Navigating Dilemmas: university educators’ journeys in creativity teaching

Thumbnail Image

Files

Navigating_Dilemmas_university_educators_journeys_in_creativity_teaching.pdf (3.08 MB)

Access rights

openAccess
CC BY
publishedVersion

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
This publication is imported from Aalto University research portal.
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.

Authors

Date

2025

Department

Department of Built Environment
Design Factory
Department of Energy and Mechanical Engineering

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

21

Series

Teaching in Higher Education, Volume 30, issue 5, pp. 1235-1255

Abstract

Creativity is widely recognised as a key competence in higher education for future graduates to address societal challenges through creative thinking and problem-solving. However, despite multiple definitions of creativity and pedagogies across disciplines, challenges remain in fully integrating creativity into teaching. Based on interviews with 18 educators, we uncovered various creativity teaching dilemmas related to identity, practice, and the broader educational system. These dilemmas constitute a ‘dilemmatic space’, requiring educators to continuously adapt their identities and teaching while confronting systemic challenges. Further, we found that educators navigated these dilemmas by leveraging knowledge, expanding expertise, adjusting scaffolding, reforming curriculum, and providing emotional support. We conceptualised an ‘actor space’ associated with the educators’ utilisation of navigation strategies, emphasising the role of diverse actors in this process. The actor space complements dilemmatic space, highlighting diverse actors in supporting educators’ transformative learning as they tackle disorienting dilemmas in creativity teaching.

Description

Keywords

Creativity education, Creativity teaching, Higher education, Teacher dilemmas, Transformative learning

Other note

DOI

10.1080/13562517.2024.2436359

Citation

Feng, X, Santos Figueiredo, S, Mattila, P, Keskinen, M & Björklund, T 2025, 'Navigating Dilemmas: university educators’ journeys in creativity teaching', Teaching in Higher Education, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 1235-1255. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2024.2436359

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202511058700

Collections

[article-cris] Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu / ENG