7 ways to incorporate creativity into e-learning
Creativity is fun. Apart from it being fun, it inspires living outside the box in every aspect of life, including in e-learning.
E-Learning Agencies and Creative people tend to make the most out of life and explore vast opportunities.
They pursue careers in research, writing and are the social changers, inventors, and artists.
The importance of creativity inspired teachers/instructors to incorporate it into classroom/on-site teaching, amid all the digital learning that students are tasked with. With e-learning, opportunities for the application of creativity have been somewhat limited. Creativity must be deliberately included in e-learning through established measures and methods. Here are some ways to incorporate creativity into e-learning.
1) Discussions
Discussions can be generally applied to encourage engagement and specifically applied as elements of creativity. Applying discussions to incorporate creativity into e-learning can be achieved with open-ended questions.
Open-ended questions are bound to encourage discussions in all kinds of directions and encourage creativity.
To incorporate creativity into e-learning instructors and course creators can create open-ended questions around the subject matter.
2) Writing/storytelling
Incorporating writing/storytelling into e-learning is an effective way to tap into the creativity of the learners. Writing/storytelling can be incorporated into any kind of course by asking the students to tell stories that proffer unique solutions to problems.
The incorporation of storytelling/writing into e-learning both encourages creativity and improves communication skills.
3) Projects
Courses that are project-oriented are bound to encourage creativity and overall engagement and productivity. Digital Learning Projects should be planned into courses in a way that allows the students to determine the specifics of the project based on the basic guidance the instructor provided.
For economics courses, for example, students could be asked to create a project that differentiates between capitalism and socialism, giving them the freedom to create games, short plays, or any other project.
4) Projects with emotional connections
Projects with emotional connections address current issues and can be applied in incorporating creativity into e-learning. Creativity will be excellently inspired and applied when the students apply themselves on projects with a semblance of real-life impact.
To tap into the creativity of learners, projects related to the course content and a real-life issue should be created.
5) Scenarios
Although scenarios differ from real-life issues, they can still be applied to tap into the creativity of digital learners and significantly improve engagement and retention.
Create scenarios and ask the learners to provide unique solutions for the issue presented. These tasks should be designed in such a way that each unique solution earns extra credits.
For scenario-based projects, all the details should be clearly provided so that the e-learners will only be tasked to apply their creativity to proffer unique solutions.
6) Role switching
Roles could be switched, with the student becoming the teacher to encourage creativity and the provision of creative solutions. The student should be tasked with teacher responsibilities such as the creation of digital learning materials.
Students should be tasked with creating different forms of instructional materials, including videos and infographics. In this process, they get to apply their creativity in general and in line with the course content.
7) Assessments
Making assessments critical thinking and creativity-based will encourage the free flow of the creative juices in e-learning endeavors. Instead of regular multiple-choice style questions, assessments could be in the form of writing blog posts based on the subject matters discussed in the course.
For example, students can be asked to write blog posts on topics discussed in the course based on the new knowledge they possess.
The application of creativity is a necessity in e-learning.
Courses are being developed inefficiently based on archaic methods. The archaic methods involve dumping loads of information on the learner without any room for creativity.
Instead of the archaic methods, modern efficient methods that revolve around creativity and productivity should be applied. The e-learning scene has changed significantly over the years. Optimizing e-learning content for today’s learners requires the strategic application of elements of creativity. We have highlighted the top elements in this article.