Abstract
The development of creative skills by business students has become an increasingly important graduate competency to address contemporary social, environmental, and business challenges. This chapter defines creativity and explores creativity in higher education via its two distinct yet related guises—creativity as a learning outcome (skill) and creativity as a learning process employed by educators to achieve this learning outcome. Grounded in our experiences of the delivery of responsible management education and entrepreneurship education in blended learning environments, this chapter advances creative pedagogy, or creagogy, as an approach to developing and delivering effective, engaging, and enjoyable business education which fosters creativity as a skill and disposition in learners.
Emerging Trends and Historical Perspectives Surrounding Digital Transformation in Education
TopIntroduction
Student engagement is often balanced by instructors with content delivery and teaching core competencies, such as creative thinking. In order to maximise student learning and satisfaction levels, higher education institutions often are seeking to foster learning experiences which maximise consumption benefits for its participants (Learners). Consumption benefits comprise the positive flow of satisfaction provided by the learning environment such as interest, challenge, social relationships and enjoyability (Mora, Vila & Garcia-Aracil, 2005). This demand for education to be multifaceted has given rise to edutainment rather than providing real opportunities for learning, which fails to consider the pedagogical needs of all learners (Rabah, Cassidy & Beauchemin, 2018). Despite the potential pitfall for edutainment to foster beliefs that learning can easily occur without any work, dedication or serious study (Okan 2003), there remains a pressure on educators to deliver learning experiences which are perceived as fun, and to entertain rather than teach their classes. With such a setup, educators, with precarious employment opportunities tethered to student reviews, can easily be seduced to prioritize easy to deliver, fun entertainment over strong educational outcomes that educates its learners how to deep dive into creative pursuits within topics.
When combined with the skill of critical thinking (Halpern, 2003), creativity is an essential element in problem solving and the ability to interrogate situations and invent new solutions by synergizing ideas. Creativity engages imagination, originality and open-mindedness (Joubert, 1999). Such an orientation is essential for building socially responsible global citizens (Glăveanu, 2020; Kreber, 2010; Nussbaum, 2002) who are not only responsive to the views and concerns of others but also able to reflect on their own particular and partial perspective. Therefore, this conceptualization of teaching creative thinking is more than keeping learners engaged but shaping the future. To expand the learners' thinking beyond their immediate considerations. To foster creative thinking to develop leaders which can tackle the world's problems with new solutions. Where such a need for creativity and creative input by society is a constant struggle of knowing social responsibility (critically aware of the changes taking place more so than just compliant) and citizenry, yet being unclear how to meaningfully contribute (Kreber, 2010). This ability to produce original thought when artificial intelligence and other tools are able to reconstitute existing knowledge makes creativity as a skill among the top skills employers are seeking from graduates (World Economic Forum, 2023) and has been argued to offer lifelong career benefits (Mannucci, 2021).
Creativity is now a key graduate competency in business schools globally (Ghosh, 2014; Jackson & Chapman, 2012) and understanding of what it means to be a creative individual have moved beyond a narrow association of creativity with creative outputs such as marketing advertisements, creative accounting and creative entrepreneurship (Driver, 2001) and toward understanding creativity as both a skill and a disposition. This chapter explores creativity in management education where the benefits of creativity have been long recognized (Proctor, 1991). Creativity in this context as a skill can be understood as a learning outcome. Creativity can also be understood as a learning process employed by educators to achieve this learning outcome. Grounded in our experiences of the delivery of responsible management education (Grant-Smith, et al. 2023; PRME, no date) and entrepreneurship education in a blended environment, this chapter advances creative pedagogy, or creagogy, as an approach to developing and delivering effective, engaging and enjoyable business education which fosters creativity as a skill and disposition in learners and its nurturing educators.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Creagogy: A hybrid of creative pedagogy and andragogy focused on innovating new ways of thinking and perceiving a situation matched with the practice of self-directed learning and co-creation curriculum development.
Gamification: Although the terms are often used interchangeably, gamification is distinct from game-based learning (Erickson et al., n.d.).
Transactional Distance: The Moore theory (1989) that the most profound impact on distance education is pedagogy and not the physical or temporal distance that separates educator and learner.
Game-Based Learning: Involves the use of video games to teach or to apply specific information and skills (Erickson et al., n.d.).
Creative Pedagogy: A pedagogical approach that teaches learners how to learn creatively. Creative Pedagogy can be applied to any subject as the focus is on processes of teaching and learning rather than the specific content taught.
Andragogy: Methods and practices associated with teaching adult learners by which the agency and different methods of learning engagement required by each adult are respected.
Edutainment: Learning activities designed to be both educational and enjoyable.
Entrepreneurship Education: The education of teaching the mindset to have the willingness to take calculated risks—in terms of time, equity, or career; the ability to formulate an effective venture team; the creative skill to marshal needed resources; and fundamental skill of building solid business plan; and finally, the vision to recognize opportunity where others see chaos, contradiction, and confusion. See Kuratko and Hodgetts (2004) ,