high level of clarity John? Do you need things to square up towards a single form of understanding? How are you with direct contradictions? I am sure you are ok with contradictions. I know that. So can you live with innovation and creativity as contradictions then? Can they be THIS and THAT? Its cool right?

My key advice is avoid the perils of being an academic. Frameworks and theories are very important. They provide conceptual understanding and I am a sucker for them. The hard part is to avoid liking any one theory in particular. Like them all. Know them all. Then apply them in different situations for the best answers. Then mix them up and see what happens. Then create new ones based on your experience and knowledge. This will be your process towards originality. You have the capacity and intelligence to do that. Otherwise the peril of academics take over. You do not provide fresh insights and thoughts when you are facing a problem. Instead, you use
established frameworks and refer to it for understanding. Would it not be fun for you to creatively interpret it?

Just Tony...

After last night, I realise this man can reallly talk, especially after a martini! As for myself, I am seeing the trees and the woods, differently.

Innovation is no BIG deal... really???

2008-03-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

One of the insight that I gained tonight for why innovation is not innovation if it is not well contextualised. And I am not only talking about product innovation or process innovation. In Singapore, we are BIG on learning from Best Practices- either from other organisations or abroad. But time and again, people end up kicking themselves in the butt when they realised that it worked to a small extent. In my discussion with Mary Murdock (Buffalo State University of New York) we discussed that Asians are big time suckers for such incremental, success trodden path-where we just wants all the absolute evidence needed to backup the plan that it will work, before really testing the idea out. Was the problem with "us" (the copiers) or "them" (the best sharers) Understand too that often people love sharing their success stories but often struggles with sharing the less glamorous part of their journey.

Uffe Elbaek ( from being a Danish MP, turned entrepreneur and founder KaosPilots-INternational School of New Business Design & Social Innovation) blew me away on why he started a whole new type of learning experience. Kaospilot is an amazing school in Arhaus, Denmark -- their objective is to churn out graduates who can think laterally and navigate the chaos of the 21st century. Much as we talk about PBL as an useful pedagogy for schools to teach 21st century skills, this man had the vision of such a school that will completely transform the learning experience of students. That beyond gaining the professional certification, he started bubbling(on my papery table mat) the other core competencies that were more fundamental for all graduates for Kaospilot- Meaning, change, climate and relationships. Maybe as we are talking about Applied Learning in the Singapore curriculum, its time to see how students rise to REAL projects, rather than case studies. EVERY project was a real social innovation project- that allowed students to "gain nuanced knowledge and practical experience of the schools’ three core disciplines: creative project, process and business design." Check it out http://www.kaospilot.dk/

Alan Webber (cofounder and editor of Fast Company mangazine and editor of Harvard Business Review) dropped by for dinner as he was on his way tomorrow to Norway to present his thoughts on global innovations through his concept of Turn around society. As we spoke, he challenged me as we spoke about the need to "buy in" to a coporate vision. He led me to think that perhaps today, the individuals want to "buy out"- and thats why the tipping point of creativity lies. I could understand why he started by asking "What are the BIG ideas that you are after?" What are the elements of successful companies would we would to replicate. I love his point on why some companies simply thrive on success...that they search deep within themselves on the specifics of why it worked and continue to just work on that.

Fostering a Creative Learning Environment

2008-03-09T19:32:00.001-07:00

Some recent thoughts from my last round of training on Creativity Tools in Project Work @ Teachers Network (5 March 08).

