This opinion piece argues that Design Thinking (DT) can facilitate a more empathetic and student-centred approach to service development and problem-solving in Learning Development (LD). While DT is already established within higher education, we argue it is still underutilised, especially in the context of LD. We start by unpacking the…

This essay is an overview of three lessons that the author learned while teaching during the pandemic. In making adjustments to her courses, she realized the importance of purposeful care, creativity, and community-building. As the title implies, all three can be achieved by committing just thirty minutes.

This article emerges from an approach to transformative learning where students are challenged to explore taken-for-granted assumptions about their experiences in the world. We outline the 6-Part Story Method (6PSM), which uses abstract images to provide a structured storytelling process that enables reflexive learning. This is documented through…

By embedding narrative theory within the practice of storied forms, there can be pedagogical movement from difficulty to insight. This piece explores scholarly personal narrative as a creative and critical method for attaining academic understanding. The ideas of three narrative scholars (Nash, Fowler, and Luce-Kapler) surface within two writing…

Cecilia Caiman and Iann Lundegård's research highlights that an important goal of education is to equip younger generations with tools for innovation. This specifically applies in the realm of science education, as younger generations will likely require a unique preparation and skillset to tackle the environmental issues they will face in young…

This invited essay discusses why I teach advertising, offering insight about the benefits of combining analytical and creative perspectives by reframing how creativity is used in the classroom.

In this response to Sternberg's (2017) feature article in this special issue, we identify and define a kind of closed-minded, dogmatic, self-serving thinking that is nowadays quite prevalent around the world but counterproductive in solving many social problems. We argue that overcoming such a mindset takes wisdom and creativity. We present some…

This paper argues that the Trump phenomenon is not an anomaly but rather a predictable stage of the waning of US power. The United States has enjoyed military and economic dominance of the world since the early twentieth century when it gained control of the massive Third World colonial regions of the world. We must regard education as the human…

How can and will educators in any setting work with young people of all ages to enable them to develop the ability to interrogate--without denigrating--the claims of candidates, the newsmaking of media, the needs of their neighbors, and the fears of their family members? The answer I offer and defend here involves two dispositions--creative…

This article offers a critique of Ofsted's Bold Beginnings report based on the author's own experience as an early years practitioner. It draws attention to the growing 'readiness' agenda of the Department for Education (DfE) and to its focus on a primarily transmission-based model of teaching. It reaffirms the necessity of an approach to the…

This article offers a conversation with Dr. Jane Piirto, author, and professor at Ashland University, where she teaches in the Department of Inclusive Services & Exceptional Learners and the Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies. Here she discusses what she is currently working on, how the five dimensions of overexcitability relate to ADHD,…

In order to bring the benefits of new education approaches, strategies, and tools to classrooms around the world, we need champions of innovation to blaze the path and serve as role models of creativity and exploration. Teachers are uniquely positioned to serve in this critical role.

This article presents an interview with Andrew Wright, a widely recognized author, illustrator, storyteller, and teacher trainer. Wright has published many ELT books, authored six "Spellbinder" graded readers (1992-1994), and a collection of short stories. As a teacher trainer, Wright worked extensively with both teachers and students in…

Certain global leadership forces -- competitiveness, tolerance, and creativity -- are so pervasive they can be illustrated on the part of any country. However, nations also have unique dynamics to consider within our interconnected world. This is the overarching issue being expressed in this essay wherein the author deconstructs Canada's official…

In this commentary, I build on recent interdisciplinary models for embodied cognition with additional perspectives from affective neuroscience, educational psychology, creativity theory, and science education. I invoke William James and John Dewey, pioneers of an embodied philosophy of mind, alongside recent affective neuroscience theory about the…