Application of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model

Prof. Dr. Joseph Renzulli,

Director, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, Connecticut University, USA

"Differentiation" is the contemporary buzzword in curriculum and instruction, but the reality is that most teachers simply do not have the time necessary to do it well! Remarkable advances in instructional communication technology (ICT) have now made it possible to provide high levels of enrichment services to students who have access to a computer and the Internet. This presentation will describe a theory based and research supported program plan called the Schoolwide Enrichment Model and an Internet based application that is built on a learning theory that focuses on the development of creative productivity through the application of knowledge rather than the mere acquisition and storage of knowledge. The program, called the Renzulli Learning System (RLS), goes beyond the popular "worksheets-on-line" or courses on line that, by and large, have been early applications of ICT in most school situations. The RLS is a comprehensive program that begins by providing a computer-generated profile of each student's academic strengths, interests, learning styles, and preferred modes of expression. A search engine then matches Internet resources to the student's profile from fourteen carefully screened data-bases that are categorized by subject area, grade level, state curricular standards, and degree of complexity. A management system called the Wizard Project Maker guides students in the application of knowledge to teacher or student selected assignments, independent research studies, or creative projects that individuals or small groups would like to pursue. Students and teachers can evaluate the quality of students products using a rubric called The Student Product Assessment Form. Students can rate each site visited, conduct a self-assessment of what they have gained from the site, and place resources in their own Total Talent Portfolio for future use. Teacher functions allow downloading of hundreds of reproducible creativity and critical thinking activities as well as numerous off-line resources for lesson planning and curricular integration. Management functions allow teachers to group students by interests and learning styles, place teacher-selected resources in student portfolios for classroom or special project use, and oversee all student activity including where and when the students have been on-line using the RLS. The system can be used at home and during the summer, and parents can view their own son's or daughter's work on the system. The principal or designated project manager can also examine all activity taking place in a given building or program.

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Creating Creative, Cooperative Environments Creatively and Cooperatively

Prof. Dr. Ken Mcluskey,

Dean, Faculty of Education, Winnipeg University, Canada

Researchers often consider how to develop creative environments through "person" (the characteristics and problem-solving styles of the people involved), "process" (the operations they perform), and "product" (the resultant outcomes). However, in education, in business, and indeed in all areas of human endeavour, the problem-solving environment is equally important. And there are tangible things that can be done to help establish an energizing, stimulating climate. The focus here is on nurturing creativity in schools, post-secondary institutions, and the workplace by setting a positive tone which builds trust and openness, challenge and motivation, autonomy, dynamism, playfulness and humour, and idea support.

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Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPoC)

Prof. Dr. Todd Lubart,

Head, Laboratoire de la Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes, France

This keynote will address a new tool, the Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPoC 2009). It is a new battery that allows creative giftedness to be measured. It includes verbal and graphic subtests that measure the two key modes of creative cognition"divergent-exploratory thinking and convergent-integrative thinking" in elementary and middle-school students. The instrument can be used as an efficient diagnostic tool to identify creative potential and to monitor progress, using pre-tests and post-tests, in educational programs designed to enhance creativity. Easy to use by psychologists and educators, this instrument can, for example, help school psychologists to identify, in regular schools, children with creative potential. An original, internet-based scoring system that enhances inter-rater reliability is integrated in the battery. Initially developed in France, this instrument will be available in 2010 in other languages with local norms for different cultures. EPoC is a comprehensive evaluation tool that combines an approach to creativity by domain and by mode of thought, allowing a profile of creative potential to be assessed. The EPoC system provides opportunities to add additional domains to the assessment (such as the musical domain, currently under development). EPoC includes a training program for evaluators to facilitate test use and scoring. Creativity plays an increasingly important role in modern society which requires original, innovative thinking and creative problem solving to face unexpected challenges in all aspects of life. The economic importance of creativity as an engine for societal growth in both cultural and industrial sectors has been often recognized (for example the European Union has declared 2009 to be the European Year of Creativity and Innovation). Creativity can be defined as a capacity to produce work that is both original (novel) and adaptive with respect to the constraints of a task or a situation. The EPoC Battery and manuals will be available in different languages, including: Arabic, English, Greek, German, Hebrew, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. The development team has designed a number of cross-cultural studies to generate local norms for each region. Developing EPoC in other languages is a project that involves a partnership between Editions Hogrefe France, the International Centre for Innovation in Education (ICIE-Germany) and the Individual Differences research group at the Institute of Psychology, Universitè Paris Descartes. The ICIE will collaborate and coordinate with a large number of local partners to conduct the cross cultural studies. The new battery, EPoC, represents a synthesis and extension of several traditions in creativity measurement. EPoC evaluates creativity in several domains (currently, artistic and literary, with others to be developed such as music, social problem solving, scientific invention, etc). In each domain, two basic kinds are thinking are measured because they come into play in each creative act. The first is divergent exploration. The second is convergent synthesis and integration. These two modes are widely viewed as the basis of the creative process and relate to numerous pedagogical programmes to train creativity. Results show good psychometric qualities, with a factor structure indicating 4 factors, as expected: Verbal convergent integrative, verbal divergent exploratory, graphic-artistic convergent, graphic artistic divergent. No particular gender-related differences are observed. There are developmental trends across school-grade levels.

