in all areas of the curriculum and all levels

by Dr Tim Kitchen

January, 2022

---

Abstract

---

About the author

---

Introduction

When I started teaching in the early 1990s, creativity in the classroom was emphasised to me as a young teacher as important and to be celebrated throughout the curriculum. Creative teachers were admired and respected, and creative students were encouraged. I was taught by my more experienced colleagues that everyone has the potential to be creative by virtue of being a human being and it is vital that creativity is fostered within all aspects and levels of the education system. 

About 20 years after I started my teaching career, the importance of creativity in the Australian curriculum was formally recognised in 2010 by outlining Critical and Creative Thinking as one of the seven General capabilities to be integrated into all Learning areas. This means, as a policy, teachers should be integrating a creative thinking approach to all subject areas where possible along with other general capabilities such as literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology.

Twelve years after making creativity a formal education curriculum policy, with so many digital creativity tools at the fingertips of most teachers and students, it appears that priorities have changed and fostering creativity is seen as a luxurious extra and left to the subject areas that are considered more conducive to creative thinking and making. 

In this article, I will draw from academic experts in the field of creativity in education as well as classroom teachers who strive to encourage creative thinking and doing in K-12 and post-secondary classrooms across the globe. I will base the article around the following key questions:

• What is creativity?
• Why is creativity important?
• Can anyone be creative?
• How can creativity be taught and assessed?

Throughout this article I will be referencing content from a series of conversations the Adobe Education team recorded with the late great Sir Ken Robinson. The full series can be found on the Adobe for Education YouTube channel via – https://www.youtube.com/adobeforeducation.

I will also be referring to content from a range of academics and other educators who helped to build the Creativity for All course which is level 1 of the Adobe Creative Educator (ACE) Program. This is a free and multi-leveled (micro-credentialed) course available to any educator interested in discovering more about the importance of creativity in education. The course is not focused on the use of Adobe software, it’s about creativity in general and the importance of creativity in all areas of the curriculum. I believe all educators, at any level and any curriculum area, should take the time to do at least level 1 of the ACE course as part of their professional development.

Teaching in the early 1990s

When I started teaching, there was little in the way of digital technologies to enhance the creative process; I recall one of the newest innovations at the time was dustless chalk! There was no such thing as the Internet or online learning management systems. Reports were handwritten and labs of typewriters were gradually being replaced by clunky IBM desktop computers and floppy disks that seemed irrelevant to most curriculum areas.

Making a quality video required paying for expertise who had access to special filming and editing equipment. It was very much an analogue process and out of the reach of most schools. At my first school as a teacher (Kingswood College, Melbourne), we were lucky to have a progressive Head of Media and a very expensive Super VHS crunch editing machine and a handful of Super VHS cameras. I was in heaven, and even though I was a primary music teacher in the first years of my career, I spent hours with my students turning their music into short video stories. One of my first students (Richard Gray) is now a film director with his own film range in Montana, USA.

Teaching in the early 2020s

Within three decades, schools and universities are now drowning in digital creativity tools. Teachers and students are constantly connected to multiple digital devices. They have the ability to easily create a multitude of products such as videos, digital images, 3D and AR productions, and even design their own mobile applications. However, as I connect with and teach digital literacy skills with students and teachers all over the globe, there seems to be more of a priority on data gathering, standardised testing, procedural matters and pushing groups of students through a system rather than enhancing their individual creative potential.

I was recently chatting with the Head of Professional Learning at a large Catholic school in Victoria, Australia. She shared that the structuring of the school timetable and hours teachers are expected to spend in front of their students hasn’t changed alongside the implementation of new technologies. More and more resources are being added, and expectations from the executive level keeps growing, but the structuring of the school day hasn’t evolved to accommodate. No wonder teachers are burning out!

There seems to be so many technology options for teachers to use these days to the extent that they often don’t know what they have available to them, let alone how they can potentially use the tools. Many teachers have told me they are so overwhelmed by the options, they tend to avoid them.

