Creativity can mean several things to different people; however, it’s generally viewed as a tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and people around us. It is not a single personal trait, but rather a set of traits that work interchangeably. These involve intelligence, interest, knowledge, originality or ideas, creative instinct, non-conformity, courage, and persistence. Creativity can manifest itself in various areas of life and in its various stages.

Creativity in the learning process

Creativity is valuable in the learning environment because it builds cognitive complexity. Creativity relies on having deep knowledge and being able to use it effectively. Being creative involves using an existing set of knowledge or skills in a particular subject or context to experiment with new possibilities in the pursuit of valued outcomes, thus increasing both knowledge and skills. It develops over time and is more successful if the creative process is building off of people’s previous knowledge and skills.

What to keep in mind?

Creativity is not just making things up. For something to meet the definition of creativity, it must not only be new but also relevant and useful. Creativity also works best with constraints, not open-ended tasks. For example, adult learners can be given a limit to the number of lines used when writing an assignment, or a set of words, when describing something. Constrained limits lead to what cognitive scientists call desirable difficulties as learners need to make more complex decisions about what they include and exclude in their final product.

Creativity must also have a result or an outcome. In some cases, the result may be a specific output, such as the correct solution to an economic problem. As noted above, outputs may also be intangible: they might be an idea for a solution or a new way of looking at existing knowledge and ideas. The outcome of creativity may not necessarily be pre-determined and, when working with learners, generating a specific number of ideas might be a sufficient creative outcome.

Supporting adult learners in being creative

In order for trainers to support learners to be more creative, they should attend to four key areas.

1. Creativity needs an appropriate physical and social environment. Learners need to feel a sense of psychological safety when being creative. The role of the trainer is to ensure that all ideas are listened to and given feedback in a respectful manner. In terms of the physical environment, a set of simple changes rather than a complete redesign of spaces is required: modifying the size and makeup of learning groups, working on both desks and on whiteboards, or talking to them in informal environments.

2. Trainers can support adult learners to develop the attitudes and attributes required for creativity, which include persistence, discipline, resilience, and curiosity. Learners, who are more intellectually curious are open to new experiences and can look at problems from multiple perspectives, which builds creative capacity.

3. Trainers can support the creative process. It begins with problem solving, or problem posing, and moves on to idea generation. There are a number of methods which can be used when generating ideas such as brainstorming, in which as many ideas as possible are generated by the individual or by a group. Another effective method, which has the additional benefit of showing the relationships between the ideas as they are generated, is mind-mapping.

4. Consider the outcomes – the product or results – of creativity. However, as with many other elements of education, it may be more useful to formatively assess the process which the learners have gone through rather than the final product. By exploring how they generated ideas, whether the method of recording ideas was effective, whether the final solutions were practical, and whether they demonstrated curiosity or resilience can often be more useful than merely grading the final product. Encouraging the learners to self-reflect during the creative process also provides them with increased skills in metacognition, as well as having a deeper understanding of the evolution of their creative competencies.

The Difference Between Creative Learning and Creativity

To think creatively means to develop unique and useful ideas and come up with creative learning solutions. Creativity is how a trainer addresses the needs of learners, through their ability to envision both available and yet-to-exist solutions to cater to each learner. The goal is that each learner gets the experience they need. For instance, you can use microlearning for on-the-go learners or adaptive learning for those who are fast on their feet. On the other hand, creative learning is a delivery method. It considers individual learning styles and figures out innovative ways to increase engagement and retention of content. Simply put, creativity is a way of doing things differently, while creative learning is a way of learning which differs from traditional, but is effective and facilitates great retention.

These are a few premises of creative learning solutions:

• Provide a personal learning environment for each learner.

• Create a learning path to actively involve learners instead of making them passive participants. A learning path prescribes a learner’s own learning, yet it allows them to learn on their own time.

• Mix different learning methods—from microlearning to gamification—to increase overall learner engagement.

Why use creative learning

Creative learning steps out of the boundaries of memorizing information. It’s building knowledge and developing skills using creative techniques. Rather than dictating how information should be absorbed, creative education guides the learner through the instruction process using creative methods. And it challenges the obvious, the conventional, and the assumed. To some extent, it’s about breaking out of constraints, for valid purposes, like effectively building a comprehension framework.

