The Creativity Combination: A Revolution is Needed in Higher Education to Teach to the Full Creative Capacities of Students

Abstract

For two centuries, the American system of education has prepared students in the mold of an industrial age assembly line categorizing students by specific intelligences and ages while undermining more perceived “artistic” disciplines and discouraging collaboration and mistakes along the way. With the advancement of technologies like artificial intelligence, the often-stigmatized creative practice fields and the lessons they teach are exactly the type of qualities AI and other technologies cannot replace - making these literacies and intelligences more important than ever! We must move past an industrial age model in education and combine creative practice with existing education to produce next-generation students ready for the next generation of interdisciplinary creative challenges. Led by a multi-disciplinary designer, this study demonstrates that while a design process for creating stage, film, industrial, and exhibit design can seem like niche applications, the lessons learned in collaboration, testing and re-testing ideas, prototyping concepts, overcoming fears, venturing guesses, divergent thinking, and the creative process in general are applicable – and valuable – in nearly ALL disciplines and professions both inside and outside of the entertainment industry.

Presenters

Robert Morgan
Teaching Professor, Drama (Design), Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, United States

Details

Presentation Type

Workshop Presentation

Theme

Design Education

KEYWORDS

Creativity, Innovation, Design, Collaboration, Education, Interdisciplinary, Divergent Thinking, Empathy