Aim of the module
This module intends to show that creativity is not an abstract concept or a result itself. It should serve a purpose and the result of creativity should meet a specific goal. Therefore, it is required to include methods of assessment to value the level of creative results.
Learning outcomes of the module
- Learn how to assess creativity
- Practical feedback methods
- Identify assessment criteria for creative work
- Characteristics of assessment
Introduction
Creativity is a concept that could be given many different definitions, it could mean e.g. doing something new, produce something original, inspire others, create a feeling, generate a thought etc. The assessment process of creativity starts at the beginning of a task and includes three steps:
- identification of goals/ expected results,
- selection of assessment criteria and the respective indicators of achievement,
- agreement on the methods to gather feedback and tools to measure the assessment results
Why evaluate creativity?
Creative and innovative ideas do not always end up valuable for their creators. Many of them never get into the marketplace or even if they do they are not a commercial success. An early assessment of your creative idea will give you the opportunity to improve your idea or it will save your time from not wasting more thought and energy in a non-profitable process [49].
There are some important steps you can take to determine, such as:
- the technical viability
- the demand for the creative result
- the cost effective production
- the commercialization feasibility
This initial assessment of achievability will rank your idea in one of the following categories:
Figure 3.3.1 Categorization of ideas according to their achievability
How to assess creative results?
The process of assessment must be part of any project and it must start at its very beginning. The assessment models that simply give a feedback to the learners the end of the learning process, do not allow improvement during the process. On the contrary, the assessment method should support adjustments in time, give advices, introduce of new ideas, identify problems and suggest solutions.
The methods of assessment should be more flexible and adapted to the strategy of the learning process.
The assessment of a creative process is more complex, because usually there is not a right or wrong answer. The goal of the assessment is to identify the strong and weak points and show the ways to improve the outcomes. It should provoke new ideas for further development and motives for harder efforts.
Some practical feedback methods are:
Figure 3.3.2 Practical feedback methods to assess creative results
Assessment criteria and indicators of achievement
When we assess creative work we have to consider the following indicators:
- What was the initial idea?
- How many ideas derived from this?
- What are the perspectives of the ideas?
- What will be the final outcome (-s)?
- What is the significance of the expected impact?
Among others, the criteria of assessment could be the following:
Figure 3.3.3 Criteria of assessment of creative work
Conclusion
Creativity is the intersection of three areas: expertise, creative thinking skills and motivation. It is a process of the subconscious but can be promoted in the right environment. Collaborative tasks require creativity and the results of the whole process should be assessed in a constructive way.
The choice of the assessment method should be made very carefully because it is important that assessing will result in motivation and reinforced confidence for the learner and not the opposite. Focusing on testing and criticizing could increase anxiety and have negative impact on creativity [50].