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"Program Overview Students interact with music, movies, software, and other digital content every day. Do they understand the rules that dictate the ethical use of these digital files, and do they understand why these issues are relevant? The Digital Citizenship and Creative Content program is a free, turnkey instructional program. The goal is to create an awareness of the rights connected with creative content. Because only through education can students gain an understanding of the relevance of and a personal respect for creative rights and grow to become good digital citizens."

"Here is a good infographic that grabbed my attention today as I was leafing through Debra's creativity Pinterest Board. The visual features some interesting tips to help in brainstorming creative ideas. I have gone through these ideas and I think these could be a useful resource to use with students. When students are working on a writing task or a classroom project, these tips could probably help them generate some innovative ideas and boost their thinking process."

"On September 20, 2014, I was fortunate to give a TEDxTalk. The title was "Power to the Pupil" but in retrospect, I wish I'd named it "Sorry Sir Robinson... I think I killed creativity." This talk is about what to do once you become inspired to embrace student agency, creativity and exploration in the classroom... but you realize that your students have already become rubric zombies. It's about wondering - what do I do now? Am I too late? "

"At first, I have to admit I was not the greatest fan of the iPad. Aside from its obvious advantages, like the battery life and the time gained from not having to get the class to 'log on', it seemed like an expensive gimmick. However, after experimenting with iMovie, I began to see some of its potential and I was hooked. I soon found that many of the content-free apps, such as iMovie, Keynote and PuppetPals provided me with a medium through which I could teach in an inspiring and innovative way. Three years on, the school now has one iPad between two children and the opportunities to use the technology in a creative way have multiplied. The iPad is a valuable and powerful resource which has changed my approach to teaching and learning. My lessons are now more dynamic, with greater opportunities for the children to make decisions and choices for themselves. The pupils are often scattered around the school working in small groups to develop creative ways to record, present, evaluate and explain. My role as a teacher has also changed as I have become a facilitator and guide, providing quality control and advice. I have been able to introduce longer integrated projects combining different subjects and skills where the iPad is a key tool in the process. The iPad has been invaluable in enabling me to make the curriculum change I wanted. I can now say the skills of curiosity, collaboration, critical thinking, reflectiveness and creativity are being practised on a daily basis through this technology. However, it is the ease with which you can create on the iPad that has had the most impact in my classroom. The controls are so intuitive that very little time, if any once an app has been introduced, is spent teaching the children how to use the technology. This means that tasks that would have seemed too complicated or time consuming in the past are now possible."

"Guidelines and instructions are not the enemy of makerspaces.  Working through guided projects can help students to develop the skills that they need to further explore creatively.  It's true that some students can just figure it out, but most need that gentle push to get them started.  While things like LEGOs and K'nex are intuitive, many other activities are not.  If you just sat me down in front of an Arduino with no guidance, I wouldn't have a clue what to do.  But after following some example projects, I can start to feel more comfortable with branching out on my own. The problem comes when all we ever do are guided projects.  Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager warn against the "20 identical birdhouses" style class projects, where there is zero creativity involved.  It's very easy to fall into the trap of focusing too much on standards, rubrics and guided projects and zapping all the fun and creativity out, turning a makerspace into nothing more than another classroom.  It's tempting for many educators to just print out a list of instructions, sit students down in front of a "maker kit" and check their e-mail while students work through the steps one by one.  This is obviously not what we want in our makerspaces."

"In this modern technology-driven world, more and more students need to learn coding skills. Coding is the method that is used to create websites, software for computers, and the apps that are so popular on everyone's tablets and smartphones. Kids are naturally adept at learning this technology because it's been around since they were born. They don't remember a time where this new age of computer savvy didn't exist. There are ways to make learning how to code more interesting and effective with certain projects that expressly promote it. Here are five project places that students can use to creatively develop those all important coding skills. Providing ways for creatively developing coding skills is a great way to get students started in the world of coding. The following tools will even help them in continuing studies and skills practice."

"I believe that every single child is gifted and that every kid has a talent which we as educators should help uncover. This is not easy when you have a curriculum to follow and tons of material to teach. But that given we need to make time to work with kids in a different and more creative setting. It's important to let them explore new things that may not be present in your curriculum but are in your students' heads all the time. This is how we can awaken curiosity in young children and help them develop creative thinking. Interestingly though, this idea does not originate in education or teaching practice. It was actually inspired by Google's "20% Time" rule, which encourages employees to spend 20% of their time working on their own projects and ideas outside Google. This concept inspired the idea of a "Genius Hour" at school."

