Teaching for Creativity in Universities

Abstract

It is more than obvious, that Creativity is not the gathering of knowledge as such, that is important, but "what we can do with our knowledge" (Quintin, 2009, p. 3).If we are to prepare our students to be able to adapt to change, to work in jobs that may not even exist at present and face unpredictable encounters, we need to rethink education.We have to move away from delivering knowledge/information and concentrate on how our students can use such knowledge.Thus, in the face of such stormy times, creativity, originality, and innovation are at the top of the list in importance, now, more than at any time before.In a summary of scientific research into creativity Michael Mumford suggested that "creativity involves the production of novel, useful products" (Mumford, 2003, p.110).From the same perspective, Prof. Teresa M. Amabile from Harvard Business School noted that "creativity is the production of novel and useful ideas in any domain" (Amabile, 1996, p.1). Yorke (2001,p.7)defined it as "the ability to be original or inventive and to apply lateral thinking".The importance of educating for creativity in higher education can be derived from arguments in favor of a focus on student empowerment and employability.In some domains, the performing arts for instance, creativity is supposedly already generally accepted as a critical personal quality needed for performing adequately as a professional.The question is how we can achieve the development of creativity in University students.Journal of Education and Human Development, Vol.3(4), December 2014However, despite the numerous definitions there seems to be a widespread agreement on the definition that creativity is the "ability to produce work that is both novel and appropriate" (Sternberg &Lubart, 1999, p. 3).Although this definition seems to be the most appropriate, for the purpose of this literature review, a number of other definitions are being considered.A popular idea about creativity is the thinking process involved in the creation of novel ideas or products.Paul Torrance (1970), one of the 'architects' in the study of the creative process, suggested that creativity is the ability to produce something novel, something that is unique and original.However, it is argued, a definition of creativity that only measures originality is problematic, because any idea, however strange or unsuitable to the situation, should be included.Subsequently, academics have extended the definition of creativity to include the concept of appropriateness and added value (Sternberg &Lubart, 1999).Adding to this, the National Advisory Committee for Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE), defines creativity as: "imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value" (p.3).That is, creativity requires both novelty and usefulness or value which suggests that an idea or concept might be novel but if it has no use, cannot be defined as a creative idea and vise versa (Beghetto, 2005).Another dimension added, by some authors, is that of 'problem solving', the competence to find new solutions to problems; thus, a more unifying, completed, definition for creativity must contain the core dimensions of originality, appropriateness (that is useful and added value) and problem solving.For example, Costello (2000) argued that creativity involves, problem solving, i.e. thinking "outside the box".But at the same time Costello (2000) also added that it must be "future oriented", i.e. "not looking backwards", and dealing with the uncertainty and insecurity -in other words "learning is incremental and involves making mistakes" (Ball, 2003, p.28).Seeling (2012), also, claimed that attitude, knowledge, and imagination can spark and add to creativity.According to Seeling (2012), to be creative you must have a depth of knowledge as a starting point.Knowledge is the toolbox for inventiveness and imagination is very important in the formation of new ideas and attitudes that help set the creative process in motion (ibid., 2012).It is also suggested that by trying to identify of what is creativity we must also consider other factors such as the cognitive abilities and processes involved to creative thinking as well as the learning environment.Thus, Csikszentimihalyi (1999) adds three factors that are important for creativity to take place: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognized and validate the innovation in a learning environment.Similarly, Sternberg (2002) also reaffirms that the parameters that define the concept of creativity must include the environment.If follows, therefore, that the learning environment such asthat of universities, seems to influence the creative performance (Oldham & Cumming, 1996; Scott &Bruice, 1994;Barron &Harrigton, 1981).This leaves us to the conclusion that most people are capable of creativity and "the creativity processes could be taught" (Coombs & Smith, 1999, p.80) especially in the higher education sector.At the same time, a number of studies concluded that creativity can be enhanced and cultivated (Craft, Jeffrey, &Leibling, 2001). Defining Creativity in the Context of Higher EducationThere is, as yet, a shortage of conclusive research evidence suggesting ways of developing creativity, and in particular 'small c' creativity in universities (Beghetto& Kaufman, 2009; ibid., 2007).Creativity is often approached as a distinction between "big C" (eminent, genius -level) (Beghetto& Kaufman, 2007), creativity and "small c" (everyday) creativity."Small c" or second generation (or everyday) creativity places the creative endeavour in the processes of collaboration and 'purposeful activity' that aims to develop an 'original' and 'appropriate' explanation to a situation or problem (McWilliam&Dawson 2008;Runco, 2004;) and which, also, allows for student-empowerment and student-centeredness.In contrast, "big C" (genius -level) creativity is associated with truly original ideas and ground breaking ideas.Creative ideas and achievements that are outstanding in their domain.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 59 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.