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Advanced Campus Infrastructure and Management

Prof. Dr. Hans Peter Grossmann,

Director, Communication and Information Center, University of Ulm, Germany.
Director, Institute of Organization and Management of Information Systems, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ulm, Germany.

Universitas magistrorum et scholarium - the community of lecturers and learners that once was clear without ambiguity may nowadays be realized in two different ways: on-campus and off-campus. This is due to profound changes in information technology and computer science. The traditional variant, i.e. the on-campus model, provides a learning, teaching and research environment on university campus, requiring personal attendance on both lecturer�s and learner�s side. The off-campus model exploits e-Learning courses in such a way that lectures may exclusively be attended online. It is only on rare occasions that personal attendance becomes obligatory, like for example when participating in exams. With regard to the traditional variant, current student life cycles may also be electronically supported by e-Learning systems. This means that the learning, teaching and research environment may be accompanied by multimedia-based technology, virtual seminar rooms, assessments, online glossaries, forums and many more. In order for them to be integrated successfully it is essential to consider knowledge from pedagogy, didactics and media psychology. The aim is to improve the quality of teaching on the one hand and the efficiency of teaching and learning processes on the other. This may be best achieved by means of an overall Campus Management System comprising a four layer model:

• 1. Technical infrastructure layer, e.g. hardware, networks and servers
• 2. Basic tasks layer, e.g. administrative purposes such as authentication, account management, content management as well as collaborative services
• 3. User tasks layer, e.g. education modules, glossaries, digital books, discussion forums, tests, surveys or study groups
• 4. Complex tasks layer, e.g. online university calendar

The virtual campus becomes more and more important, in particular with regard to continuing education. It provides the opportunity of a teaching and learning environment that is independent of time and place. In the long run universities should therefore extend their model to various user groups, i.e. to students, professionals and elderly people in their third phase of life. Whereas this would imply combining an on- and off-campus strategy for students, people interested in continuing education would be offered virtual courses, e.g. a master-online programme. In case of the elderly it is crucial to support them when it comes to participating in political and social events. Last but not least it could also help overcoming the generation conflict. To enable this model a powerful and efficient service infrastructure is required. It needs to comprise a technical component and an organisational component as well as pedagogic, didactic and psychological background to prepare the media most suitably.

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Community Learning

Prof. Dr. Lloyd Axworthy,

President, Winnipeg University, Winnipeg, Canada

Universities have traditionally viewed themselves as elite institutions of higher learning and research, reserved largely for qualified students of means and motivation. Absent from this formula was a sense of social and community responsibility, of a direct duty to those struggling beyond the hallowed walls. The University of Winnipeg has slowly been trying to change this familiar model in an effort to become more relevant to society in general and to guarantee a role for itself well into the future. We have to reposition ourselves, or risk going the way of General Motors. My goal is to integrate the university into the cultural, educational and social fabric of the community under a new model known as "community learning." The phrase is a description of the work the university has done in throwing open its doors to groups that have traditionally felt excluded, and the use of its resources to address the full range of social, economic and environmental problems in the community. I strongly believe that the university belongs to the community and everyone has an equal right to benefit from it. As such, the university should help public schools to improve graduation rates; it should offer aid to newcomers; and develop new methods to help poor students find the cash needed to attend university.

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Economics, Politics, and Policy for STEM Funding and Programming to Reach G/T Student

Dr. Joann P. Digennaro,

President, Center for Excellence in Education, USA.

Providing education increasingly necessitates public and private partnerships to augment national, state and local funding. Global economics will increasingly affect education funding and pressures will continue to impact national funding priorities. The politics of economics will dictate funding policy for all educational programming. Providing education increasingly necessitates public and private partnerships to augment national, state and local funding. Global economics will increasingly affect education funding and pressures will continue to impact national funding priorities. The politics of economics will dictate funding policy for all educational programming. It is imperative that all students receive opportunities to reach their potential for excellence and leadership in science, technology, engineering and math, including top achieving gifted and talented students. Stakeholders and policy makers must understand the interdisciplinary connectiveness affecting STEM funding and opportunities for education.

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