An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions of Creativity and Its Importance in their Leadership Development

Princy L. D. Johnson; Kathryn W. Jablokow

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: Engineering Management Division Technical Session 1
Tagged Division: Engineering Management
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 15
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--32063
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/32063
Download Count: 701

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Princy L. D. Johnson Liverpool John Moores University orcid.org/0000-0003-2379-9700

visit author page

Dr Princy Johnson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering at Liverpool John Moores University. She received her PhD from King’s College London, sponsored by the Commonwealth Scholarship. Her research interests include energy-efficient protocols for wireless sensor and mobile networks, Optimisation tools for Data Analysis, intelligent algorithms for personalised interface for healthcare and transport applications, and leadership skills for engineers. Dr Johnson is a registered PRINCE2 ® practitioner and an avid collaborator. She has put together a cohesive collaborative team from across Europe and coordinated the consortium through research activities and various UK and EU funding calls. Her collaboration with Penn State University in the area of leadership skills was funded by the LJMU’s collaborative research fellowship.

visit author page

biography

Kathryn W. Jablokow Pennsylvania State University

visit author page

Dr. Kathryn Jablokow is a Professor of Engineering Design and Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University. A graduate of Ohio State University (Ph.D., Electrical Engineering), Dr. Jablokow’s teaching and research interests include problem solving, invention, and creativity in science and engineering, as well as robotics and computational dynamics. In addition to her membership in ASEE, she is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of ASME. Dr. Jablokow is the architect of a unique 4-course module focused on creativity and problem solving leadership and is currently developing a new methodology for cognition-based design.

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Creativity is essential for success in the engineering field at all levels of individual development, from novices to experts and from early career engineers to experienced engineering leaders. Some global technical organizations go to extraordinary lengths to develop working environments that hone the creative skills of their employees, while an increasing number of academic institutions strive to deliver curricula focused on creativity from a variety of perspectives. Despite these efforts, engineering professionals and academics continue to debate the best ways to embed and facilitate creativity in engineering programs. In this exploratory study, we investigated how engineering students perceive creativity and whether we could positively influence their acceptance of creativity as part of their leadership development. We analyzed a sample of graduate-level engineering students' perceptions of the importance of creativity to their professional and leadership development. Then, we explored whether those perceptions could be influenced through activity-based learning. Specifically, we embedded creativity concepts and practices within a masters-level engineering course focused on professional and leadership skills at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Creativity was introduced through a dedicated 3-hour lecture session and several activity-based learning sessions throughout the course. We captured the students' awareness and perceptions of creativity at multiple points throughout the course using a combination of assessments, including tailored questionnaires, the Belbin team roles instrument, self-reflection questionnaires, peer feedback questionnaires, and peer reviews. The students' progressive changes in awareness and perceptions of creativity, if any, were then extracted and analyzed using these datasets. The outcomes of this exploratory study indicated that the influences of cultural background and work training were some of the reasons for students’ apathy towards creativity. We also found that careful design and delivery of creativity-related sessions could positively influence their perceptions and improvement in the demonstration of creativity skills.

Citation
Format

Johnson, P. L. D., & Jablokow, K. W. (2019, June), An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions of Creativity and Its Importance in their Leadership Development Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32063

TY - CPAPER
AB - Creativity is essential for success in the engineering field at all levels of individual development, from novices to experts and from early career engineers to experienced engineering leaders. Some global technical organizations go to extraordinary lengths to develop working environments that hone the creative skills of their employees, while an increasing number of academic institutions strive to deliver curricula focused on creativity from a variety of perspectives. Despite these efforts, engineering professionals and academics continue to debate the best ways to embed and facilitate creativity in engineering programs. In this exploratory study, we investigated how engineering students perceive creativity and whether we could positively influence their acceptance of creativity as part of their leadership development. We analyzed a sample of graduate-level engineering students&#39; perceptions of the importance of creativity to their professional and leadership development. Then, we explored whether those perceptions could be influenced through activity-based learning. Specifically, we embedded creativity concepts and practices within a masters-level engineering course focused on professional and leadership skills at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Creativity was introduced through a dedicated 3-hour lecture session and several activity-based learning sessions throughout the course. We captured the students&#39; awareness and perceptions of creativity at multiple points throughout the course using a combination of assessments, including tailored questionnaires, the Belbin team roles instrument, self-reflection questionnaires, peer feedback questionnaires, and peer reviews. The students&#39; progressive changes in awareness and perceptions of creativity, if any, were then extracted and analyzed using these datasets. The outcomes of this exploratory study indicated that the influences of cultural background and work training were some of the reasons for students’ apathy towards creativity. We also found that careful design and delivery of creativity-related sessions could positively influence their perceptions and improvement in the demonstration of creativity skills.
AU - Princy L. D. Johnson
AU - Kathryn W. Jablokow
CY - Tampa, Florida
DA - 2019/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions of Creativity and Its Importance in their Leadership Development
UR - https://peer.asee.org/32063
DO - 10.18260/1-2--32063
ER -