Generation YES Blog

There is a vast difference between being creative and creating something.

• You can write a creative report about bridge building, or design a bridge that holds weight.
• You can make a creative video about careers in programming, or write a computer program.
• You can build a creative website with links to sites about solar heating, or construct a working model of a solar panel.
• You can blog creatively about saving the environment, or you can start a movement to do it.

Building a real bridge or writing a computer program or constructing a solar panel or committing time to a cause is constructing something real. It is a different educational experience than reporting about something. Both are valuable learning experiences. Both should be present in a well-rounded education.

However, when we talk about Web 2.0, the focus is often on information gathering, sharing and presenting. This short-sighted focus on information and reporting misses the most crucial part of learning — constructing. It is an incomplete picture of what we want students to learn and be able to do.

Life is not a report.

Sylvia