Reviews
«_Education in the Creative Economy_ is a fabulous collection of essays by some of the most penetrating and insightful scholars now mapping the field of creative knowledge economy studies. The book_s principal merit resides in the thoughtfulness of each of the contributions to this timely edited volume, and the probing connections and challenging questions that these scholars pose to the status quo organization of knowledge in schooling and the university today. This volume insistently urges educators to reconsider the ways we think about education and pedagogy and the ways we might profit from the cutting-edge developments in the domain of the creative industries. This book will be an indispensable text for general readers, students and scholars interested in the study of the creative knowledge economy for years to come.» (Cameron McCarthy, Professor of Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) «At a time when new media and a host of new technologies are reshaping every aspect of life and society, there has been a lack of analyses capable of integrating and critically engaging these new forces. We not only live in an age of constant information flows and technological breakthroughs, but we also inhabit a society in which individual and social agency are under attack. Innovation is stripped from matters of equity and social costs and the results look less like a step forward for humanity than a step backwards into what Bertolt Brecht once called _dark times._ Technologies and their diverse modes of knowledge do not merely overwhelm us, they increasingly erase matters of equity, justice, and social responsibility. What _Education in the Creative Economy_ does brilliantly is to remind us that learning is not merely the precondition for innovation, technological progress, and the over-hyped rise of an information economy, it is also the precondition for imagination, civic courage, and collective struggles that expand and deepen the process of democratization. _Education in the Creative Economy_ is a breakthrough book that critically engages a range of complex issues regarding the brave new world in which new technologies and knowledge production redefine the nature of the present. But it does more. In breathtaking fashion it dresses cogently and with great insight what this new regime of production, consumption, and learning might mean for a future in which democratic values, social justice, and political agency once again matter.» (Henry Giroux, Global Television Network Chair in the Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University) «A brilliant collection in substance, scale and variety. It is like a website in print. Michael Peters and Daniel Araya have done us a fine service in assembling all of this material in a single volume _ one that is destined to be first portal on education and creativity for some time to come. The book is a lattice of diverse messages and interpretations, but all of the contributors share an engaged and enthusiastic realism, in which _culture_ and _economy_ are no longer separated into different boxes but are continually used to interrogate each other.» (Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne) «This book brings together multiple perspectives on and creates a compelling argument for the role of creativity in economic growth and development. It examines how an eclectic mix of technology, talent and educational policy are vital for innovation and economic growth, and argues the need for new learning paradigms and for better links across academic disciplines and between universities and business. Increased and accelerating globalization in all areas, 'Education in the Creative Economy' is a fabulous collection of essays by some of the most penetrating and insightful scholars now mapping the field of creative knowledge economy studies. The book's principal merit resides in the thoughtfulness of each of the contributions to this timely edited volume, and the probing connections and challenging questions that these scholars pose to the status quo organization of knowledge in schooling and the university today. This volume insistently urges educators to reconsider the ways we think about education and pedagogy and the ways we might profit from the cutting-edge developments in the domain of the creative industries. This book will be an indispensable text for general readers, students and scholars interested in the study of the creative knowledge economy for years to come. (Cameron McCarthy, Professor of Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) At a time when new media and a host of new technologies are reshaping every aspect of life and society, there has been a lack of analyses capable of integrating and critically engaging these new forces. We not only live in an age of constant information flows and technological breakthroughs, but we also inhabit a society in which individual and social agency are under attack. Innovation is stripped from matters of equity and social costs and the results look less like a step forward for humanity than a step backwards into what Bertolt Brecht once called 'dark times.' Technologies and their diverse modes of knowledge do not merely overwhelm us, they increasingly erase matters of equity, justice, and social responsibility. What 'Education in the Creative Economy' does brilliantly is to remind us that learning is not merely the precondition for innovation, technological progress, and the over-hyped rise of an information economy, it is also the precondition for imagination, civic courage, and collective struggles that expand and deepen the process of democratization. 'Education in the Creative Economy' is a breakthrough book that critically engages a range of complex issues regarding the brave new world in which new technologies and knowledge production redefine the nature of the present. But it does more. In breathtaking fashion it dresses cogently and with great insight what this new regime of production, consumption, and learning might mean for a future in which democratic values, social justice, and political agency once again matter. (Henry Giroux, Global Television Network Chair in the Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University) A brilliant collection in substance, scale and variety. It is like a website in print. Michael Peters and Daniel Araya have done us a fine service in assembling all of this material in a single volume - one that is destined to be first portal on education and creativity for some time to come. The book is a lattice of diverse messages and interpretations, but all of the contributors share an engaged and enthusiastic realism, in which 'culture' and 'economy' are no longer separated into different boxes but are continually used to interrogate each other. (Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne) This book brings together multiple perspectives on and creates a compelling argument for the role of creativity in economic growth and development. It examines how an eclectic mix of technology, talent and educational policy are vital for innovation and economic growth, and argues the need for new learning paradigms and for better links across academic disciplines and between universities and business. Increased and accelerating globalization in all areas, so it is good to see a book that tackles the importance of creativity from a range of perspectives and from across the world. The book starts by defining creativity in the context of economic growth and globalization, and the chapters that follow under the headings of educational policy, technology and economy, and culture and curriculum indicate the challenges that need to be addressed in order for growth to occur and for developing countries to rise up. As curricula in schools continue to be locked down and a narrow range of skills are defined and measured with levels of accountability that drive out creativity, this book is a warning to policymakers to stop and review their directions, and to consider the implications of a testing regime that fails to encompass the need for demonstrations of creativity in its design.» (Michelle Selinger, Director, Education Practice, Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco Systems) «At a time when educational improvement is increasingly seen as a prerequisite for economic prosperity, this volume centers on vital, underemphasized objectives for twenty-first century learning, teaching, and policy.» (Christopher Dede, Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies, Harvard University) «The edited collection 'Education in the Creative Economy' brings together top educators to document various dimensions of the current crisis of education and the economy, and ways to jump-start a stalled economy and reinvigorate education. Spanning a broad range of issues from educational policy and the role of the university in today's economy and society to how new technologies are dramatically transforming our culture, economy, and schooling, the authors show the need to rethink and reconstruct education for the challenges of the twenty-first century.» (Douglas Kellner, George F. Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education at UCLA and author of Guys and Guns Amok: Domestic Terrorism and School Shootings from the Oklahoma City Bombings to the Virginia Tech Massacre) «The trick with creative education is to enable curious, playful and aspirational minds to make connections hitherto unimagined. That's what this book does. The impressive international array of authors reaches way beyond the traditional arts to encompass creative innovation and renewal in public policy, business strategy, creative practice and scholarly domains. Their work makes a compelling case for the widest possible application of creative education for an open future. For the curious reader, the book adds up to a creative education in itself.» (John Hartley, Research Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation, Queensland University of Technology) «Oh brave new world that has such essays in it! The words 'innovative' and 'comprehensive' don't often go together, but for a world where innovation and creativity are the key to economic success, here is a definitive look at what creativity means - and how people learn it - in the digital age.» (David Williamson Shaffer, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison) «This collection makes a seductive and intriguing read. Of course, learning in and around the creative economy has a fundamental role to play in the evolution of new economies in this third millennium, but one is left realising that the creative and ingenious minds evidenced by these papers share the more fundamental role of guiding education in re-examining the ways that we might learn together: if the creative industries cannot reinvent and invigorate learning, then who can? This collection offers a small but unmissable insight into the future of learning. If we think we might be able to mend the world with learning, and I do think so, then this collection might be a very useful place to start the debate about how.» (Professor Stephen Heppell, Centre for
