Much has been written about the importance of creativity in learning and education over the last few decades. This unique book extends beyond the usual focus on implementing creative methods in learning, teaching and assessing within higher education, to an examination of creativity as central to a learning process which is transformational for the student. More specifically, Learning as a Creative and Developmental Process in Higher Education examines the importance of a facilitative tutor-student relationship and environment which contextualise this creative process of teaching and learning. Bringing together unique teaching and learning approaches developed by experienced academics, this book discusses a number of complex issues, including approaches to an understanding of the student’s self-concept as learner; the nature of the curriculum; the potential of metaphor and creativity; and a multi-modal approach to learning and teaching. Contributions to the book also examine some of the challenges and tensions of such an approach within the context of arts-based subjects in higher education institutions. Using a unique and coherent thematic structure that is based upon the student journey as a transformational process, this book provides a new way of understanding the student journey through higher education. Including an examination of the parallels between educational and arts education and arts therapies disciplines, this book will be of interest to researchers, academics and postgraduate students involved in the arts and the arts therapies, as well as those studying creativity in teaching and learning in higher education. It should be of particular interest to those involved in the teaching and training of teachers and lecturers in higher education.

This book examines the increasing popularity of creativity and play in tertiary learning, and how it can be harnessed to enhance the student experience at university. While play is often misunderstood as something ‘trivial’ and associated with early years education, the editors and contributors argue that play contributes to social and human development and relations at a fundamental level. This volume invalidates the commonly held assumption that play is only for children, drawing together numerous case studies from higher education that demonstrate how researchers, students and managers can benefit from play as a means of liberating thought, overturning obstacles and discovering fresh approaches to persistent challenges. This diverse and wide-ranging edited collection unites play theory and practice to address the gulf in research on this fascinating topic. It will be of interest and value to educators, students and scholars of play and creativity, as well as practitioners and academic leaders looking to incorporate play into the curriculum.

Developing students’ creative problem-solving skills is paramount to today’s teachers, due to the exponentially growing demand for cognitive plasticity and critical thinking in the workforce. In today’s knowledge economy, workers must be able to participate in creative dialogue and complex problem-solving. This has prompted institutions of higher education to implement new pedagogical methods such as problem-based and case-based education. The Handbook of Research on Creative Problem-Solving Skill Development in Higher Education is an essential, comprehensive collection of the newest research in higher education, creativity, problem solving, and pedagogical design. It provides the framework for further research opportunities in these dynamic, necessary fields. Featuring work regarding problem-oriented curriculum and its applications and challenges, this book is essential for policy makers, teachers, researchers, administrators, students of education.

In this multi-faceted case study of one progressive institution of adult higher education, the editors and contributors to the volume lay out significant challenges confronting not just non-traditional post-secondary colleges and universities but all institutions of higher education in today’s rapidly changing context. Contending that nontraditional institutions are especially challenged in these turbulent times, they argue that these organizations’ distinctive academic programs are among the most threatened in the landscape of higher education today. The 19 essays that make up this volume highlight and examine key creative tensions, rich interplays of emphases and values in higher education, in order to illuminate and address more intentionally the questions that we must address: Can we make constructive use of these tensions? Can we recognize what is at stake? And can we chart a course that will both respond innovatively to rapid change and sustain a vision and the purposes and principles on which that vision rests? Taken as a whole, this volume sheds light on the questions and creative tensions that can, with thoughtful attention, help to keep an alternative, progressive vision of adult higher education alive.

In recent decades, trends, such as educational expansion and globalization, have caused structural changes in higher education worldwide. To successfully place higher education institutions in an environment characterized by global competition, various nations have launched excellence initiatives that pursue the goal of producing universities that attain the label of “excellent”, “world-class”, or “elite”. These institutions are perceived as developing future leaders who foster positive change in society. Against this background, initiatives that foster elite higher education institutions must include various institutional factors. To holistically design initiatives an understanding of what constitutes an elite higher education institution is necessary. Against the background of the institutions’ relevance for developing leaders for society, investigating their connection to leadership education must be addressed as well. This book adopts a future-oriented perspective, developing scenarios that consider a variety of future developments which influence higher education as a whole and elite institutions in particular.

Graduates face a world of complexity which demands flexibility, adaptability, self-reliance and innovation, but while the development of creativity is embedded in the English National Curriculum and in workplace training, the higher education sector has yet to fully recognise its importance. This book highlights how pressures such as quality assurance, peer review systems, demands for greater efficiency and increased research output are effectively discouraging innovation and creativity in higher education. It makes a bold case for the integration of creativity in higher education, drawing together contributors and research from around the world and explores valuable lessons learnt from those working in schools and professional organisations. Offering a wealth of advice on how to foster creativity on an individual and an institutional level, this book encourages lecturers to engage with the ideas and practice involved in helping students to be creative in all areas of their study.

Co-Creating Digital Curricula in Higher Education is a step-by-step guide to the collaborative design of online and blended curricula in higher education using systematic yet flexible frameworks. While instructors charged with developing and delivering curricula in the remote era may lack formal credentials in learning design, technology management, and institutional leadership, they nonetheless have numerous opportunities to partner with stakeholders who do. This practical, actionable workbook empowers and upskills teaching faculty to partner with their fellow professionals—instructional designers, lead administrators, librarians, and other student support personnel—in co-creative design endeavors that foster outstanding curricula and engaged, successful learners. This holistic, team-oriented approach, intended to ensure curricular cohesion within and between courses, certificates, and programs, is supported by workflows, checklists, workshop agendas, and other field-tested resources.