It appears that individual schools and school systems invest a large portion of their budget on hardware and software but only a minimum on professional learning for teachers. This is probably why some of the best digital creativity tools are being used to reinvent outdated teaching approaches such as,  teaching to a test, focusing on worksheets as a time-filler and converting text book material to online rather than encouraging creativity, innovation and engagement.

Dr. Ruben Puentedura address this issue with his SAMR Model, a framework that is recommended for teachers to follow when they are integrating new technologies:

• Substitution (replacing old approaches with new technology but no change)
• Augmentation (replacing old approached but with improvements)
• Modification (redesigning  a new teaching approach)
• Redefinition (using technology to create what was not possible in the past)

What is creativity?

Creativity is strongly aligned to problem-solving, collaboration and innovation. It is a skill that is in-demand by just about every industry, and a skill that adds to the quality of most human endeavours. And with the vast array of creative digital software and devices so widely available in schools these days, there is no real excuse for not fostering a creative mindset.

There are a wide variety of definitions of creativity. A well regarded thought leader in this field is American psychologist, the late Dr Ellis Paul Torrance from the University of Georgia. He says aspects of creativity include uniqueness, fluidity, flexibility, elaboration, humour & avoidance of premature closure. He also says that creativity is the process of becoming sensitive to problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements & disharmonies. (Torrance & Wu, 1974). I love this definition, especially the reference to humour. I always found that encouraging a positive sense of humour in my classrooms helped students feel comfortable and more open to the learning process. Linking creativity to an avoidance of premature closure is also interesting. Doing creativity well is hard work. The late Seymour Papert associated the creative process as Hard fun. More on that later.

Another great thought leader in this area, Professor Ellen Jane Langer from Harvard University, says that creativity has dynamic qualities with the power to explore uncertainties that can reveal multiple perspectives during an activity (Dunoon & Langer, 2011). Looking at problems from a range of perspectives and coming up with a variety of potential solutions to a program is a very creative process. Many students find this process a challenge and prefer to stick with the first solution to a problem that they or their group think of. Brainstorming and doing a PMI (positive, minus & interesting) analysis of a range of potential solutions help students to think about problems from a range of perspectives and encourages a creative and open mindset.

Professor Robert J Sternberg from Cornell University defines creativity as the production of new ideas, approaches and actions. He also says that few people actually make the decision to be creative because they find the cost to be too high. He says that academics, parents, students and the broader community need to invest time and effort into the creative process (Sternberg, 1999). This links directly with Torrance & Papert’s opinions that being creative is not an easy option and nor should it be.

The late great Sir Ken Robinson (author, presenter and thought leader) defines creativity as the process of having original ideas that have value. He emphasises that creativity is a process, you have to actually do something to be creative. He also says that creativity is an evolutionary process that goes through various phases as original ideas and concepts are developed (Adobe, 2020).

In September 2019, I invited a group of primary, secondary and post-secondary educators who were part of the Asia Pacific Adobe Education Leaders program to the Adobe Office in Sydney for the 2019 APAC Adobe Education Summit. One of the activities we conducted was to put them into small groups and get them to agree on a definition of creativity then present that definition on camera. Some of the results included …

The same teachers were also asked to share what they thought were stimulants and inhibitors to creativity in education. Have a look at the results via: https://timkitchen.net/2020/01/17/creativity/.

There are similarities and differences with all the above definitions of creativity. This stems from the complex and diverse nature of creativity as a concept. No matter how it is defined, there is little doubt about the importance of creativity in society and therefore its importance within all areas of the curriculum.

Why is creativity important?

Established in 1971, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international, independent and impartial lobbying group made up from over 1000 global enterprises and public subsidies with a mission to improve the world by connecting and engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to help shape global, regional, and business agendas. They have conducted several studies over the years through their Future of Jobs Report, focused on establishing what are the most important skills for individuals to have to be most employable and to thrive. Creativity is consistently in the top five.

In 2016, the WEF predicted that by 2020, Creativity would be the third most important skill to thrive in the future, just below critical thinking and complex problem solving (World Economic Forum, 2016). The Future of Jobs Report 2020 continues to list creativity in the top 5 skills to thrive in the future (World Economic Forum, 2020). 

