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Patrick Cronin & Wendy Shanahan

Transforming 21st Century Teaching & Learning in North

CarolinaApril 18, 2011

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Institute for Emerging Issues

• The Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) is a public policy organization dedicated to North Carolina’s future competitiveness.

• By supporting collaboration among individuals from all sectors and areas of the state, IEI builds an enduring capacity for progress.

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What is Creativity?

Creativity means generating ideas that can be used to solve problems or invent new products and services.

Creativity Innovation Competitive Advantage

What Are Creative Skills?

Right

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It’s using more of your right brain

What Are Creative Skills?

Left Brained Skills

• Linear• Logical• Analytical Tasks

(Think of the SAT)

Right Brained Skills

• Big Picture• Empathy• Inventiveness• Artistry

(Think Multidisciplinary)

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IEI’s Work on Creativity• IEI’s stakeholders identified four strategies

to help N.C. achieve its creative potential:

– Enhance education

– Cultivate creative assets

– Foster connectivity

– Transfer ideas to market

• Progress has been made in all four strategy areas but there is still work to be done.

Existing Creativity Teaching Standards

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1. Encourage students to ask questions, think creatively, develop and test innovative ideas, synthesize knowledge and draw conclusions

2. Help students exercise and communicate sound reasoning; understand connections; make complex choices; and frame, analyze, and solve problems

Creativity is part of the standards, but this has not always filtered down into the classroom.

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Enhance Education

• IEI established a Business Committee on Creativity (BCC) to offer recommendations to ensure K-12 education is aligned with the creative skills businesses need from their employees.

Three BCC Co-chairs:

– Louis Foreman, Enventys

– Cynthia Marshall, AT&T North Carolina

– Alex Macris, Themis Media

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Goals of Business Committee on Creativity

• Monitor whether students are acquiring necessary creativity skills to achieve success in post-secondary education and the workforce.

• Review promising practices for assessing creativity in K-12 education that are aligned with the skills that today’s businesses require of their employees.

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Business Committee on Creativity

• General Membership:

• 34 members from small and large businesses throughout N.C.

• Represented creative industries such as gaming, music and design, as well as more traditional industries such as healthcare and engineering.

• Discussion:

• The most practiced method of teaching pushes students to find only one answer, or the “right” answer which runs counter to the way businesses operate today.

• Critical thinking, communication skills, using one’s imagination and entrepreneurship skills are most critical for success today.

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Business Committee on Creativity Recommendations

1. Business Must Communicate to the Policy Community the Urgency of Developing Creative Skills in the K-12 Curriculum

• Message must emphasize that both STEM education and education in creative skills are necessary.

• Business should share the message with policy audiences.

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2. Business and K-12 Education Must Create an Online Network Designed to Make Direct Connections Between Educators and Business

• Educators would post specific needs and local businesses connect directly with educators on the resources they provide.

3. Business and K-12 Education Must Engage in a Broad-based Marketing Campaign Targeting the Public

• Campaign would focus on the fact that students must develop right-brained skills to succeed in the creativity economy and this shift requires an enduring partnership between education, government and business.

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www.emergingissues.org