Matthew Worwood:
Hello, everyone. My name is Doctor Matthew Worwood.

Cyndi Burnett:
And my name is Doctor Cindy Burnett.

Matthew Worwood:
This is the fuelling creativity in education podcast.

Cyndi Burnett:
On this podcast, we’ll be talking about.

Cyndi Burnett:
Various creativity topics and how they relate to the field of education.

Matthew Worwood :
We’ll be talking with scholars, educators, and resident experts about their work, challenges they face, and exploring new perspectives of creativity.

Cyndi Burnett:
All with a goal to help fuel a more rich and informed discussion that.

Cyndi Burnett:
Provides teachers, administrators, and emerging scholars with.

Cyndi Burnett:
The information they need need to infuse creativity into teaching and learning.

Matthew Worwood:
So let’s begin.

Matthew Worwood:
Hello and welcome back to the Fueling Creativity in education podcast. And we are introducing not only another academic year of the fueling creativity in Education podcast, but we’re also introducing season nine, aren’t we, Cindy Burnett?

Cyndi Burnett:
Yes, Matthew Worwood. I’m very excited that we’ve got nine seasons. Well, we’ll have nine seasons by the end of this year, so congratulations and.

Matthew Worwood:
Congratulations to you as well. And I think we’ve got a good production flow now with these episodes. I really enjoyed season eight in terms of having twelve episodes, and then every three episodes you and I are having a debrief, which now we do video. I think we kind of like getting more comfortable with the video. So if you are new to our podcast, you can subscribe on our YouTube channel and we’ll provide a link to that YouTube channel in the notes. But that’s where Cindy and I kind of provide a debrief of the previous three episodes. We only do video with that because some of our guests aren’t as comfortable with video as they are with audio. So the audio episodes, when we’re interviewing guests will remain primarily just audio.

Matthew Worwood:
But that’s been a new addition. I’ve enjoyed doing that, and I think we’re going to continue doing that for season nine.

Cyndi Burnett:
Yes. And we have a wonderful scholar in residence. Jimmy.

Matthew Worwood:
Yes. Jimmy Wilson.

Jimmy Wilson:
Hello, everyone. Yeah, hi. I’m Jimmy Wilson. As you said, I’m really thrilled to be here, and I’m just really grateful to Matt and Sydney for allowing me to join them. I’m a doctoral student at University of Connecticut at the Renzouli center for Creativity and Talent Development, and I’m very passionate about creativity and education, especially with neurodiverse learners, learners with autism, adhd or other learning disabilities. And I’m very excited to share my insights and experiences with all of you as the emerging scholar in residence on the podcast.

Matthew Worwood:
And that’s going to be a new addition to season nine. And so what we thought we’d do, we brought Jimmy on as our emerging scholar in residence, and he’s got a page on our website, fuelingcreativitypodcast.com. but what we’re going to do at the end of season nine is Jimmy’s going to provide an analysis episode of the show. And you’re going to be listening to the episode. You’re still kind of thinking about what you’re going to do with that episode, right, Jimmy? But we know we’re going to have that probably sometime in the middle of December after our final debrief.

Jimmy Wilson:
Yeah. You know, I’m really excited for this season. I know we have a ton of wonderful guests, and depending on the themes that emerge, I may do a wrap up of a lot of different things, or I may do a deep dive on a couple of interesting ideas and how they link up to the world of research and creativity and education and what might be some useful entry points for our listeners.

Matthew Worwood:
That’s great. And I will say you also sat on our first interview of season nine, didn’t you, with doctor Ruth Richards?

Jimmy Wilson:
Oh my goodness. Yes. Doctor Richards was amazing. And I really loved the exercise that she’s going to share with us all in season nine about quieting minds and helping the intersection between mental health and creativity, and helping students kind of get into these creative modes through some exercises that aim at increasing their well being in the classroom. And so I’ll be taking a look at some of those themes and what does the research have to say about that?

