Teaching Creativity in a Master’s Level Educational Technology Course
A course was developed to help in-service teachers develop skills in creativity and innovative thinking. Participants in the course engaged in a process of brainstorming, idea generation, rapid prototyping, and management of an innovation using appropriate educational technologies, including computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing tools. They also completed an online creativity self-assessment at the beginning and end of the semester. Data from this self-assessment were analyzed to measure whether the course activities increased participants’ scores for overall creativity and for eight components of creativity. The results indicated that participants did make a significant overall gain in creativity and in the component areas of Abstraction, Connection, Perspective, and Boldness. As a result of increasing their own creativity through this course, it is anticipated that participants will have the ability to engage their own students in activities that promote creativity.
Presider: Joy Xin, Rowan University