Unintended Consequences

About a year ago, I accepted a job working as a sales associate with my cousin working in sports marketing and sales. I went in to this job knowing I would be selling various sports merchandise including signed footballs, pictures, jerseys, and cards and discovered that I was actually going to be able to meet current and retired professional football and baseball players. This was an awesome benefit and perk to discover and I am so glad I accepted this job. I work for little pay, but the experience is unforgettable. To the right is a picture of me with previous UGA tight end Aaron White who is now currently playing professionally for the Atlanta Falcons.








Here is another picture of the inside of former UGA football coach Vince Dooley's house and lots of merchandise that he signed for our company to sell. My experience with Coach Dooley was awesome. I was given the benefit to tour his house and spend the afternoon getting to know him.

Learning and Leading

The four dimensions that J.P. Guilford uses to describe creativity are fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. I seem to struggle with originality the most when it comes to creativity. Making ideas unexpected or creating products that are unusual or even unheard of are the most difficult because I struggle to think outside the box. I am a person who is fond of elaborating on a new idea and finding credible, reliable sources to support my elaborations. The web tool I believe that easily supports at least two of these dimensions if not all is Google Docs. Google Docs is extensive; allowing multiple users to write relevant information that can be short and sweet, or descriptive and lengthy. This description of Google docs supports the dimension elaboration. Google Docs also supports originality because once the document is created, multiple users can do anything they'd live to spice up the document such as pasting in funny or relevant pictures. Each user is in control once they obtain the link, therefore they can make it appear however they desire. From the web tools chart in the readings, the web tool twitter can also be very useful in supporting these creativity dimensions. Twitter allows users, once an account is created, to post essentially anything they would like. From what you are doing currently, or how you are feeling about a particular subject. It becomes your own online vocal opinion; you just control what to say from a few taps of the keyboard. 

Creativity

On this relaxing, casual Monday morning, I participated in my usual "sleeping in". Upon awakening, I brainstormed a few ideas on doing something creative based and ended with something not to attention grabbing; I decided to wash my ever so reliable car. My car has been awesome to me; not breaking down, exceptional on gas mileage, and an overall perfect car for me through my college career. I know washing a car is not the most creative activity that I could have participated in, but it was an outside activity that I enjoyed on my day off.

Horizon Response

The horizon report states that "Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning and collaborative models" (pg. 4). This shift in education is going to pose new challenges not only for the students, but for the teachers. This year's upcoming students are growing up with the new technologies of iphones, ipads, new software for computers, etc. This is essentially their "home turf" and teachers, consisting of baby boomers mostly, are not as familiar with these technological changes as students are therefore there will be an even greater emphasis on new teaching styles in the classroom. These new teaching styles will implement these technologies and be more student-centered; teaching with programs and items that the students are more familiar with and are used daily. The reading states, "The hope is that if learners can connect the course material with their own lives, their surrounding communities, and the world as a whole, then they will become more excited to learn and immerse themselves in the subject matter" (pg. 5).