Designing Classroom Experiences to Foster Creative Agency With Preservice Teachers

• In Event: Design-Based Approaches for Creativity Education and Research: Case Studies From Six Universities in Canada and Australia

Abstract

Objectives/Purpose:
The purpose of this paper is to present a case study that explores how participatory design in an undergraduate communications class for pre-service teachers can foster creative agency and asks: What are the experiences of pre-service teacher education communications students using sketch modeling and participatory design to understand creative agency and ecologies from a pedagogical and participatory perspective? In this presentation, we propose to performatively present responses from participants to explore this question using composite characters, in dialogue.

Theoretical framework:
Research on creative ecologies, or teaching and learning environments that foster curiosity and imagination (Harris, 2016a), highlight the need for engaging the logic of the system (Stokolos, 1996) in change processes. Case studies on fostering collaborative creativity by intervening in aspects of a learning environment exist (Kelly, 2020; Kwo et al., 2004). However, large(r) scale research that tests the scalability and impact of creative ecologies are needed to disrupt the outdated systems that perpetuate the global application of Western development paradigms of progress.

Methods and data:
This paper focuses on a research site in Montreal, QC where a creative ethnographic approach, explores the question: How does a creative ecology framework foster and impact teacher and student understandings of creative agency, pedagogy and research in higher education contexts? Pre-service teachers in a Communication in Education course from McGill’s B.Ed. program were selected as participants for this study. Participants first completed a modified version of the Harris Creativity Audit (2016) to assess their preliminary understandings of creativity policies and practices, as well as individual perceptions of the value and feasibility of incorporating creativity into their own teaching. The results of the survey indicated that participants generally valued creativity, but demonstrated tension in understanding how creativity was situated within policy documents and the curriculum. The survey results informed the content of a subsequent two-part workshop in which participants utilized participatory design and sketch modeling to further explore their own understandings of creative ecologies in the classroom.

Results and significance:
The results of the survey and workshops led to three major emergent themes: (1) collaborative assessment; (2) belonging and community; (3) creativity as an ecosystem. The first theme highlights the value participants placed on working collaboratively to co-create sketch models. In working together to create visual art pieces, participants were able to speak through their ideas for educational change and further provoke critical discussion about pushing back against institutional barriers to incorporate creativity in the classroom. The second theme emphasizes the importance of bringing together like-minded individuals to explore values and ideals about creativity and bring them outwards into the community. The third and final theme explores the ways creativity is part of a larger ecosystem (i.e., curriculum, physical classroom space) in which participants felt both constrained and empowered to optimize their creative resources.

Author

• Mindy Roberta Carter, McGill University