Throughout level 1 of Adobe’s Creativity for All course, academics and other educators make a case for the importance of creativity. Dr Ai Addyson Zhang, founder of Classroom without Walls says that creativity is an essential 21st century skill, every learner should have the opportunity to explore creativity in all content areas (Adobe, 2021).

Professor Alane Starko, Educational Psychologist from Eastern Michigan University and author of the creativiteach.me blog says, … regardless of the field or the problem, we are going to need creativity as we move forward … All of us need to be able to think about things flexibly, to take risks, to solve problems, to move on when things aren’t going exactly the way we expect to be resilient and to communicate – all key aspects of creativity (Adobe, 2021).

Dr Karen Sutherland from the University of The Sunshine Coast says creativity helps students to innovate and push their knowledge much further than just the things they’ve been taught in the classroom (Adobe, 2021).

Associate Professor Eric Cornish from Miami Dade College says that creativity equals curiosity, and if we can get students to be curious about presenting on a certain topic that they connect with, then that information tends to stick with them just a little bit longer (Adobe, 2021).

Michael Cohen, Director of Innovation at Yeshiva University High School in the USA says that as educators, we have a responsibility to mentor and cultivate a community where creativity is admired. He says that creativity is the driving force that is going to make any young person right now much more valuable in whatever company, whatever profession, whatever industry they are going to focus their efforts in (Adobe, 2021).

Tanya Avrith (Educator, Author and Adobe Evangelist) outlines that with so much uncertainty with the way the world will look in the next five, ten, 15 years, now more than ever, allowing students to take creative risks and problem-solve with the resources that they have available to them is so important (Adobe, 2021).

Al Thomas (Global Educational Speaker and Consultant from the USA) says … logic, reasoning and analysis are not enough. As learners, we have to have a deeper understanding of how to apply knowledge and a variety of situations. This is where infusing learning with the creative process and exploration comes into play … Art and creativity are no longer an indulgence, but a necessity (Adobe, 2021).

In a recorded conversation by the Adobe Education Team titled Why is Creativity Important in Education?, Sir Ken Robinson says that the education system has been set up by politicians to focus on the future of the economy with a priority on subjects and disciplines that are thought to be more useful and an obsession with standardised testing and conformity. Yet, business leaders say that they want people who are creative, who can innovate and think differently – who can work in teams and communicate. Key skills that are not encouraged within today’s education systems. Business leaders and hiring managers are looking for candidates who are creative, but they are being faced with a generation of students coming through schools who haven’t been encouraged to develop these abilities. Sir Ken argues that the economic imperative for teaching creativity systematically in schools has never been greater (Adobe, 2020b).

Microsoft’s LinkedIn Learning produces a regular Workplace Learning Report. In June 2021, they released their fifth edition that surveyed more than 1,200 learning and development professionals and nearly 900 learners to find out how workplace learning is changing due to the COVID pandemic that has forced lots of changes in the workplace, some say for the better. As a result, skill sets such as resilience and digital fluency are seen as a priority in this new era of hybrid workplace and creativity, as a skill set, is still up there in the top 10 (LinkedIn Learning, 2021).

It doesn’t matter if we are focused on self-expression, deeper thinking and engagement or problem-solving, creativity is essential for all of us to thrive in just about every aspect of life. But what if you are not naturally a creative person?

Can anyone be creative?

In his book Creative Schools, Sir Ken Robinson says that creativity comes from the many powers we have by virtue of being human. He argues that everyone has the potential to be creative, it is a gift that we have over other animals. Sir Ken also argues that creativity is not just for the Arts and other so-called creative subject areas. Creativity can be found in science, mathematics, technology, business and just about every human endeavour (Robinson & Aronica, 2015).

