Creativity Team

In the age of viral marketing, there are so many creative ways to do businesses. As long as you’re serious about whatever you’re doing, you can have a very successful career. One of the more creative ideas that is changing the business sector is unconventional workspaces. Gone are the days of employees being confined to the physical confines of conventional office space. Portable offices, telecommuting, portable concession stands, food trucks, and other new types of workspaces are taking over.

http://integratedequipmentsales.com/3-creative-ideas-for-pop-up-shipping-container-shops/

The days of classrooms where a teacher desk sits at the front of the classroom and students’ desks are neatly aligned in rows are over. Learning technologies, and changing pedagogical methods, are not only changing the way we teach but also the physical environments we teach in. The role physical environments play in our learning is just beginning to be studied and understood. Akinsanmi (2011) asserts that “there is little research on the role the physical environment plays in the learning process” but more and more educations theorist and psychologists are beginning to offer perspectives “from which designers can conceptualize the creation of an optimal learning environment” (The Optimal Learning). One thing that is clear from the research of the physical spaces which make up learning environments is that current classrooms seldom facilitate 21st century learning.

Image taken from: http://rliberni.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/ideal-classroom-design-for-21st-century-learning

https://education-2025.wikispaces.com/The+Classroom+of+the+Future

The Web is 25 years old this month. Quite astounding really if one thinks how entwined with and dependent our lives are on the internet. Pew Research published a weighty report this week in honor of the Web’s anniversary, Digital Life in 2025. The results are thought-provoking, even controversial. I urge readers to read the full report at some point, though in this post I highlight a host of predictions specific to education, made by numerous experts and scholars. Pew’s report includes thoughts and visions from hundreds of experts, including faculty from some of the best public and private research institutions in the world.

Brief Overview
To appreciate it fully, readers may find the background of the report helpful. The report is the work of Pew Research group and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center. The Digital Life in 2025 looks to the future of the internet, collectively assessing how life might look in 2025 with input from hundreds of experts on how the Web will influence various aspects our lives, including privacy, relationships, education to name just a few. This report is part of a series, its forerunner The Web at 25 in the U.S. looks at the present and past of the internet. A good read that provides context for the future and emphasizes the incredibly swift adoption of an invention that has changed institutions, values and culture.

The Purpose of the Report: To look to the future and identify patterns and themes that may affect aspects of society and everyday life in 2025 by examining a collection of predictions from internet experts and engaged citizens. In this post I focus on predictions specific to education.

Who had input: Pew gathered feedback via a web-survey, collecting 2,558 responses. Respondents fall into three categories, 1) targeted experts identified by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project; experts that have extensive experience with internet research and/or input during its formative years, 2) targeted technology groups gathered from listervs of internet analysts and associations, and 3) the mailing list of the Pew Research Center Internet Project that includes individuals who closely follow technology trends and related research. Many of the experts are faculty members at leading public and private higher education institutions within the United States and beyond. Input from non-experts is included to give insight into how everyday people are influenced by the abundance of digital information and constant connectivity.

“Make your prediction about the role of the Internet in people’s lives in 2025 and the impact it will have on social, economic, and political processes. Good and/or bad, what do you expect to be the most significant overall impacts of our uses of the Internet on humanity between now and 2025?” One of the eight questions from the survey

The Fifteen Theses: More-Hopeful and Less-Hopeful
Upon analysis of the responses, Pew identified recurring themes, summarizing each into fifteen theses. Eight are considered ‘more-hopeful’ where experts view the effects of the internet as positive overall, while six are grouped into the ‘concerned’ category, the word used by Pew authors to describe the ‘less-hopeful‘ theses, and one thesis is categorized as neutral. After reading the less-hopeful theses, I might describe the category somewhat differently than ‘concerned’ as Pew does, given thesis #10 for example, “Abuses and abusers will ‘evolve and scale.’ Human nature isn’t changing; there’s laziness, bullying, stalking, stupidity, po*******hy, dirty tricks, crime, and those who practice them have new capacity to make life miserable for others”. Though I can see why Pew wanted to put a more positive spin on the darker predictions given there is a continuum of negative viewpoints.

https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/what-will-education-look-like-in-2025-what-the-experts-have-to-say/

Um Qais

Um Qais



Gadara One of the first places in Jordan that were visited by Jesus Christ after he crossed the River Jordan. This city, famous for the biblical story of the Gadarene Swine, was regarded in its time as a cultural centre.



Perched on a splendid hilltop overlooking the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee, Umm Qais boasts impressive ancient remains. Such as the stunning black basalt theatre, the basilica and adjacent courtyard strewn with nicely carved black sarcophagi, the colonnaded main street and a side street lined with shops, an underground mausoleum, two baths, a nymphaeum, a city gate and the outlines of what was a massive hippodrome. It lies two hours away from Amman to the northwest.

the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative centre of the Aqaba Governorate The city has a population of 188,160 and a land area of 375 square kilometres (144.8 sq mi) Today, Aqaba plays a major role in the development of the Jordanian economy, through the vibrant trade and tourism sectors.

Aqaba's strategic location at the northeastern tip of the Red Sea between the continents of Asia and Africa, has made its port important over the course of thousands of years, it serves today several countries in the region. The ancient city was called Ayla, its strategic location and proximity to copper mines, made it a regional hub for copper production and trade in the Chalcolithic period. Ayla became a bishopric under Byzantine rule and later became a Latin Catholic titular see after Islamic conquest around 600 AD.

Umm el-Jimal (Arabic: ام الجمال, "Mother of Camels"), also known as Umm ej Jemāl, Umm al-Jimal or Umm idj-Djimal, is a village in Northern Jordan approximately 17 kilometers east of Mafraq. It is primarily notable for the substantial ruins of a Byzantine and early Islamic town which are clearly visible above the ground, as well as an older Roman village (locally referred to as al-Herri) located to the southwest of the Byzantine ruins.

Mahis (Arabic: ماحص) is a Jordanian town located in the Balqa Governorate north west from the governorate's capital city Balqa, and 10 km west of Amman. Its population exceeds 14,000. Most of the population of Mahis descends from the Al-Abbadi tribe [1] (Arabic: العبادي). The mountainous town is located at over 800 metres,[2] with panoramic views on the Jordanian valley, West Bank with Jerusalem's walls visible on the horizon. Mahis is known for its orchards and its numerous water fountains and springs, notably the Fountain of Mahis.

also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are 429 metres (1,407 ft) below sea level,[4][6] Earth's lowest elevation on land. The Dead Sea is 304 m (997 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34.2% salinity (in 2011), it is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, though Lake Vanda in Antarctica (35%), Lake Assal in Djibouti (34.8%), Lagoon Garabogazköl in the Caspian Sea (up to 35%) and some hypersaline ponds and lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond (44%)) have reported higher salinities. It is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean.[7] This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 50 kilometres (31 mi) long and 15 kilometres (9 mi) wide at its widest point.[2] It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

Dana Biosphere Reserve is Jordan's largest nature reserve,[1] located in south-central Jordan. Dana Biosphere Reserve was founded in 1989[1] in the area in and around the Dana village and Wadi Dana comprising 308 square kilometres (119 sq mi).[2]

The Azraq Wetland Reserve is a nature reserve located near the town of Azraq in the eastern desert of Jordan. An oasis for migratory birds, Azraq was established in 1978 and covers 12 square kilometres (4.6 sq mi). The natural springs dried up in 1992 and most migratory birds subsequently moved away from the area. Artificial springs are maintained today in order to keep the site a tourist destination.