As we grow older, we tend to lose our natural ability to imagine
the impossible. As children we begin our education through
encouraging the use of imagination but, with age,
we are told to “stay within the lines” and our
imaginations become restricted.
Ellen Treanor, a communication professional in residence
at SUU, and other presenters spoke on the importance
of imagination last month. Treanor proposed a program
that would allow the education system to harness
rather than inhibit their imagination:
The SUU Honors Program and Center for Creativity and
Innovation put on an event in the spirit of the popular
TED Conferences Tuesday and Wednesday evening,
showcasing a variety of speakers who presented
innovative ideas about imagination.
The theme of the event, which took place at the Off the Cuff Training Center,
was “Imagination.” Each speaker provided a different
interpretation of the theme in his or her presentation.
Tuesday evening began with an introduction from
Honors Program Director Matt Nickerson, and the Center for Creativity
and Innovation director Todd Peterson.
Peterson explained getting an official event sanctioned
by TED had a “lot of I’s to dot and T’s to cross,
and somehow an I got crossed and a T got dotted.”
The event, because of confusion with sponsors and
technical difficulties with the video from last year’s
event, couldn’t operate under the official TED name.
TED is an organization that holds two annual conferences
in which they invite speakers to share new ideas which fall
under their slogan “ideas worth sharing.”
Although the event was not officially a TED event as
originally planned, the ideas and passion behind each talk were the same.
Nickerson explained the event, which has been occurring
for over five years, was the product of two honors classes
at SUU, Honors 2010 and 4010.
The students focus on TED as their primary learning tool, he explained.
“We bring the TED talks to bring in guest speakers from
all over the world,” Nickerson said.
The first TED-like event was called “PAM: TED’s little sister,”
where students could produce their own TED event through
“user generated content.”
PAM became TEDx three years ago when Nickerson and Petersen
officially applied to host TEDxSUU.
Peterson introduced the first speaker as Ellen Treanor,
a communication professor in residence at SUU.
Treanor spoke on reinventing and rejuvenating imagination
within the education system.
Treanor said she proposes eliminating 8th grade and
replacing it with something called “Imagine 8.”
“We replace it with a year of imagination,” she said.
“The students take the money that the state would spend on them being in a classroom, and do anything with it.”
“My disruptive innovation ‘Imagine 8’ will provide the
space for a renaissance for thinking and creating and
problem solving,” she said.
Afterward, Treanor said she was ecstatic to be a part of the event.
“It’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me in my life,” she said.
“It’s like meeting the queen, I can’t think of anything it parallels.
It’s absolutely the most extraordinary thing I’ve ever been
asked to be involved with. I can’t express – I’m humbled and I’m thrilled.”
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