As a teacher I have always felt that I learn so much as I prepare to teach. No matter whether I am familiar with the ideas and materials I am working with there is something in the process of preparation that makes me focus on stuff and refine or reject it for the particular purpose and context. Much of my effort is spent on preparing visualisations to accompany my talk. I can spend hours on a single representation and though it can be tedious if I end up with something that helps me explain something better than I could before it feels very satisfying. I think it's where much of my creative effort is located.
I had a good experience of this in preparing for a keynote at the University of Chester on Thursday. The university conference was on the theme of creativity and innovation and I chose the topic of 'what drives and nourishes creativity in universities?' I have developed the habit of trying to involve participants in my talk by inviting them to contribute to an on-line survey aimed at revealing their beliefs and practices about the topic and I did the same on this occasion. I try to explain it to participants as an ecological process in which my survey tool enables all of us to gain a better understanding of what after all is a complex, often highly personal but also social phenomenon. By including the knowledge that has been gifted me I feel I am able to create a much stronger connection with my audience than if I was only presenting my own data. I had a lovely epiphany as I worked on late into the night before I gave my talk when I realised that the knowledge they had shared enabled me to answer the question I was posing in their own words. 'What drives and nourishes creativity in our university?' WE DO!!
I had a good experience of this in preparing for a keynote at the University of Chester on Thursday. The university conference was on the theme of creativity and innovation and I chose the topic of 'what drives and nourishes creativity in universities?' I have developed the habit of trying to involve participants in my talk by inviting them to contribute to an on-line survey aimed at revealing their beliefs and practices about the topic and I did the same on this occasion. I try to explain it to participants as an ecological process in which my survey tool enables all of us to gain a better understanding of what after all is a complex, often highly personal but also social phenomenon. By including the knowledge that has been gifted me I feel I am able to create a much stronger connection with my audience than if I was only presenting my own data. I had a lovely epiphany as I worked on late into the night before I gave my talk when I realised that the knowledge they had shared enabled me to answer the question I was posing in their own words. 'What drives and nourishes creativity in our university?' WE DO!!
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