Learning Art Journaling Online
I'm sold on online courses. These are not college courses, which have their place, but not in my universe right now. I've been finding courses on all kinds of things offered by ordinary people with expertise in certain areas. My current passion is art journaling, through a class offered by Kelly Kilmer. You can see examples of her work at her blog.
She charged only $50 for six months worth of prompts, templates and community with other students. The members post photos of their efforts and we all comment on them. Everyone is very supportive--I haven't seen a snarky comment yet--and I'm making friends across the country and around the world.
The photo to the left is my latest collage. I'm still waiting for that sunshine.

Innovation Corral

Recent resources for creativity/innovation

How to grow ideas. Tamsen at ’Round the Square compares the creative process to gardening. Hint: It takes more than planting seeds.

Extra little touches can make all the difference. Management guru Tom Peters on the importance of design and making your products/services stand out.

Five creativity killers and how to get your creative juices flowing again.

Jon Phillips at Freelance Folder describes bad habits that interfere with creativity and how to beat them.

Blog for Creativity: Ten Reasons Your Muse Will Love Blogging. Cynthia Morris at Journey JuJu lists ways to use blogging to spark your creativity.

Addicted to the search. Emily Yoffe at Slate magazine explains why it’s so easy to lose time online and get addicted to things like Twitter and texting.

I'm rerunning this post in honor of the late, great Les Paul. For more information, Click Here.

Question Everything

Curiosity may be the primary ingredient for imagination innovation. It made Leonardo da Vinci the quintessential renaissance man. In his book, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, Michael J. Gelb lists curiosità: “An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning” as the first of his seven Da Vincian principles. A later book, Innovate Like Edison, advises readers to “seek knowledge relentlessly.”

Albert Einstein famously said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” But he also warned, “It’s a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.”

Maybe dropping out of high school allowed Les Paul to pursue his curiosity and develop the electric guitar and the recording innovations of overdubbing and multitrack recording. In the documentary, Les Paul Chasing Sound, Paul recalls that when his brother flicked a light switch the light came on. When he flicked the switch he wanted to know why the light came on. He continued his search for a sound that no one had ever made before that led to his many inventions, took him to the top of the record charts in the 40s and 50s. Remember Mockingbird Hill and Vaya Con Dios with Mary Ford? Paul’s curiosity eventually took him to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The DVD shows him being admired by musicians from Bing Crosby to Paul McCartney. An insatiable curiosity doesn’t retire at 65. At the age of 90, he won two Grammys at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards for his album Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played.

Gelb suggests several exercises to increase your curiosity, including make a list of 100 questions that are important to you. “Do the entire list in one sitting. Write quickly, don’t worry about spelling, grammar, or repeating the same question in different words.” Then go about finding some answers.

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What I did for Free

Free, Chris Anderson’s tome about an economy based on giving information away for free has generated quite a bit of buzz, mostly from people in the information business who don’t want it to be true. While you can pay the full $26.99 price for the hard cover edition, I chose to download the audio version for, well, free. The book is also available to read free online.

One of the most fascinating parts is a lists of 50 business models built on free. And one of the best arguments for the book’s premise is the failing newspaper industry. Why pay for one newspaper, when you can get all the news you want on the internet?

Since reading (listening to) the book, I’ve been paying attention to things that come my way without cost.

1. Drinks (for seniors) with my weekly meal at Chick fil-A.
2. Ebook, The Buccaneer Scholar by James Marcus Bach – a limited time free download.
3. Books, movies, PDF and audio downloads from Denver Public Library.
4. Websites, blogs, and podcasts.
5. Instructional ebooks.
6. Classified ads from Craigslist.
7. Concerts in the park.
8. Promotional tote bag from Target that doubles as a checkerboard.
9. Coupon for a free meal with purchase from various restaurants.
10. Complete TV shows online.
11. Cell phone with purchase of time.
12. Gifts—a fused glass peace sign pendant from my sister-in-law.
13. One-year subscription to my favorite newsletter, Winning Ways as a thank you for being a long-time subscriber.

I think Anderson is on to something.

Be a Cartoonist Even if You Can’t Draw

Now you can create your own comic strip even if you can’t draw. At Make Beliefs Comix, you can select a character, determine his or her emotion and fill in the talk or thought balloon. And you can do it in seven languages—English, Spanish, French, Italian, German Portuguese and Latin. Latin? Yup, Latin.

Used as a teaching aid with autistic children or just to make reading and writing fun, the site was named one of the most innovative sites by Google’s Literacy Project, UNESCO, and the International Reading Association. Started by Bill Zimmerman after his retirement in 2006 at age 65, the site allows students a way to “tap into their creativity and tell their own graphic stories.” It is supported by contributions.

Learning through the Recession.

Innovation technique: Keep learning.

Going back to school has often been cited as a remedy to unemployment, but the April 12 issue of Parade, touts it as a way to Recession Proof Your Career. “Keep your skills current. Take classes or join trade organizations in an effort to show that your skills are up-to-date. Inquire if there is some additional training your boss would like you to take. If you don't have cash to pay for additional training, consider unpaid internships or do volunteer work for a nonprofit to gain valuable skills and potential job contacts for future employment possibilities.”

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Innovation technique: Look for ideas outside your field that can be tweaked and adapted.

Maybe you have noticed restaurants offering smaller, lower cost meals to lure back customers reluctant to spend entertainment dollars. Is that an idea that can be adapted to higher education? Turns out it is. Southern New Hampshire University is offering no-frills education at an off-campus location for $10,000 a year, $15,000 less than tuition at the main campus.

CBS News reports that “there's none of the trappings of college life that the students at the full-fare campus enjoy - a playing field, a fitness center, the dorms, or the dining hall. Here there's no ivy or quad, no football, no frats.” For the bargain fee of $35 a year, these students can use all those amenities at the main campus. So far, no one has taken them up on it. They consider those things to be distractions. When it comes to education, one size definitely does not fit all.

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Colleges Whistle Same Tired Tune

Colorado’s college students, faculty and administrators are up in arms today because the state legislature, trying to cope with a budget shortfall, has proposed cutting $300 million in funding to higher education. The colleges, as usual, have responded by talking about huge tuition hikes of up to 32% over last year’s rates.
Here’s what I don’t understand. These colleges and universities supposedly house some of the best, most creative minds in the country. Why can’t they come up with a better idea to fund higher education? They have entire colleges of business plus centers for entrepreneurship and innovation. They have more intellectual property than you can shake a stick at, and yet they dish up the same old recipe of money from the state combined with tuition from the students. That’s the way it’s always been done, by God, and that’s the method they want to stick with.
My only hope is that, faced with an impossible situation, maybe they will finally figure out a new and (dare I say) better way to do things. Just a thought.

Is More Money the Answer for Higher Education?

Is the answer to the crisis in higher education more money or less cost? Colleges and universities, which have a vested interest in keeping the status quo, clearly believe what they need is more money. With continuing cuts in public funding and diminishing endowments the cost of higher education has been rising at 2-3 times the inflation rate. Students routinely graduate with debts nearing $100,000 only to discover that their degrees only qualify them for entry level jobs.

The initial proposal from the new administration calls for more grants and loans for students to pay for the rapidly rising costs of a college education. Students, on the other hand, are searching for more cost effective ways of earning a degree. Enrollment at some community colleges has grown as much as 10-15% in the past year.

Savvy educators will seize the opportunity to find innovative ways to deliver education, including credit for prior learning, testing programs and ACE evaluated training. Programs like the competency-based learning at Western Governors University and open courseware at the University of the People.

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