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Show page 24 , Spring 2004 Essential Elements: Creativity and Innovation S; BYAMYSCHOFIELD it back, relax, and enjoy the show" is a phrase .that students don't typically hear during their 'college career. For most universities, the classroom environment is a standard lecture hall with uniform structure. Each student sits in a desk or chair and listens to a lecture where minimal participation is encouraged. The tediousness of this day-to-day drudgery can cause students to become apathetic about the effort they put into their education. In order to create a productive learning environment, the classroom needs to have increased levels of creativity and innovation. Creativity is an essential aspect of any learning atmosphere. Some people would even venture to say that a person can't learn without creativity. Dr. Charles W. Prather of SUNY Buffalo studied the "climate for innovation," or, in other words, creativity. His study showed that "personal enthusiasm and the level of your innovativeness paralleled the work environment." Prather's study expands across various fields, and may easily be applied to education and the classroom environment. His study explained nine aspects of a creative/innovative learning and working structure. • "Challenge," by emotion, mentally, and through commitment, • "Freedom," in terms of deciding how to do things, • "Idea Time," meaning having the time to think things through before acting upon them, • "Idea Support," which means having the resources/ability to be creative, • "Trust and Openness," meaning being able to feel comfortable in the provided environment, • "Playfulness and Humor:" it must be OK to have fun, • "Conflicts," which implies the absence thereof, • "Debates:" a crucial aspect for creativity to bring about the issues at hand, and • "Risk-Taking," meaning that failure is OK, which promotes trying new things. Each of the nine aspects of creativity in a specific environment can be integrated into the college classroom to stimulate creative thinking. At the University of Utah students and instructors expressed consensus that most of the time creativity is needed for a more enhanced learning environment. Mike Ballif, an instructor of Marketing 3000 at the School of Business, believes that creativity is not optional in the classroom, "you can't live without it!" When asked how and if students are able to learn the so-called skills of creativity he responded that there are "basic biological needs...then there is work and recognition and appreciation, accolades, achievement, etc. If you're clever and you watch your students, there are ways you can get that. It takes an instructor who is paying attention to the student." Ballif's class is an adventure each day. Most students have no idea what to expect when they walk through the classroom door. "\ poke fun at myself.... I seem to have fun, and then they get over a lot of that resistance to learning through creativity," said Ballif. The problem with university classes is that they sometimes don't allow for creativity in the classroom. Ballif believes "the system is a little bit biased against it, not in humans, but in a structural sense. It takes the instructors to foster that! In other words, the mechanics are against it." In order to get over the structural barriers of the classroom environment and its anti-creative ambiance, he suggests "surrendering] to the discipline and find the things that turn you on." When it comes to the importance of creativity, Ballif is positive that it's "the number one importance; it ranks right up there with knowledge. You have to be creative to get the message to sink in." To some students, it appears that the structure is completely liberal in its allowance of creativity for instructors and students. Ashley Wilson, a graduate student who is getting her teaching certificate in special education, says that the system gives teachers "a lot of freedom in assignments and lectures. They can vary things and be creative as far as what the students should get out of the class." Wilson believes "creativity is really good because if everything was really structured or uniform it would be really boring, which would delay any chance of diverse thoughts. Education would be just the same for everyone." |
