The Concept and Practice of Creativity Workshop for Engineering and Technology Education in Universities of Technology

Abstract

Abstract-Engineering and technology education is an important element contributing to national development, socioeconomics, and talent nurturing progress, while creative thinking is even considered one of the most important abilities required of present and future talents in engineering and design fields. In this study, targeting teachers and students of institutes of higher education in Taiwan, the "2015 Creativity Workshop for Future Engineers" course was conducted. In addition, through creative skills, technology commercialization, and creative teaching (teacher group), creative projects (student group), and other topic learning and exchanges, a survey on learner satisfaction was carried out. Findings show high overall learner satisfaction, especially the environment that consistently gained recognition. As for lecturer performance, the teachers showed higher satisfaction than the students. In the course, the teachers demonstrated keener learning compared to the students. Hence, it is suggested that teachers be adopted as targeted in related future course contents in order to enhance their creative ability and knowledge. Furthermore, the course content will be developed into a framework of engineering and technology education related topic courses, which shall serve as a reference for course design. It is hoped that teaching and learning will head towards the direction of creativity and innovation.