Creativity or Conformity?Building Cultures of Creativity in Higher Education

A conference organised by the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff in collaboration with the HigherEducationAcademy

CardiffJanuary 8-10 2007

Through the wardrobe:

a generic platform to foster the evolution of

creative problem solving skills

A Collis, A Hiley and J A Wilson

The University of Manchester

Faculty of Engineering &Physical Sciences

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Abstract

Today’s society generates complex challenges which require a creative approach to problem identification and problem solving within a multidisciplinary environment. These are fundamental activities. They encompass, for example, critical evaluation and decision-making. In many disciplines they are known collectively as the design process. The quality of the design process affects both our current and future environment and all the products within it and therefore can enhance or detract from our quality of life. To determine the optimum option in answer to a problem or need the experienced practitioner requires a highly developed tacit knowledge base which can be creatively applied to explicit knowledge resources.

The authors’ long term experience in both industry and in higher education indicates that there is a need to make undergraduates aware that all individuals have the potential to develop creative design skills. We believe that the acquisition of such skills can enhance all their learning. However education strategy is often wholly focused on acquiring and assessing explicit knowledge. This often results in individuals wary of and unable to cope with an open-ended problem scenario. To achieve their full potential they need guidance in developing their dormant problem solving and creative design skills.

An innovative active learning strategy was designed and first implemented in 2002 aimed at promoting the evolution of design, decision making and creative problem solving skills. The response of the original student cohort and each subsequent group indicates that transferable design skills can be developed, even within the restrictions of a modular system. Through reflective reports students have given evidence of how these skills can be applied to both other academic modules and non-academic activities.

A core aim was to develop the learning strategy so that it would be generally applicable across a wide range of disciplines. To date, students from disciplines including Civil Engineering, Construction Management and Material Science have successfully undertaken this unit. Their response indicates that the learning strategy does encompass generic themes allowing it to be used across different subject domains. This paper describes how the experience of implementing this learning strategy and an evaluation of the students’ responses to it is being used to develop a generic framework, through which creative problem-solving and design skills can be fostered at undergraduate level. The aim is to provide individuals with the creative design skills they will need as future practitioners.

Keywords: creative, problem solving, generic, design, learning

Through the wardrobe: a generic platform to foster the evolution of creative problem solving skills

Introduction

Problem identification and problem solving within a multi-disciplinary environment are fundamental activities in today’s society. The outcome of any problem-solving process should be that the chosen solution matches the need or problem being addressed and therefore there is the potential for the quality of life to be enhanced. The many factors that impinge upon problem solvingcan result in complex scenarios and this requires a creative, multi-faceted approach.

This approach calls for a broad range of skills including creative and critical evaluation and evidence-based decision-making. In all disciplines it is the creative aspects of these activitiesthat are regarded as particularly important. AsJackson says,“creativity is integral to being an historian, biologist, lawyer, engineer or any other disciplinary endeavour” (Jackson, 2003). Creativity therefore must be seen as a crucial component part of any problem solving or decision-making activity. The creative aspects of such activities, in combination with investigative and other procedures,can be collectively described as being a design process. This process requires of the problem solver or designer a high level of implicit knowledge. “The characteristics of the creative act have been widely discussed and there is a general agreement…that a mixture of rational and intuitive processes are involved and that the result displays originality.” (Dudley & Mealing, 2000) Creativity should not be thought of as an attribute or talent only a few have, which is experienced through ‘eureka moments’. There is research to corroborate the view that we all have the capability to be creative; that creativity can be awakened with the appropriate guidance.

To determine the optimum option in answer to a problem or needa highly developed tacit knowledge basewhich can be creatively applied is required. “In reality, problem solving rarely involves any really novel steps; it usually involves putting together a set of previously experienced processes. It is the building upon of generic processes” (Houghton, 2004). Innovation is often rather achieved by applying creative thinking to existing knowledge. The quality of the design process affects both our current and future environment and all the products within it and as such can enhance or detract from our quality of life. It is therefore important to ensure that all problem solvers, whatever their area, are equipped with appropriate skills and knowledge.

