Also called 20% Time or Passion Projects, Genius Hour stems from a practice at Google. Employees were allowed to use 20% of their work week to explore projects of their choosing, as long as it benefited the company. Gmail, Adsense, Google News, Google Glass and other innovations were created as a result of this self-directed research time.
The Project
Genius Hour is a self-driven research project where you are required to spend at least ONE hour a week working on it. You will be asked to select and pursue a topic that you feel passionate about. This project may be simply research-based or you may look into an answer to a problem. Projects will be graded for participation and require an outcome at the end. You will share your projects with the class during week 6 and throughout the course you will be creating your blog displaying your work to share with others.
Check out the videoes below to learn more about what you'll discover and create during this project!
Goals
to promote, support and model creative, innovative thinking and inventiveness
to allow an opportunity to discover/investigate one of your passions and reflect on/share your learning with others
provide an opportunity to develop skill sets that are valuable in any learning situation (research, experimentation, collaboration, creativity, problem solving and critical thinking)