Cyndi Burnett:
That sounds wonderful, Jimmy. And let’s not forget the listen and learn series that we just concluded with, looking at the six classic articles and books around creativity. Jimmy, did you have any big insight as you were listening to that listen and learn series?

Jimmy Wilson:
You know what was really inspiring about that? Going through each classic text and seeing how the foundations of the field of creativity and research and education has been established. And it got me to thinking, what are the trends happening right now? And I discovered a really great paper by Hollinger and Bolt looking at four of the major creativity journals and which sort of trends and which sort of focuses they all have. And so I’ll be writing about that so that some of our listeners who want to go straight to the source and get into the research can see how these journals handle the topic of creativity, whether they’re tilted more towards education, towards business, towards the science and cognitive science of creativity. And that’ll be all up on the blog post in the website.

Matthew Worwood:
And I do just want to come in just because this is new for us. And we introduced Jimmy over the summer at the beginning of our listen and learn series that Cindy just referenced. But Jimmy’s talking about the blog post on our website again, it’s fuelingcreativitypodcast.com dot. And so for those of you who are emerging scholars or scholar practitioners that are interested a little bit in learning about the creativity research and as an emerging scholar, Jimmy is really immersed in the latest articles coming out as part of his program at the University of Connecticut. He’s going to be writing about some of those connections on our website, and all you have to do is you visit fuelingcreativitypodcast.com comma, click on the link emerging scholars and you will find Jimmy’s contributions, both what he’s just referenced there, the listen and learn series, and then also some of the things that he’s talking about for season nine.

Matthew Worwood:
Do you want to bring more creative and critical thinking into your school? Look no further than our podcast sponsor.

Cyndi Burnett:
Curiosity to create Curiosity to create is.

Cyndi Burnett:
A nonprofit organization dedicated to engaging professional development for school districts and empowering educators through online courses and personal coaching.

Matthew Worwood:
And if you’re craving a community of creative educators who love new ideas, don’t miss out on their creative thinking network. Get access to monthly webinars, creative lesson plans, and a supportive community all focused on fostering creativity in the classroom.

Cyndi Burnett:
To learn more, check out curiositytocreate.org or check out the links in the show notes for this episode.

Cyndi Burnett:
So Matt and Jimmy, I’m really excited that we have secured our sponsorship once again from Curiosity to create, which is an organization how to empower educators to infuse creative thinking into the classroom. And full disclosure, I have been working with C two C as the director of the Creative Thinking Network. So we have now an online network for educators who love new ideas and want easy access to creative lesson plans, a creative community, and monthly webinars. And so if you’re interested in this, here is a coupon code which is fueling creativity and you’ll get a free month to try us out. And we just launched August 1, our new app, so you can download it on your phone. And it’s like Facebook for teachers, but it’s instead of all the information that you don’t really want to read about in commercials, all it is is ideas for your classroom. So please check us out@creativethinkingnetwork.com. with the coupon code fuelingcreativity and just.

Matthew Worwood:
To do a little bit more of a plug, Cindy and I are working with that book. If you remember, Cindy is one of our goals for 2024. We had said that we would finish the first draft of our book, which is going to be talking about those ten tips that we’ve identified from the 150 plus episodes that we’ve done on the show. But one of the things that is still very prominent is this idea of building relationships. And so I think that the creative thinking network is a place where people can go and build those relationships, because we as teachers, we’ve had references. We need to find our kindred spirits. We need to take those risks. We need to have people who we can share ideas from, get feedback when we’re trying to do something new or different in the classroom.

Matthew Worwood:
And I think the network that you’re sharing through curiosity to create is a platform to which you can do that in the event you don’t necessarily feel you have those kindred spirits at your school.

Cyndi Burnett:
And we have also been working with Matthew Warwood on a new micro credential. So, Matt, why don’t you share the micro credential you’ve been working on with C two C and tell us a little bit more about it?

