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.