Checklist: Creative Spaces

The space around learners has an impact on their creativity. The checklist might help to make use of the existing opportunities. How could they best respond to seeking, digging, and wellbeing of creative learners?

Diverse needs

In learning processes learners have different and sometimes opoosing needs. This depends from different parameters. Or the phase of a certain process, or from the personal characteristics or learning preferences of learners. Furthermore, creativity is a process making use of convergent and divergent thinking modes. One might conclude that a creativity enhancing space needs to be open and flexible for serving to the diverse needs.

An inviting facility:

Accessibility

Are the spaces open and inviting?
Are they central and easy to reach?
Are they accessible to all?
Do they contain the materials needed?
Do they offer opportunities for different working and thinking styles?

Adapting to existing opportunities

Of course the example in the picture shows the ideal version of creative spaces. However, very often we have to work with what we have.Schools, seminar houses or community buildings already offer a lot of things which are needed for such creative spaces. We have to look at the facilities from a different angle and break the old pattern of their usage:

What spaces are there? Are they closed? Open areas? With daylight?
How, when and how often they have been used before?
With what material should they be completed?

Responding to different needs

People of different personalities need to feel welcomed
People with different learning styles need to feel empowered
People in different steps of a creative process need to feel inspired

Including the spaces in a program

Include the spaces in your educational work
Do the participants have enough time to use the spaces?
Include enough buffer time in your method and learning plan

Take care and maintain

Make sure that there is enough material
Take care about cleanness
Involve the participants to overtake the responsibility for the maintenance of the spaces

Reference

N. Zimmermann, E. Leondieva (Ed.): Creativity; Facilitator Handbook #4; MitOst Editions 2017

Bullet journalling is a creative methodology how to strucuture notes and thoughts, and how to save thoughts and inspiration. It can be used by facilitators and participants , in example in learning journals or in note-keeping.

notebook, pens (eventually different colors, tips...

creativity, notes, documentation, journalling

Also interesting:

Personal Portfolio

Handbook #4
Creativity

N. Zimmermann, E. Leondieva

Fourth Handbook for Facilitators: Read more

Goal

Bullet journalling is a methodology and set of principles aiming to help learners to structure their work, notes, and reflection. In other words: Bullet journalling aims you to make better use of your notebook and to storage your notes easier.

^[1]

Background

Developed by Ryder Carroll the method became popular due to its adaptability to the different needs of users. The message is: Shape the journal as you like, use the tables, checklists or collections that fit for you. Furthermore, bullet journalling is possible with any kind of notebook, what makes it easy to use in educational context, in example for a learning logbook, or as part of a portfolio. Due to this openness it fits to different kind of learner personalities.

Introduction Into Bullet Journalling

^[2]

Introduction of the system on the author's page

Different Kind of Entries

Basically entries make use of a specific language:

· task

○ event

- note

This makes it possible to change the shape of tasks:

· uncompleted task

x completed task

< task to be transferred to the so called future log (a new to do list outside the current month)

> task to be transferred to one of the collections (the monthly plan, or another daily log page)

These small examples show already, how on the level of the entries some structure helps to structure the mind.

Different Kind of Pages

The System proposes different kind of "logs". A vivid community is continuously coming up with new ideas. In example the jorunal might include

an agenda,
opens space for visual notes,
to-do-lists
day journals,
activity or behaviour trackers
Find here inspiration: Ryder's blog

References

↑ Photo: Bich Tran
↑ Source of the video: https://bulletjournal.com

Nils-Eyk Zimmermann

Editor of Competendo. He writes and works on the topics: active citizenship, civil society, digital transformation, non-formal and lifelong learning, capacity building. Coordinator of European projects, in example DIGIT-AL Digital Transformation in Adult Learning for Active Citizenship, DARE network.

Blogs here: Blog: Civil Resilience.
Email: nils.zimmermann@dare-network.eu

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