Assessing creativity in architectural design: Evidence for using student peer review in the studio as an assessment tool

Abstract

Creativity is a phenomenon that occurs in architectural design where there is no universal or authoritative definition. This presents a dilemma for both faculty and students in assessing student work because it asks the question, "How do we measure something that we have difficulty in defining?" This three-year study will present evidence that both students and faculty agree on levels of creativity when they see it, regardless of a set definition and without faculty stating their opinions during the design and critique process. Students were asked to apply a number of architectural design concepts to a simple one-day design problem. They then comparatively analyzed and critiqued the projects in group discussion that was moderated by the faculty. Students were also asked to privately journal their observations and select without discussion a set number of the most successful projects in the class. Successful projects were defined as ones that applied these concepts in a creative way to produce a solution. The problems were purposely left somewhat ill-defined with few constraints that allowed for a broad range of creativity. At the same time, faculty privately assessed and graded the students' projects. It was found that a comparison between faculty grades and collective student rankings revealed a strong correlation in identifying the most and least creative projects. Two different statistical methods are used to support this conclusion. It also indicated that the difference in priori experience between faculty and students did not play a role in assessment outcomes. The immediate implications for these findings is for faculty to use student peer review to justify a highly subject grading process. The broader findings will allow for the development of a number of learning and analysis tools in the classroom and beyond. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2009.