"If you're like most people, you think of drones in a military or even in a police context. It's no wonder why, really, when they most often appear in news reports on the heels of a drone strike we've carried out in another country,  when discussing drone monitoring or policing programs, or in exploring the many safety hazards they bring with them. This makes it easy to view drones in a negative or at least a violent light. But drones, just like all technology, are themselves neither good nor evil. Rather, it's all in how we use them. Given the right context and guidance, drones can make a creative tool for learning, creativity, and experimentation. There are, of course, many potential liabilities in using drones within an educational sphere, most pressing of which have to do with safety and liability. Another real issue even for hobbyists is the expense, which may require a grant or a campaign on GoFundMe or DonorsChoose.org to solve. Still, drones are the future and the future is now. For a moment, let's suspend some disbelief and any larger concerns, so we can look at the creative teaching potential inherent in this technology."

"What can you write in 10 minutes or less? Let's find out! For a quick creative writing exercise, try one of the 21 writing prompts below, excerpted from Chronicle Books' 642 Tiny Things to Write About. Each prompt was created by a writing teacher at the San Francisco Writers Grotto to be done in 10 minutes or less. For a bigger creative challenge, do one writing prompt a day for 21 days."

"Students and teachers alike continue to look for cool design tools to give any project that extra visual punch, and we continue to find great ones all over the Web. This post features 7 fairly unique free online creative image maker tools that are easy to learn and lots of fun to experiment with. Make things like motivational posters, memes, Keep Calm posters, Webcam pics, and so much more with these great image generators. Have fun trying them out and having students add creative flair to lesson projects of every kind."

"If you're like most people, you think of drones in a military or even in a police context. It's no wonder why, really, when they most often appear in news reports on the heels of a drone strike we've carried out in another country,  when discussing drone monitoring or policing programs, or in exploring the many safety hazards they bring with them. This makes it easy to view drones in a negative or at least a violent light. But drones, just like all technology, are themselves neither good nor evil. Rather, it's all in how we use them. Given the right context and guidance, drones can make a creative tool for learning, creativity, and experimentation. There are, of course, many potential liabilities in using drones within an educational sphere, most pressing of which have to do with safety and liability. Another real issue even for hobbyists is the expense, which may require a grant or a campaign on GoFundMe or DonorsChoose.org to solve. Still, drones are the future and the future is now. For a moment, let's suspend some disbelief and any larger concerns, so we can look at the creative teaching potential inherent in this technology."

"Over the past decade, millions of kids around the world have used Scratch to code their own interactive games, stories, animations, and more. This outpouring of creativity inspires us to continue to extend and improve Scratch, so that kids everywhere have new opportunities to express themselves creatively with new technologies. Today, we're launching Scratch 3.0, a new generation of Scratch that expands how, what, and where kids can create with code. As we've tested prototypes of Scratch 3.0, we've been amazed by the projects that kids have made - like a hedgehog that speaks French, a hippopotamus that dances to hip-hop, and a soccer game you control with your shoe."

"Welcome to Teen Ink, a national teen magazine, book series, and website devoted entirely to teenage writing, art, photos, and forums. For over 25 years, Teen Ink has offered teens the opportunity to publish their creative work and opinions on issues that affect their lives - everything from love and family to school, current events, and self-esteem. Hundreds of thousands of students, aged 13 -19, have submitted their work to us and we have published more than 55,000 teens since 1989. Distributed through classrooms by English and Art teachers, and available in libraries nationwide, Teen Ink magazine offers some of the most thoughtful and creative work generated by teens today. We have no staff writers or artists; we depend completely on submissions from teenagers around the world for our content. Teen Ink has the largest distribution of any publication of its kind. Teen Ink is devoted to helping teens share their own voices, while developing reading, writing, creative and critical-thinking skills. All proceeds from the print magazine, website and Teen Ink books are used for educational purposes to further our goals."

"Everybody needs a hobby, so it's said. But even if you're busy enough as it is (and what teacher and student isn't), you can still benefit from exploring this list of creative hobbies for building critical thinking skills. Some of them you may already be doing. If not, consider starting out with one that interests you. Learn about it as much as possible before you dive in-creative hobbies can grow to be more than just a hobby if they resonate with you."

"Creativity and innovation are two skills that are highly coveted in today's society. People that are creative and innovative have managed to blaze their own paths and remake the world in their own image. As a result, creativity and innovation will continue to be the most sought-after skills in our global economy. Because of this, schools have to prepare students for this workforce of innovation and put them the best position to be successful. So how can educators help their students cultivate their inner creator and innovator? I am glad you asked. Below you will find a graphic that lists 27 ways that you can help your students be innovative. I hope this helps."

"Best Seller Publishing announces the release of Sean Thompson's new book, "Creativity is Everything: Rethinking Technology, Schools & Humanity." It will be available for free download in the Amazon Kindle Store on January 13th. Creativity really is everything. "