Empowering the Learners with Creativity

by Marc Vézina  September 2022

Can you imagine yourself exploring, testing, and experimenting with robots, 3D printers, or die-cutting machines? What kind of observations would you make about your learning process while doing so? Would you see it having any impact on the learning  activities that you propose as an educator? It is with this kind of questions in mind that I participated in an Open Creative Space (OCS) session organized by our colleagues of the Leading English Education and Resource Network (LEARN). During the day, I got to experiment with Pixel Art beads, build paper prototypes to test in a vertical wind tunnel, make my own ID button, and observe other adults try their hands at coding for a computerized embroidery machine, designing video games, and even crocheting.

The concept of OCS comes from the industry, design, and business worlds but is also used in schools in the youth sector. I have never seen anything like it in vocational training. Is there in your centre a space where the students have the opportunity to “play” with equipment, with no expected result, just for the sake of developing their metacognition or developing their fine motor skills, by learning from their mistakes? I did not think so. (But please let me know if I am wrong…)

At the end of the day, the debriefing session was enlightening. I left with a bunch of new questions: For most of the trades that we teach, this kind of space is not really pertinent (and could even be dangerous), however wouldn’t it be beneficial to learners to stray away from the explicit explanation-demonstration-execution sequence, at least sometimes? For an introduction activity for example?  Are there programs that require students to develop their creativity or problem solving capacity that would benefit from setting up this type of learning approach, using tools and material from the trade? Could the Open Creative Space concept be used in a remedial or individual learning plan to train executive functions, planning and organization, flexibility, or attention and focus? Since OCS are part of the way the next generation of learners in vocational training will have been trained, shouldn’t VT educators understand this concept?

Visit these parts of the LEARN website: Digital Competency in Action
Open Creative Spaces
Their upcoming activities

Complementary readings: 

Playbook from the 2022 Unconferences on Facilitating Learning in FabLabs, Makerspaces and Open Creative Spaces

This article explains well how a creative space is designed for exploration and develops a growth mindset in the commercial world: The modern day “fun” office but does it work?

Lexie Tucker, of the Leading English Education and Resource Network (LEARN), draws the connection between crochet patterns and coding:  Yarn Over: Reflections From Our Most Recent OCS Day