Creativity & ICT

• An exploration of the key points and issues.
• Some practical ideas that tutors can use with their trainees.

1. Discussion points - activities that occur with the whole cohort or groups
2. Questions - undertaken by individuals to generate further thought and research and to refine ideas.

Q8 and C8. Have a creative and constructively critical approach towards innovation, being prepared to adapt their practice where benefits and improvements are identified (TDA 2007)

• There has been a lack of consensus about what ‘creativity’ means
• The academic writing associated with it can be very difficult to unravel.

author: Andy Connell & Tony Edwards

1. What is creativity?

• Kim (2007), who states that it is an individual and cultural phenomenon which allows us to transform possibilities into reality;
• Nelson (2005), who implies that there is a link between creative thought and problem solving;
• Aldous (2005), building on this thought, who describes it as a process resulting in unique, usable ideas;
• Northcott, Miliszewska and Dakich (2007), who suggest that it entails different intelligences working together through a combination of thinking and innovation;
• BECTA (2002), which states that the ability to take what one already has or knows and use it in new and different ways is connected to creativity.

• It always involves thinking or behaving imaginatively;
• It involves activity that is purposeful i.e. is directed to achieving an objective;
• It involves processes that generate something original;
• The outcome must be of value in relation to the objective(s).

1. Consider the range of definitions, including the ‘official’ one
2. Identify which most closely fits with their own interpretation.

Question. Why do you think the pragmatic view of creativity (outcomes) is predominant in English education?

author: Andy Connell & Tony Edwards

2. Is creativity exclusive?

• Other writers agree: Northcott, Miliszewska and Dakich, (2007) believe that the capacity to produce creative thought is universal.
• Loveless, (2007) asserts that pupils of all abilities are capable of expressing creativity and that it can manifest itself in any subject including sporting activities or more practical subjects like technology or Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
• Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) in Scotland suggest that it is possible to have creativity in all areas but in some it is easier to encourage more than in others because it necessitates open ended activities, personal interpretation, self expression and choice (HMIe 2006)
• Cowley (2005) argues that there is scope within any subject for creativity but it is dependent upon the imagination of teachers and their willingness to take a few risks.

1. Consider whether the concept of ‘big C and little c’ creativity can apply to both of the dominant schools of thought discussed in section 1?
2. Discuss whether the notion of ‘big C and little c’ creativity is viable.

Question: Read the opening sections (page 1) of the article ‘Are Autodidacts Creative?, by Margaret Bowden found at http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/courses/creative-systems/papers/maggie/autodidacts.pdf . Reflect on the ‘P and H’ model of creativity that she advocates. How might this inform the debate on exclusivity/inclusivity of creativity?

author: Andy Connell & Tony Edwards

3. ICT and Creativity

• Tinio (2003) states that: ‘When used appropriately, ICTs - especially computers and Internet technologies - enable new ways of teaching and learning rather than simply allow teachers and students to do what they have done before in a better way.’
• Loveless (2007) argues that digital technologies allow users to do things that could not be done as effectively or at all. She has also provided a framework for analysing the impact of ICT on creativity. . She notes that when

‘… considering how digital technologies might support learning, the affordances of the technologies can be described in ‘clusters’ of purposeful activity: knowledge building; distributed cognition; community and communication; and engagement.’
(Loveless, 2007 p.7)

• Tinio (2003) suggests that ICT leads to new ways of teaching and learning that are underpinned by constructivist theories of learning and constitute a shift from a teacher-centered pedagogy to one that is learner-centered.

• ‘Timidity is not conducive to creativity. Fear is seen as a major reason why children hesitate to express their ideas, especially perhaps unconventional ones’ (Freeman, 1983).
• ‘Fear of failure, fear of exposing one’s limitation, and fear of ridicule are powerful deterrents to creative thinking or at least to public exposure of products of creative efforts. ‘(Crutchfield, 1962).

4. Assessing creativity

• NACCCE list the characteristics as: adaptability, the capacity to make connections between things, imagination, purposefulness, originality, the skills to properly manage the growth of an idea and a capacity to evaluate.
• Mihaly Csikszentmilhalyi (1996) has developed a more prescriptive list. He suggests that a creative person will: be able to set clear goals, recognise flaws in ideas easily, ignore extraneous distractions, focus thinking clearly, cope with the fear of failure, apply different intelligences to problem solving, engage in autotelic activity, will possibly lose all sense of time and self.

• The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) (Torrence, E. P. (1966)) involve simple figural or verbal tests of divergent thinking and other problem solving skills in which participants are scored on their fluency (the total number of interpretable, meaningful, and relevant ideas generated in response to a stimulus), flexibility (the number of different categories of relevant responses), originality (the statistical rarity of the responses) and elaboration (the amount of detail in the responses).

1. Discuss what the barriers to measuring creativity might be.
2. Discuss these two approaches and the implications for classroom practice.

5. Creativity in schools

1. Investigate what Heppell is saying (see http://www.rm.com/Primary/InTheNews/Article.asp?cref=MNEWS1142145& SrcURL=/primaryinform2008 Professor Steven Heppell talking to the Primary INFORM Conference, 2008, and http://www.teachers.tv/video/4957 Professor Steven Heppell’s 2006 RSA lecture on future learning).
2. Research case studies from primary schools (see http://samples.lgfl.org.uk/primary Learning and teaching using ICT: Example materials from Foundation Stage to Year 6).
3. Discuss how these could inform what trainee teachers might do during their school placements.

6. Supporting trainee teachers

• Is your planning based around problem-solving? (see Nelson (2005))
• Have you provided opportunities for the learner to produce something original? (see Aldous (2005); BECTA (2002))
• Have you provided opportunities for the learner to produce something of use? (see Loveless (2007), BECTA (2002))
• Are there opportunities for the learners to experiment and take risks? (see Freeman (1983), Crutchfield(1962))
• Have you provided opportunities for learning to take place both individually and cooperatively? (see Feist (2008))
• Have you provided opportunities for learners to think and act independently? (see Csikszentmihalyi (1996))
• Are there opportunities for self-expression? (see Renzulli (2002))
• Are there opportunities for learners to challenge the status quo? (see Renzulli (2002))
• Are there opportunities for learners to evaluate? (see NACCCE (1999))
• Does the learning experience lend itself to making connection between different sets of knowledge, skills and understanding? (see NACCCE (1999))

1. What influence this could have on their practice, in relation to the questions above?

1. Ask the trainees to examine the guidance on creativity on the QCA web site and the Standards web site.
2. Discuss how useful the guidance is in promoting creativity in ICT.

7. Other Issues

• In assessing trainee teacher lessons and giving feedback, do you look for and comment on creativity?