Creativity

I think that the educational system's treatment of creativity is one of our great downfalls. From dictionary.com:
Creativity: the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.

Creativity is treated as if it is a divine or inspirational quality rather than a learned, practicable skill. From that perspective, learners are either creative or not. A much stronger emphasis is put on learning the way things work than in re-envisioning our world.
I've lost track of the times people have used that old chestnut 'Don't reinvent the wheel'. If the guy who invented the wheel thought that, we'd all still be rolling around on square tires like a cartoon! I'd almost always rather build from scratch and make my own mistakes along the way than follow the herd.

Culturally Inappropriate Web

Keeping your content appropriate and (relatively) inoffensive is something that any educator needs to keep in mind. With e-learning served through the Internet, this requirement becomes an even stronger imperative. If people around the world can view what you have created, the amount of attention this can bring is staggering.

1. Despair.com - I personally love this site for the dark humor, but it would be very easy for someone to be offended.

2. The Onion - this seemingly eternal satire site often has pieces written specifically for the purpose of tweaking someone's sensibilities.

3. YouTube - every time I hear someone mention they had their class look something up on YouTube, I cringe inside. The amount of offensive content that could find it's way into your class is amazing, as there are seemingly hundreds of videos that could offend anyone.