Teachers of Flexibility: An Introduction and an Invitation

Written by Vicki Crooks – This article is from AIM Issue 1 (released December 2022).

Welcome to this section, designed to provide insights, examples, and dialogue related to the research, teaching, and practice of Applied Improvisation in Education.

We envision this as a forum for sharing how Applied Improvisation is being used in K-12, colleges, universities, and professional schools.

Coming from a range of backgrounds, situations, and disciplines, academics around the globe are not only using Applied Improvisation in classrooms, but they are also conducting research, writing, presenting, and collaborating to ensure that the practice and principles of Applied Improvisation continue to gain credence at our schools and institutions.

We want to celebrate and support that work by providing this forum. We are interested in highlighting the ways teachers and practitioners representing diverse academic backgrounds approach and promote this work. We will feature summaries of academic articles, include insights from individuals who design and teach courses that include Applied Improvisation, and share case studies and stories about our experiences. Hopefully, this will also become a place for exchanging activities, asking questions, and inviting collaboration.

As teachers, researchers, and improvisers, we can make the most of this resource, using it to exchange ideas and strategies, to become informed by cross-disciplinary influences, and to gain fresh insights for our own work. Perhaps more importantly, if sharing our experiences and our research can equip us to improve current approaches to education, our time will be well spent.

As editors for this Applied Improvisation in Education section, we want to invite you to submit your stories, article ideas, and questions. We are college professors from different disciplines, and we teach in different universities. Nancy is a professor of behavioral science at a university in Missouri. I, Vicki, teach relational and organizational communication at a polytechnic university in Oregon. I have also taught at the K-12 level. We want to invite those of you doing important work in any educational context to reach out to us.

In a report sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, David J. Skorton, Chair of the Committee on Integrating Higher Education in the Arts, Humanities, Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, suggests that our current narrow educational focus has left students without the necessary learning outcomes of critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and other “human skills” that are essential even, or especially, in high-tech fields (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). What Skorton is describing is the need to develop flexible thinkers who have had an integrative educational experience.

Applied Improvisation can help. Equipping students to become flexible thinkers involves implementing more holistic and flexible learning processes (Rayner & Cools, 2012). The earlier that training in creativity and flexible thinking starts, the better. AI does just that, helping students develop habits of creativity and learning flexibility with activities that involve experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and applying.

We, as applied improvisers within the field of education, have something important to contribute. In fact, we could lead these efforts to reform and reshape education. Learning from each other is a great way to start. We invite your participation and look forward to what is possible together.