Some people seem to have a great affinity with creativity and are seen as more creative than others. In his 2018 article published by The Conversation, Neuroscience Roger Beaty from Harvard University divides the human population into little-c creatives and Big-C creative. Little-c creatives are the everyday creatives who draw, make websites, videos, make great meals, make up tunes and play tunes in their head or on a musical instrument. Everyone has the capacity to be a little-c creative. Big-C creatives are extraordinary. They are amazing speech writers, song writers, poets, playwrights, architects, painters and designers; artists who have the ability to create original inventions and innovations that potentially make the world a better place for everyone.

Beaty’s findings indicate that some brains are wired in such a way that aids the creative process (Beaty, 2018). There is still more research required in this area, but Beaty’s findings add fuel to the nature versus nurture debate – whether one can be born creative or if the way we are brought up is the major factor. How we become creative is not yet scientifically conclusive however, there is little doubt that anyone can at least be a little-c creative but how do you teach and foster creativity?

How can creativity be taught and assessed?

Creativity can be taught. The Design Thinking Process that came out of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, commonly known as the d.school, is one of a number of methodologies aimed to unlock everyone’s innate creativity. Engineers and Artists are taught other methodologies that help teach the creative process.

One of the most important steps to teaching creativity is to model it and encourage a creative learning environment within your classroom. Claudia Zavala Jr. is a digital designer and educator with the Burleson Independent School District, USA. He says that teachers can foster a creative culture by modelling the creative process and show vulnerabilities. He encourages teachers to share that it is okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to fail and acknowledge that there is always an option to go back to the drawing board in a creative learning environment (Adobe, 2021). Safe risk-taking and acknowledging that mistakes are part of the learning process is key to fostering a creative mindset.

Celebrated American educator Rebecca Hare from the USA encourages her students to take risks in a safe, supportive and non-judgmental learning environment. She says creativity is cultivated by celebrating our risks and reframing our failures as evidence of growth, and that it is a continual daily process (Adobe, 2021). In a recent conversation with a experiences educator in NSW, Australia she said that in her experience, a safe, supportive and non-judgmental environment this is the key to encouraging creativity in both the classroom and the staffroom. Unless an individually feels safe, they will be reluctant to take risks and try something new or express an ‘outside the box’ idea. Students in particular need to feel safe not just from the teacher, but also from the opinions and judgements of those around them.

Having students present their work to an authentic audience is a stimulus for creativity. Setting up real-life problems to be solved for members of the local, national or international audience and encouraging feedback from that audience is an important tool for teaching creativity. Cristen Magaletti (celebrated Social Studies Teacher from Florida, USA) says that it is so important to create experiences for students where they feel empowered, have a voice and feel valued in a space that offers them open ended questions so that they can practice the skill of finding solutions in a world that is unpredictable and ever-changing (Adobe, 2021).

Professor Starko says that teachers need to consider three things when fostering a creative classroom culture:

1. The classroom needs to be a safe space where risk-taking is safe and appreciated.
2. It needs to be a place where intrinsic motivation to learn is supported and enhanced. Where students see purpose in their work, and they need to see themselves making meaningful progress and having some agency over the topics.
3. Establishing a learning environment where students have opportunities to engage in creative projects and activities.

Dr Ai Addyson Zhang explains that we should be less focussed on academic grades and standardised testing and more focused on giving students the freedom to play with ideas, make creative mistakes and the freedom to enjoy learning for the sake of learning. She says we should focus on a student-centred model of teaching where, as teachers, we are co-creators with our students, and we nurture a safe space where mistakes are embraced and celebrated. Dr Sutherland adds to this by saying that fostering creativity is about everyone (teachers and students) collaborating and sharing and refining ideas.

Professor Starko also shares that an ideal creative classroom would always have room for laughter. She explains that if the classroom is not safe enough to laugh, it’s probably not safe enough for creativity either. Establishing a fun and supporting classroom helps students to be more comfortable with the learning process. This doesn’t reduce the expected rigour and challenge of learning.As mentioned earlier, the late great Professor Seymour Papert (the inventor of the Constructionism learning theory) uses the term Hard Fun. He wrote an article titled Hard Fun in his Daily Papert series and concluded that everyone likes hard challenging things to do. But they have to be the right things matched to the individual and to the culture of the times (Papert).