1)Fostering a Creative Climate versus teaching about Creativity: We started by differentiating fostering a creative environment from teaching about creativity. It was good that Britta and I made the distinction right from the start, and setting the workshop expectations clear.

a) Groups start by listing what they thought were Ekvall's 10 creative climate dimensions of a creative climate. ie. Challenge, Freedom, Idea-Support, Trust, Dynamism, Playfulness, Debate, Conflict, Risk Taking, Idea Time. I felt little disappointed as only one group scored a 4/10 (not sure if this is an accurate indicator of how teachers perceive creative learning environment??) Through this activity, it was easy then to explain about Press (based on Rhodes 4Ps of Creativity- Person, Process, Product and Press) The good thing was that teachers became more aware that the press/ environment was more of a conglomerate of attitude, perception and feelings coming together. Most teachers initially identified the physical components, which though has an impact (especially with regard to the design of the learning spaces) needs to also consider the psychological components- push and pull issue (energy, human and dynamics) and also in terms of physical, mental and emotional resistance. Press may be one of the important considerations for creativity to occur, the working environment often affects how people to perform. “But truly creative people like Marie Curie (Innovative creative style) transcend physical discomfort and inconvenience to pursue their goals and visions. For years she endured a freezing and dilapidated lab in Paris to pursue the work she felt was impt. She believed that perseverance and self-confidence were needed to attend goals. Through education, we can provide an environment that allows people to experiment and “find” themselves

b) Games: Get people to loosen up, man (check out some of the videos I posted on http://yeojohn75.multiply.com/) Particularly enjoyed seeing how groups start to experience the rules of Divergent Thinking through the game "I have a Special Gift for you". *
How to play? Stand in small group of 5-8 folks (Warning: don't attempt to do this with more than 50- which ended up quite disastrous with Woogrove Sec workshop cos all the teachers were in "pain" after 10min)

i. Start with statement: "(name),I have a special gift for you...this is a ....**(think of somethings extremely wacky and impossible eg. tuff of my grandmother's white hair before she died)" T

ii. The receiver next receives ONLY with the statement : "YES, and I can use it for .... " * Some questions or issues to consider- - Why did I emphasize that participants use the exact words, especially with "YES, AND I can..." (No, you CANNOT be polite to thank the person..why?)

- Check: was it easy for participants to diverge with a illogical 'gift'?
- Check: What was the group dynamics and how did the individual react?
- Check: What is the implication to teaching a class of students with diverse learning styles?
- Check: Why was it important for the givers to shout out their thoughts and for receives to build on their ideas?
[**Consider participants' response in terms of fluency (idea generation), originality, flexibility (shifting mental gears)]

2) Beginning with digging into your own Mindset/ Mental model: A- Adaptable mind, B- Brains-on, C- need to Clarify.
To illustrate fact that it was not easy to "live out" the ABCs, we did another activity. The challenge was to get people really thinking about thinking. Sounds easy?? No way. Each group received a colour hat (based on Edward de Bono's 6 thinking hats)
White hat – pure facts, figures and information [Neutral, objective]
Red hat- 2 levels: emotions and feelings; hunch and intuition [feeling mode]
Black hat- devil’s advocate, negative judgment, why it will not work [Negative assessmt]
Yellow hat – sunshine, brightness and optimism, positive, constructive, opportunity [Positive assessmt]
Green hat- fertile, creative, plants springing from seeds, movement, provocation [Creative thinking]
Blue hat- cool and control, orchestra conductor, thinking about thinking [controlled and organized]

Then comes the challenge: 'URA is planning to modernise Chinatown into a futuristic theme park.What do you think? What are your ideas?' Each group then discussed using only the assigned colored frame of mind. After a round of sharing, I can't help but asked "May I have your permission to be really honest about what I just heard?" and I threw the question back to them- "Don't they all sound very similar- somewhat based on the emotional component???" I guessed this activity was useful to illustrate the fact that people generally are quick to judge and evaluate new ideas, whereby killing them even before we learn to see the value in all new ideas. It is somewhat like trying to simultaneously driving with one foot on the acceleration and the other on the brake at the same time. Lots of noise, but no moving much. http://www.slideshare.net/thecroaker/brainstorming-for-fund-and-profit/

I further explained by illustrating using Green hat's challenge and suggested perhaps to think about "what does the words-ie. chinatown/ future / modernise/ theme park, mean to you?" By breaking each what down, could we generate new ideas for each of them, without losing the novelty behind the ideas? I guess this workshop is only but a start. BUt I sure am looking forward to design the next workshop on making the Creativity Tools COme Alive in Project Work. If God allows, I would then conclude with designing my final workshop on Creative Problem Solving Thinking Model and do action research with teachers- who are keen to make a difference with Creativity!