Matthew Worwood:
Yes, and we’re still working a little bit on the wording for this platform. But what we’re looking at doing is putting together some short learning experiences to support professional development for teachers. And one of the things that it made sense to be the first course you’ve got creativity 101 course, which is light introduction to creativity for people who want to learn a little bit more about that scholarly perspective of creativity and how it relates to the research that’s been conducted about creativity and education. All of the things that we really talk about on the show. But the other learning experience that we’ve launched is around generative AI. And this generative AI is primarily for those educators that are still new to it. I developed it very sensitive to the fact that there is still somewhat of an overwhelming feeling around generative AI. This upcoming year, we’re only going to see continued acceleration, and we’re very sensitive to making sure that that course remains relevant and updated.

Matthew Worwood:
But I think it does provide a really nice introduction to generative AI. But one of the things that it does, there’s some references here about technical terms, such as the difference between a prompt and a mega prompt. And there’s a few things about go and find your preferred large language model. And this is how you can evaluate different large language models. But also there’s kind of like the creativity theme running through as well. So how do we use these platforms to assist our creativity, both in teaching and also in student creativity as well. So the idea with this course is it’s very generic, doesn’t necessarily applicable to one subject area over another. But ideally it’s just designed to ignite curiosity, which I know is a big part of curiosity to create’s mission as well.

Cyndi Burnett:
So if you’re interested in curiosity to create or the creative thinking network or micro credentials, check us out in the links below.

Matthew Worwood:
Now, Cindy, before we go, I do want to remind our listeners that with the listen and learn series that we’ve just finished around the classical literature. Those of you who are just joining us, you’re like, oh, no, I didn’t listen to any of these listen and learn episodes. Remember, they’re super short episodes. They’re designed to support professional learning during those summer months. And we provide a letter at the end of each of these episodes, and you take all of those letters and you have to guess the special code word. And if you have that code word, you email us questionsuelingcreativitypodcast.com, and we’re looking for you to share that code word with us and also maybe a connection you’ve made between one of the articles, the classical articles that we’ve discussed and your plans for the upcoming school year. And there’s still time. The reason why I’m bringing that up, Cindy, there’s still time for you to go back, listen to this, these listen and learn episodes that we produced and get us that code word before the end of August, August 31.

Matthew Worwood:
And after that, we will pick a winner and they will receive a special fueling creativity in education prize. And one additional thing to mention is that in addition to listening them on your preferred platform, podcasting platform, you can also go to our website and just again, click on listen and learn series 2024, classical literature. And you can see all of the episodes because they’re all video episodes as well.

Cyndi Burnett:
And as we launch ourselves into season nine, just as a reminder, we’ve got a great episode next week with Doctor Ruth Richards. It will be a double espresso. I think I could have had a quadruple expresso with Doctor Ruth Richards. What about you, Matt?

Matthew Worwood:
Oh, it was, it was amazing. And just a wonderful person, right? Someone who’s incredibly endearing and wanting to support the next generation of scholars and classroom practitioners who have this passion for creativity. And, you know, I think it’s a wonderful start to kick off the new academic year. I’m really excited about this academic year. I’m excited for some of the plans that I’ve got in my classroom and I certainly am wishing all of the teachers the best as they kind of get over that first bump of getting back in the group groove of everything. And hopefully we’re going to be picking up a number of new listeners as well to the show so we can keep spreading the word around creativity and education and supporting teachers who are wanting to bring creative ideas to support students in teaching and learning situations.

Cyndi Burnett:
So this concludes this episode of the feeling creativity and Education podcast. If you like this episode, please share it with a colleague or friend who might be interested in bringing creativity into the classroom. My name is Doctor Cindy Burnett.

Matthew Worwood:
My name is Doctor Matthew Werwood.

Jimmy Wilson:
And I’m Jimmy Wilson.

Cyndi Burnett:
This episode was produced by Matthew Warwood and Cindy Burnett. Our podcast sponsor is curiosity to create and our editor is Sam Atkinson.