In terms of assessing creativity, it is ongoing and part of a teacher’s regular formative assessment process. When assessing creativity, it is not about the grade at the end of a unit of work, it is about the learning process that took place throughout the unit. When teachers assess for creativity, they should focus not just on the end product (summative assessment), but on the creative skills and processes that occurred while getting to the end product. Tanya Avrith says, students need to be able to get explicit feedback so that they can iterate and explore their understanding of concepts and then go back, make necessary changes and do it again (Adobe, 2020).

Al Thomas reflects that learners with effective feedback loops that are immediate, specific, frequent and actionable learn faster than those without. This is especially important when it comes to creativity because these feedback loops provide a space for growth connections with others so that we’re not creating in isolation and allows for empathy to remain at the core of what we are creating.

To encourage students to embrace risk and be creative, Michelle Dennis (Head of Digital at Haileybury College, Australia) marks the process of a unit of work rather than the end result or product. She says that when you focus on the end result, students will go for the safe option. When you focus on the process, it becomes about how far they can push themselves, what they are thinking and their creative process (Adobe, 2020).

I taught Year 12 (final year of High School in Australia) for 13 years and would often add what I called an X-factor into the assessment process. This would include 10% relating to the creativity. I would explain to the students that if the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I looked at their work, they would do well with the X-factor. This seemed to really encourage some students to produce amazing work, but it also stressed out and confused a lot of students who were never encouraged or taught to be creative at school.

Peer and self-assessment, where students reflect on each other’s team or individual work as well as their own work for creativity throughout a unit is an approach I regularly used. It gives students more agency and helps students to be more engaged in the learning process. When we ask students to self-assess, peer-assess and reflect, they get to think critically about their own creative growth and the growth of those around them.

Professor Alane Starko encourages the teachers she works with to have creativity as one of the items on an assessment rubric. She says that even if students have misunderstood content based on other measures within a rubric, they can still be valued for their potential creativity.

Associate Professor Matthew Dombrowski (University of Central Florida, USA) says that when you are assessing for creativity you should have a clear structure and delivery goals, but be open for student interpretation to allow for innovation. As an example, he says give the student a prompt, but don’t tell them what digital tool they have to use. It’s all about balance when it comes to assessment for students to learn and grow.

To help recognise when creativity is happening, the following questions can be posed and even applied to an assessment rubric:

1. Is the students’ work original for them?
2. Did they look at a problem in a new way?
3. Has the student elaborated on their ideas or added detail and complexity to their work?
4. Do the ideas meet the criteria or learning goal?
5. Are these ideas meaningful, useful and relevant?

No matter how creativity is assessed, it is important to ensure a learning environment that supports a growth mindset and creative risk-taking.

Conclusion

Today’s teachers and students are drowning in digital creativity software and devices but that doesn’t mean they know how to be creative and it doesn’t mean that schools are encouraging a creative use of these tools. Creativity is a skill-set that is in high demand by society and industry and should be a focus in all areas of the curriculum. Creativity can be taught and assessed. Rather than using the amazing technology around us to gather data and test results, let’s use it to teach and enhance creativity.

Appendix

Practical ways to enhance creativity in any curriculum area

There are many ways to encourage a creative learning environment and these days digital creativity applications are at every students’ fingertips.

Next time you are setting up an assessment task or a unit of work, have a think about the following creative digital options that make use of the new Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education applications (browser & mobile based) that are now freely available to all K12 schools around the globe.

Encourage your students to:

• Work in a team to make a short film or video documentary using Adobe Premiere Rush to explain what they have discovered about a topic;
• Use the new Adobe Creative Cloud Express graphic creator (formally Adobe Spark Post) to create a series of posters that highlight key terms and definitions within a unit of work;
• Work with a team to collaborate on a building an online publication with the web page building tool within CC Express (formally Adobe Spark Post);
• Take photos that relate to a particular topic and manipulate them with Photoshop Express;
• Create a short video story with the video builder within CC Express (Formally Adobe Spark Video);
• Create a get to know you video with CC Express or Premiere Rush
• Create a video journal based on the progress of a project with CC Express or Premiere Rush;
• Build an online book report with CC Express that features graphics, text and embedded video;
• Use CC Express to create graphics featuring interesting quotes from prominent people;
• Simplify a complicated mathematical concept within a video made with CC Express or Premiere Rush;
• Turn a piece of creative writing into a video story with  CC Express or Premiere Rush;
• Use CC Express to publish a Haiku or other form of poetry;
• Use CC Express to create a proposal for a school fundraising activity;
• Practice new language vocabulary by recording key phrases with CC Express;
• Make a series of posters with CC Express that help remind students about eSaftey practices at school and at home;
• Turn a poem into a video;
• Use CC Express to create a online biography of a famous historical figure;
• Turn a science experiment into a TV production using a combination of Photoshop Express, CC Express and Premiere Rush;
• Document an excursion with CC Express and Photoshop Express
• Use CC Express to bring slide presentations to life;
• Work in a team to publish a classroom newsletter with CC Express;
• Capture examples of mathematics in action within the school such a different types of angles using CC Express;
• Create a virtual tour of the school with Premiere Rush and convert each short video into a QR code that is on display for visitors.

More information about Adobe Creative Cloud for Education (free globally for all K12 schools) – https://www.adobe.com/education/express/

A new set of Adobe Creative Cloud for Education resources: https://adobe.ly/express-apac

More about Adobe Creative Cloud Express on the Adobe Education Exchange: https://edex.adobe.com/express

References

Adobe, 2020a. How do you Define Creativity?, A Conversation with Sir Ken Robinson online available (Jan, 2022) – https://youtu.be/JTjRfSU_ZTA

Adobe, 2020b. Why is Creativity Important in Education? | A Conversation with Sir Ken Robinson(Jan, 2022) – https://youtu.be/vKx5SWVW3uA

Adobe, 2021. Adobe Creative Educator, Empowering educators who inspire creativity for the next generation, online available (Jan, 2022) https://edex.adobe.com/adobe-creative-educator

Beaty, R., 2018. New study reveals why some people are more creative than others, online available (Jan, 2022) – https://theconversation.com/new-study-reveals-why-some-people-are-more-creative-than-others-90065

Dunoon, D. & Langer, E. 2011. Mindfulness and leadership: Opening up to possibilities. Integral leadership Review

LinkedIn Learning. 2021. 2021 Workplace Learning Report, Your Guide to Skill Building in the New World of Work, online available (Jan, 2022) – https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report

Papert, S. Hard Fun, The Daily Papert online available (Jan, 2022) – http://dailypapert.com/hard-fun/

Robinson, K. 2011. Out of our minds: Learning to be creative, London: Capstone Publishers

Robinson, K. and Aronica, L., 2015. Creative schools: Revolutionizing education from the ground up. Penguin UK.

Sternberg, R. J. 1999. Handbook of Creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press

Torrance, E. P. & Wu, Y., 1974 Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Personnel Press, Ginn. Xerox Education

Wade-Leeuwen, B., 2016. Out of the Shadows: Illinois: Common Ground Publishing

World Economic Forum. 2016. The Future of Jobs. online available (Jan, 2022) https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs

World Economic Forum. 2020. The Future of Jobs Report 2020. online available (Jan, 2022) https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2020

World Economic Forum. 2022, About Our Mission, online available (Jan, 2022) https://www.weforum.org/about/world-economic-forum/

Special thank you to the following educators for their contributions to this article and inspiration: Lisa Mason, Jill Harington, Ron Wilson, Merrill Kitchen, Emma Wise, Ali Blackwell, Michelle Dennis, Trevor Milevskiy, Michelle Roberts, Craig Daalmeijer-Power, Heath Henwood, Michael Turner, Neda Zdravkovic, Darren Smith, Eden Carey, Justin de Lacy, Dean Utia, Mike McPherson, Jason Carthew, Mark Christie, Bronwen Wade-Leeuwen, Mark Woszczalski, Tony McLachlan, Phlip Saldais, Sjaani van den Berg, David Cornford, Chris Betcher & Juliette Bentley.