It is more than obvious, that Creativity is not the gathering of knowledge as such, that is important, but "what we can do with our knowledge" (Quintin, 2009, p. 3). If we are to prepare our students to be able to adapt to change, to work in jobs that may not even exist at present and face unpredictable encounters, we need to rethink education. We have to move away from delivering knowledge/information and concentrate on how our students can use such knowledge. Thus, in the face of such stormy times, creativity, originality, and innovation are at the top of the list in importance, now, more than at any time before. In a summary of scientific research into creativity Michael Mumford suggested that "creativity involves the production of novel, useful products" (Mumford, 2003, p.110). From the same perspective, Prof. Teresa M. Amabile from Harvard Business School noted that "creativity is the production of novel and useful ideas in any domain" (Amabile, 1996, p.1). Yorke (2001,p.7) defined it as "the ability to be original or inventive and to apply lateral thinking". The importance of educating for creativity in higher education can be derived from arguments in favor of a focus on student empowerment and employability. In some domains, the performing arts for instance, creativity is supposedly already generally accepted as a critical personal quality needed for performing adequately as a professional. The question is how we can achieve the development of creativity in University students.
This chapter outlines the benefits and challenges experienced by two students who had completed an online doctoral programme at a popular United Kingdom university. Benefits include accessing courses from anywhere in the world, engaging in synchronous and asynchronous communication, and the development of creative thinking and reflective skills. The most important benefit was the fact that the online programme allowed the students to fulfill the dream of achieving a doctoral degree in teacher education while maintain family and work commitments. Some challenges of online learning include feelings of isolation, balancing family commitment with study, managing time, and coping with additional workload brought on by course requirements. The conclusion was made that the online environment is an excellent way of placing students at the centre of the learning experience, allowing them to have total control of their time and the process of learning. This, however, required an alteration in their thinking and a willingness to change certain attitudes about learning.
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