Designing technologies to support creativity and collaboration

Keri Facer, Futurelab
24 November 2006, 10am - 12.30pm Cost:Free

Young people are increasingly using digital technologies to support creativity and collaboration outside the school. This seminar explored the following questions : What sorts of tools are young people using out of school today? What sorts of activities are they involved with in online environments? The seminar also explored what these activities tell us about:

• emergent forms of creativity and collaboration
• new approaches to learning

The aim of the seminar was to draw out the issues from these informal activities which are of relevance to the design and use of digital technologies to support children's learning and creative practice.

Objectives

• To present case studies of creative and collaborative approaches to learning using digital technologies.
• To explore how young people can collaborate to assist in enhancing their capacity to learn better.
• To conclude with a new notion of creativity and collaboration in learning.

Biography

Alongside Futurelab's Development Director, Martin Owen, Keri oversees the research and evaluation activities of Futurelab's learning team. She also commissions and edits the Futurelab Series of literature reviews, and contributes to the development of the organisation's events programme. Previously, Keri spent four years as researcher and lecturer at Bristol University's Graduate School of Education, where she continues to be a visiting fellow. Here she worked on a range of major innovative research projects, including ESRC projects Screen Play and InterActive Education. She has published widely in the field of children's digital cultures, with a particular focus on how young people use and learn with digital technologies in the home.

Materials from the Seminar