Learners engage deeply with creative learning experiences. The more that learners engage with the process, the longer they retain knowledge and expand their understanding. Learning creatively can.

1. Stimulates problem-solving – Creative learning experiences change the way learners approach problems. They become more imaginative and innovative, and they cope better when they don’t know the answer. Creative learners start visualizing alternatives or possibilities from different perspectives. This perspective shift allows them to anticipate difficulties and overcome them.

2. Develops critical thinking – Learners propose innovative ideas and resolutions. Then, they review the progress of implementing them and adjust the process for improvement.

3. Promotes risk-taking – Creative learning exposes learners to failure. They have the opportunity to make decisions and, inevitably, some of them won’t lead to solutions. But learning creatively provides learners with a space where they feel comfortable taking risks and seeing different outcomes. Getting comfortable with “failure” allows learners to take more risks with less fear.

4. Builds a curious mindset – Creative learning solutions are unconventional. Unconventional ways of learning make learners curious about the process and the topic and foster learning itself. Creative learning sparks curiosity and discussion and leads learners to interesting insights.

5. Increases confidence levels – Creative learning techniques build confidence. Meaning, the learners are more likely to apply the lessons they learned.

Improving your own creativity as a trainer

You can also further develop your own creativity to improve your skills for supporting adult learners in becoming more creative. Here are some ways to do so:

• Be aware of your own limiting misconceptions about creativity. Examine your own attitude toward creativity and help yourself grow by thinking about alternative solutions.

• Experiment with new ways of teaching in the classroom—could you try a new arts integration lesson you’ve always been afraid to try? What about trying a new hands-on STEM investigation?

• Take a risk to express your creative side. Often, it can help to doodle something on the board as an attention-getter, or to deliver the morning message. Having an amusing story to start the course with is much more entertaining, plus it’s a chance to challenge yourself artistically every day.

• Treat lesson planning as the creative exercise it is. Every day, you face new constraints in the form of the needs and preferences of the specific learners in your classroom/course. Have you heard your learners debating a certain issue during a break? Have you noticed their attention focused on a particular new gadget, fad, or current events issue? Find a way to weave it into the course.

• Develop personal creative rituals. Schedule your own “artist’s dates” - a block of time (1-2h every week), that are especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner “artist.” This might be anything from visiting your favorite thrift store, a solo trip to the beach, an old movie seen alone, a visit to an aquarium or an art gallery. Some options only cost time, not money, and have great potential for the development of your skills.

• Try meditation practices that encourage creative thought, such as “open-monitoring” meditation. A study found that focused-attention meditation performed better on a test of convergent thinking, while those who practiced open-monitoring meditation performed better on a test of divergent thinking (Colzato et al., 2017).

• Seek solitude. Spending time in solitude is essential to nourishing your creativity. Set aside some time to be alone, away from the distractions of technology and others who may rely on you.

• Travel. One study found that cross-cultural experiences can increase measures of creative thinking (Leung, 2008).

• Switch up your daily routines. Challenge your conventional ways of thinking by taking a different route to work, listening to a new genre of music, go to a museum and check out a style of art you’re unfamiliar with. Changing your environment and breaking out of habitual thought can shake your mind out of its rut.

• Embrace ambiguity. You’re probably teaching your learners to embrace error, take risks, and learn from failure. See your own teaching as an extension of the same process. Embrace the gray areas, the ambiguities. “Ambiguity tolerance” is a key component of creativity.

Summary

Creativity is generally viewed as a tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and people around us. It is not a single personal trait, but rather a set of traits that work interchangeably, and can open new possibilities. Creativity can help in several areas including stimulating problem-solving, developing critical thinking, building a curious mindset, getting better at risk-taking or increasing confidence levels.

Sources

Colzato, L.S., Szapora, A., Lippelt, D. et al. (2017). Prior Meditation Practice Modulates Performance and Strategy Use in Convergent- and Divergent-Thinking Problems. Mindfulness, 8, 10–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-014-0352-9

Leung, A. K., Maddux, W. W., Galinsky, A. D., & Chiu, C. (2008). Multicultural experience enhances creativity: The when and how. American Psychologist, 63(3), 169–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.3.169