Personalized Learning - Collaboration & Creativity

Collaboration and Creativity are catalysts within the realm of personalized learning, redefining the student experience. With flexible path and pace as the foundation, students not only navigate content but also engage in collaborative journeys where diverse minds converge. Interactive activities, discussions, and projects cultivate a fertile ground for co-creation, allowing students to synthesize ideas, learn from peers, and fuel their creativity. As Collaboration and Creativity seamlessly intertwine with personalized learning, an educational ecosystem blooms, nurturing not only academic growth but also vital skills of teamwork, innovation, and open-minded exploration, shaping well-rounded individuals prepared to thrive in an ever-evolving society.

In this section, you will find a variety of strategies and resources to infuse into the learning experiences for students that can help to bring more structure into the learning environment and to infuse more rigor, communication, engagement, and questioning skills into your instruction. You can also explore several creativity tools to help bring students’ imagination through the content to life, strengthen their divergent thinking skills, and generate more choice and voice within their learning environment.

COLLABORATION & CREATIVITY

Quick Links:

Collaboration & Creativity Toolkit

Collaboration & Creativity Self-paced breakout

Examples of Collaboration & Creativity

Templates for All Grades

Templates for Elementary

Templates for Secondary

APPS & TOOLS INDEX:

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Personalized Learning: Quick Lesson Plan Review

Teachers should use this lesson plan checklist when implementing personalized learning to:

Check if your planning supports facilitating student ownership in Collaboration and Creativity.
Make connections to other Core Four areas to begin integrating them into your lessons through purposeful planning.

Get the Planner Checklist

Collaboration & Creativity Toolkit

[APS] Core Four Toolkit: Collaboration and Creativity

Collaboration & Creativity Self-paced breakout

[FLIPPED] APS Core Four Breakout: Collaboration + Creativity

Collaboration

Collaboration involves students working together, sharing different perspectives, and listening to each other. It can develop students' higher-level thinking skills, confidence, self-esteem, and social and interpersonal skills. Collaboration can also improve teacher performance and student outcomes by sharing the responsibility of education amongst all stakeholders.

It is important to provide authentic learning opportunities for students to understand listening & speaking throughout collaborative activities.

Creativity

Creativity provides the opportunity for students to generate original ideas, think innovatively, utilize problem-solving skills, and express themselves within different subjects and grade levels. It is not limited to artistic activities but can also involve viewing a subject from different perspectives, leading to deeper learning.

It is important to provide real world activities, such as brainstorming sessions, project/problem-based assignments and artistic endeavors, that stimulate students' imagination.

Examples of Collaboration & Creativity

(Special Note: Apps & tools below each example are SUGGESTED, not required. Scroll to the bottom of the page to learn more about each app. )

✨Project-Based Learning (PBL):

Designing projects that require students to explore a topic in-depth, conduct research, and present their findings in a creative format, such as a multimedia presentation, a skit, or an interactive exhibit.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for Project-Based Learning

Minecraft Education
Microsoft PowerPoint/Google Slides
Microsoft Flip

✨Collaborative Storytelling:

Having students work together to create a written or oral story encourages creativity in developing characters, plotlines, and settings. This activity can be done in various formats, including written stories, role-playing, or even digital storytelling.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for Collaborative Storytelling

Book Creator
Canva
Adobe Express

✨Invention Challenges:

Presenting students with a problem or a need and challenging them to invent a solution. This hands-on activity promotes critical thinking and creativity as students design and build prototypes to address real-world issues.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for Intentive Challenges

Minecraft Education
Discovery Education Studio
Adobe Express

✨Art Integration:

Infusing art into different subjects, such as creating visual representations of historical events, scientific concepts, or literary themes. This can include drawing, painting, sculpting, or even creating digital artwork.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for Art Integration

Canva
Google Slides/Microsoft PowerPoint
Adobe Express

✨Mind Mapping:

Using mind maps to organize information and encourage creative thinking visually. Students can individually or collaboratively create mind maps to explore connections between concepts, brainstorm ideas, or plan projects.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for Mind Mapping

Canva
Discovery Education Studio
Google Keep

✨Creative Writing Prompts:

Providing open-ended and imaginative writing prompts that encourage students to explore their creativity through storytelling, poetry, or journaling.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for Creative Writing Prompts

Book Creator
Microsoft Word/Google Docs
Wakelet

✨STEM Challenges:

Engaging students in hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math challenges, where they must design, build, and test solutions to problems. This promotes collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity in problem-solving.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for STEM Challenges

Minecraft Education
Discovery Education Studio

✨Role-Playing and Simulation:

Allowing students to take on different roles to act out historical events, literary scenes, or scientific processes. This immersive activity encourages creativity, empathy, and a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for Role-Playing and Simulation

Canva
Microsoft Flip
Adobe Express

✨Interactive Discussions and Debates:

Creating a platform for students to express their opinions and engage in discussions or debates on relevant topics. Encouraging creativity in argumentation and supporting ideas with evidence promotes critical thinking.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for Interactive Discussions and Debates

Wakelet
Google Classroom/Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Flip

✨Digital Media Projects:

Assigning collaborative multimedia projects, such as creating podcasts, videos, or interactive presentations, allowing students to express themselves creatively while developing digital literacy skills.

💻 SUGGESTED APPS + TOOLS for Digital Media Projects

Canva
Google Slides/Microsoft PowerPoint
Adobe Express

Check out the templates by grade level below.

Collaborative And Creative TEMPLATE Directions:

PREVIEW: Click on the images to preview the resource. MAKE A COPY: Click on Get the Template to make a copy.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: You must be signed into Canva to access any Canva templates.

Templates for All Grades

This template provides Collaboration + Creativity Video Tools that can be used by students to support video production to demonstrate learning.

Collaboration & Creativity Toolkit

Collaboration & Creativity Self-paced breakout

It is important to provide authentic learning opportunities for students to understand listening & speaking throughout collaborative activities.

It is important to provide real world activities, such as brainstorming sessions, project/problem-based assignments and artistic endeavors, that stimulate students' imagination.

Examples of Collaboration & Creativity

Templates for All Grades

Templates for Elementary

Templates for Secondary

APPS & TOOLS INDEX:

Need to find out more about one of the tools, click here.

✨Adobe Express Create and collaborate animation through audio, video, still images & more to showcase student learning & growth.

✨Book Creator: Create and collaborate digital & printed books to showcase student learning & growth.

✨Canva: Create and collaborate a wide range of visually appealing content to share students' learning and ideas.

✨Discovery Education Studio: Design, build & share in an innovative collaboration space using multiple types of digital content.

✨Flip: Record creative student ideas & collaborative thoughts via video to showcase students' learning and growth.

✨Google Classroom/Microsoft Teams: Platforms that allow students to express their opinions and engage in discussions or debates on relevant topics.

✨Google Docs/Microsoft Word: Record creative student writing, storytelling, and more collaboratively or individually.

✨Google Keep: Create quick ideas and collaborate on learning activities for students to note learning and growth.

✨ Google Slides/ Microsoft PowerPoint: Allows students to create and collaborate on engaging presentations.

✨Minecraft Education: Game-based platform that inspires creative, collaborative, inclusive learning through play.

✨Microsoft OneNote: Maintain digital learning logs for students to create and collaborate on their learning.

✨Wakelet: Curate students' self-assessment reflections to show their learning and development.