Abstract

Creativity is increasingly viewed as an important 21st century skill that needs to be taught in schools. This emphasis on creativity is often reflected by having students engage in open-ended, project based activities and assignments. A key challenge faced by educators is how such assignments are to be evaluated. An in-depth review of existing tests of creativity indicates a relative lack of instruments or rubrics for evaluating creative artifacts. We address this gap by a two-step process. First, we provide a definition of creativity based on current research and scholarship as being something that is NEW, i.e. novel, effective, and whole. Next, we utilize this definition to develop a rubric that seeks to evaluate creative artifacts along these three dimensions. We also provide examples of how this rubric has been used to evaluate student created artifacts in a master’s level seminar devoted to creativity in teaching and learning. We provide not just the rubric but also examples of projects that score low to high along these three dimensions. We argue that this line of work, though in its initial stages, has much to offer educators as they seek to evaluate student generated creative artifacts. We end with suggestions for future research in this area as well as its implications for teacher education and teacher professional development.

Citation

Henriksen, D., Mishra, P. & Mehta, R. (2015). Novel, Effective, Whole: Toward a NEW Framework for Evaluations of Creative Products. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 23(3), 455-478. Waynesville, NC USA: Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education. Retrieved March 27, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/151574/.

© 2015 Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education

Keywords

• Creativity