Blog - Page 44 of 49 - Spencer Education

Nov 03 2015

Ten Reasons New Teachers Aren’t Using Technology

By John Spencer Technology and Media Literacy 3 Comments

Note: While this post points to a problem I have noticed with tech adoption and teachers, I want to point out that there is a free resource I developed with coaching questions for teachers on the technology journey. These correspond with a post I wrote…

Oct 29 2015

How Do We Create a Sense of Place Online?

By John Spencer Technology and Media Literacy No Comments

We use terms like “I’m on YouTube or “I’m going online” and it implies a sense of space. I might say "I spent an hour on Facebook," but I would never say, "I spent an hour on a book." And yet, when you are online,…

Oct 16 2015

Why a Smaller Audience Might Be the Key to Helping Kids Take Creative Risks

By John Spencer Creativity Deconstructed No Comments

Flash back to Tuesday afternoon: I'm sitting down at the computer overwhelmed by the uncertainty of audience. I'm thinking about that technology training where I had wanted to show teachers how to use Google Drive for assessment . . . and then Google Drive was…

Oct 13 2015

The 20-Minute Peer Feedback System

By John Spencer Creativity 4 Comments

I believe that peer feedback is critical for students. Part of this is the nature of peer interactions. Peers are often able to share their thoughts in a more relatable way than teachers. Another part is simply the time limits that teachers have. Even with…

Oct 10 2015

Why Creative Types Hate Selling (And Why This Matters for Teachers)

By John Spencer Creativity, Design Thinking No Comments

Initially, I cringed at the term marketing. I viewed myself as an artist who thought that my work would be discovered. I viewed marketing as trickery. However, over time, I realized that if the initial goal of the design thinking cycle involved solving a problem…

Oct 02 2015

Ten Ways To Own Your Professional Learning

By John Spencer Teacher Life No Comments

Over the last three years, I have realized that there were key things I want to learn more about. The first topic was business. Although I didn't see it this way at first, I quickly realized that as we launched a blogging platform, we were…

Sep 22 2015

Eleven Ways to Improve Online Classes

By John Spencer Technology and Media Literacy 5 Comments

I sit in front of the computer, staring at the screen. I have a general syllabus with little more than standards and goals. The university is giving me a crazy amount of freedom to design this online course. I shake my head, unsure of what…

Sep 17 2015

The Creative Power of Limitations

By John Spencer Creativity Deconstructed 2 Comments

Last April, I had the opportunity to deliver a TEDx Talk in Pennsylvania. Here's the talk: There's a deeply cultural idea that freedom and opportunity are the key ingredients to creativity. We use terms like "think outside the box" to describe the wild ones who…

Aug 27 2015

Creative Work Is Slow at First

By John Spencer Creativity, Creativity Deconstructed No Comments

Over the last few weeks, I've enjoyed experimenting with illustrated videos. Here are three of my examples: One of the questions people ask is, "How did you make these?" This is often followed up by a second question, "How long did it take?" That…

Aug 14 2015

Seven Ways to Break the Consumer Mindset in Schools

By John Spencer Creativity No Comments

For the last eleven years, I asked my students to fill out a survey about how they use technology. Although I am now teaching university students, I think I'm going to do a similar survey. The questions are both about technology use (have you ever…