Real Academics Blog

Dear Real Academics, Empathy I feel you. I really do.  Many of you have communicated with me about the inevitable mix of excitement and stress of the beginning of a new school year.  For lack of a better non-cliche phrase, "There's something in the air" as summer ends and the school year begins, and most everyone is feeling the seasonal change. Action With that, I want to do a few things. (1) First, I am going to refraining from posting NEW blogs for the rest of this month - I'll recycle some old ones on LinkedIn for those who may still want some content. The last thing you probably want is more email (for those signed up for our newsletter) or posts (for those who follow on LinkedIn), especially at the beginning of the school year. (2) Second, I am writing this post to encourage you. What you do is important. Whether you are an educator or a student or parent of a student or whatever you do, it is important. In fact, I encourage you to dwell on this point to help y

Dear Real Academics,  What is creativity?  In graduate school, I took a whole course on the topic, but I honestly don't think I can define "creativity" for you as I write, at this moment. So, for today's post, I wanted to present some different definitions, share some ideas, and ask for your thoughts. Here we go! If I search "What is creativity?" I get the following top three definitions from Google with their respective sources: (1) "Creativity is defined as   the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others ."  http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/creativity/define.htm (2) "Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ways of thinking or acting, and to develop new and original ideas, methods or objects". https://99designs.com/blog/creative-thinking/what-is-creativity/ (3) "Creativity encompasses the ab