"The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new horizons, but in seeing with new eyes." Marcel Proust

20th American Creativity Association conference, 'Creativity Across Cultures', 25-29 Feb 2008

2008-03-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Don't people love immersing themselves in a highly creative environment such as attending a conference or workshop- where common interest are hot topics of deep conversation. This is the first time that ACA was held outside of US and where else, but Singapore. It was such a exhilerating experience of meeting great creative folks. Tony Buzan shared on how the future of learning is changing "Creativity = infinity + memory", Antony Le Storti, Ideatects, inc., on the principles of innovation, Dr Herbert Hauptman (Nobel winner, Chemistry, 1985) on his insights of “The Making of a Genius”, and the list goes on. Special mention goes to my advisor Mary Murdock, from Buffalo State University of New York, on providing time to discuss our learning.

On a personal note, it was an extraordinarily memorable experience cos it started on my 33rd Birthday (yes, 25 Feb) and what better way to a rousing start to the conference with a birthday song from the delegates (as an ice breaker since the guest of honor was late). All thanks to Suzzana Ramos who "sabo-ed" me la!

Create-teeth Buzz

2008-03-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

The bus broke down right before my church gate on a Sunday morning. NOte the flat tyres in the front. Just like the frustrations of many- road users, passengers, church goers, etc, the very eye-catching ad does no help to make people think right or feel good. I seek then to demystify the negative perceptions of creativity, but to reveal in a personal way a tangible value of how creativity makes a big difference in everything.

1) Why "Create-teeth" (yes, creative it is)?
There are extremes of perception with regard to Creativity: some people are simple ignorant or feign "atas" that creativity is a word that is either too simplistic or too 'fluffy' to talk about? Others talk about being creative all the time; but at times, I wonder if they got it right; others feel that Innovation may be a better word since it translates to something that is of greater value in terms of process disign or product creation; while some simply don't see a need to be creative.

Thus, here is why "create-teeth" was created: I feel that for people to know about creativity- it needs first to spoken-not just articulated verbally, but to start to face the issue. Just like when people are angry, they may be unknowingly grinding their teeth. Likewise, there is a need to boldy handle issues of creativity and get people starting to using a common language. The heart of understanding is commununication. Families break down due to lack of communication, wars break out due to lack of understanding. For people to start immersing in the creative spirit of working and living together, the creative environment needs be open to discuss issues. Even those that are seemingly challenging or disputable.

2) Why "buzz"?
I chanced upon this entry in another blog- 'Didactics of Microlearning'in Connnectivism (Blog-http://connectivism.ca/blog/2007/12/didactics_of_microlearning.html) I quote: 'Writing a journal article, book, or book chapter, is concerned with presenting what one knows. Writing in informal spaces (such as a blog) is concerned with inviting others to join in an exploration of understanding a phenomenon not yet fully known.' It concisely describes why people wants and needs to be heard by leveraging technology as the powerful engine to "break down the walls". As an educator, I am increasingly aware that our digital native kids are constantly sharing information on the web. Just as I am right now in COpenhagen, Denmark @ 2.15am, I have in the past 15 minutes 6 different students inviting me to chat with them through msn (Singapore 9.15am). As the classroom doors are increasingly become more permeable (yes, I miss teaching the phospholipid bilayer of cell membranes ) at times I am wondering if teachers ourselves are living in a state of denial- that the technology and learning can't really mix? I guess it will take a generation of Singapore teachers to start embracing technology to 'design learning when learners may adopt multiple paths and approaches to content and curriculum? How can we achieve centralized learning aims in decentralized environments?'