The learning approach

Experience in both industry and higher education indicates that it is necessary to make undergraduates aware that there is a need for all individuals to realise that they have the potential to develop creative design skills. We believe that the acquisition of such skills can enhance all their learning. Current education strategy however is often focused on acquiring and assessing explicit knowledge. “Research has consistently suggested that general education does not reward or nurture the creative…we tend to turn out conformists whose education is ‘completed’ rather than freely creative and original thinkers” (Dudley & Mealing, 2000). Such a prescriptive approach is limiting and often results in individuals who tend to want to remain in their ‘comfort zone’where they can work within familiar parameters and use familiar methodologies. As a result many individuals can be wary of complex and open ended problems for which there is usually not one ‘right answer’, rather several answers - some of which will be ‘better’ than others. Having the confidence to determine the ‘better’ answers requires informed decision-making. There needs be a method by which dormant problem solving and creative design skills can be developed to allow every individual to achieve their full potential.

In 2002 an innovative learning strategy was first implemented at Manchester. Thisaimsto promote the evolution of design, decision making and creative problem solving skills. The approach usedis based on guiding students through a series of activities,each of which is devised to raise awareness of particular elements of the design process. Although the design process, as implemented by any individual is influenced by their personality, gender, age and experience, the core activities follow a similar pattern, whatever the project or product. These core issues can therefore be identified and used as a vehicle for learning through exploration. Through a series of sessions an awareness of these core issues is raised to an immediately useable level, enabling further self development to take place.

Each session encompasses a briefing on a relevant issue and an introduction to the related activity through which the learning takes place. In addition detailed feedback on the coursework submitted after the previous session is given to so that it can be used to inform the current activity. A part of each session is also devoted to facilitated teamwork to enable students to begin to address the issue in a collaborative environment, forming a platform for their subsequent individual work. The assessed coursework associated with each session is a mixture of individual assignments based on an initial team discussion, a reflective report and theteam assignment (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Overall structure of design process sessions

The students are required to be actively involved in a new experience, which is process oriented rather than task oriented, to reflect on this experience from various viewpoints and to discuss and present their approaches to problem identification and problem solving. The design process is therefore studied through the practice of key activities, examples of which are listed below:

  • appreciating what the actual problem is (problem definition);
  • using iteration to evolve a profile of criteria by which to assess options;
  • combining team-working (collaboration) with individual work;
  • developing non-judgmental critical evaluation skills (of self and others);
  • decision-making and dealing with the dynamic nature of the process.

The student response

The response of the original student cohort and each subsequent group indicates that transferable design skillscan be developed, even within the restrictions of a modular system, and that the learning strategy is generic and therefore applicable across a wide range of disciplines. Through reflective reports students have given evidence of how these skills can be applied bothto other academic modules and non-academic activities. The reflective reports were devised to promote engagement in reflective practice and thereby reinforce learning. In addition reflective reports can be used as a tool to evaluate to what extent the student’s design abilities have improved. “But even more important is the need to be able to express ideas clearly to oneself as part of the internal feedback process of problem solving and, in addition, because natural language is a necessary step towards understanding abstract concepts. Being able to define a problem is a major part of solving it. Language is the foundation of thinking” (Dudley & Mealing, 2000).

Our evaluation of the student reflective reports found that there was a very positive response to the learning strategy. The students came to recognise that they needed to develop a different approach to design and problem solving which is process oriented rather than task oriented. However it is also evident from the appraisal of their experiences that many found changing their approach initially very challenging and difficult. To evaluate their responses a random sample of anonymous student reflective reports was carefully read to find phrases which provide evidence of the development of design abilities, of difficulty and of transferring of abilities and so on. From this a series of positive and negative indicators in their language were developed. The frequency with which these phrases occurred was analysed and from this a picture was built up of the student experience and therefore the extent to which their abilities had been developed (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Example of positive & negative indicators extracted from student reflective reports.

This information is being used to revisit the structure and components of the generic framework to refine, revise and refresh it with the aim of embedding it progressively across a range of disciplines. The aim is to provide individuals with the creative design skills they will need as future problem solvers.

Conclusion

Our evidence indicates that design can be taught, a concept that is supported by other research,“…..design is not a purely intuitive artistic activity but can be taught…design methodology should integrate knowledge which is being developed, applied and evaluated in order to provide support in designing” (Achten et al, 2005).

References

Achten, H.et al. Design Research in the Netherlands 2005 – Proceedings of the Symposium Held on 19-20 May 2005. EindhovenUniversity of Technology, 2005.

Dudley, E., and Mealing, S. Becoming Designers, Education & Influence. Intellect Books, 2000.

Jackson, N. Creativity in Higher Education, The Higher EducationAcademy, Resources Database 18 March 2003. Available from: 17 July 2006].

Houghton, W. Learning and Teaching Theory. Report commissioned by the Engineering Subject Centre, 2004. Available from: [accessed 20 March 2006].

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