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Show , Spring 2004 page 19 Evaluation of Creativity BY KIRA JONES PHOTOS BY TORY DAVIDSON AND CHRISTOPHER GINO DEAN Creativity spawns originality. Without creativity, the world would lack many of the inventions, theories and ideas that it has fostered today. However, the idea of having this attribute evaluated in an academic setting is a concern for many students at the University of Utah. Presently, there are not set standards for grading creativity; therefore, objectivity is difficult when professors evaluate a student's work. Because there are no set guidelines for instructors, their personal preferences may sway grading decisions. Perhaps if professors were able to grade creative projects more on content and effort or a combination of the two, personal biases could be alleviated. The idea of being creative is different for both students and faculty. Hence, the way it is implemented into courses and assignments also differs. For example, a business course may require students to come up with an original business plan and work out the logistics of it for an assignment while a dance class may ask students to implement certain steps into an original routine. From a student's perspective, it appears that some faculty view creativity as a tool to help students make necessary connections for learning course material. On the other hand, students see creative assignments as a challenge because they feel they're being graded on more than the correct answer. When faced with creative assignments many students feel they are forced to tailor their creative abilities to what professors want, which ultimately limits creative potential. William Stonehouse III, a sophomore studying corporate finance and accounting said, "sometimes I don't like being graded on creativity." Stonehouse continued, "as a student you start to worry about what the teacher is looking for, as a result you are only being as creative as the teacher will let you be, not as much as you can be." When students are given assignments they are occasionally required to present the material in a creative way, as a result, they fear being graded more on their creative abilities than simply the information they are presenting. Stonehouse also commented, "professors shouldn't grade you on how creative an assignment is, grades should be given based on the effort put into the work and completion when it comes to a creative assignment." Likewise, not everyone is creative. Assignments that require students to create poems or use other creative techniques to convey their knowledge of the subject may appear to students as a difficult task. Carolyn Bliss, assistant professor for the department of undergraduate studies, said that she gives creative assignments so that she doesn't get the same answers over and over. For example, for her UGS freshman LEAP course, Bliss gives an assignment asking the students to write a reflective autobiography. The assignment asks students to reflect their personal version of the American dream and relate it to texts they have read in class. The catch is that they are not allowed to write an academic compare-and-contrast paper. They are allowed to use any other genre they want, such as a personal letter, a play or movie script, or even a dialogue between friends. The idea behind this type of assignment is to get students to think and demonstrate that they know the material well enough to apply it. Bliss stated, "The more creative responses are my favorite, but students can still get an "A" if they present a good solid argument." Bliss believes creativity is "when someone takes a set of ideas and facts and puts them with another set of facts and ideas to see what happens... it's in making connections." Bliss's perspective implies that creativity is more than an artistic expression. In the classroom creativity is a skill students use to relate course material to their life. She said, "creativity is about pulling things together and encouraging independent thought, which lets students see that they have a role in creating knowledge." Many instructors' main reasons for implementing creativity into assignments is to determine whether their students are learning the material in the course or if they are simply |
