ABSTRACT
Creativity, a primary academic objective, is crucial in higher education, as economic, informational, societal and environmental advancements rely on people’s ability to innovate. Creativity is widely investigated in its individualistic form, yet there is a notable dearth in work that studies its collective dimension, from a learning perspective.
This study focuses on validating the psychometric properties of an existing instrument (ASCC), by measuring creative collaboration in blended learning settings. Two hundred and thirty-six under and post-graduate students self-evaluated their creative collaboration experiences, using the ASCC instrument. The findings of exploratory factor analysis denote a three-factor (21-item) structure, measuring ‘Synergistic Social Collaboration’, ‘Distributed Creativity’, and ‘Time Regulation and Achievement’, with good internal consistency.
An instrument with valid psychometric properties for the assessment of creative collaboration is much-needed in the growing research and practitioners’ community. This is critical in the fields of Design, HCI, and Engineering, which rely extensively on the creative collaboration (online and offline) of teams to develop innovative products that are suitable for real-world purposes.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Aekaterini Mavri
Aekaterini Mavri is a PhD candidate and a full-time member of the special teaching staff at the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts at the Cyprus University of Technology. Her research focusses on the role of cross-organizational Communities of Practice on learning in the Design and relevant fields in Higher Education.
Andri Ioannou
Andri Ioannou is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts and Head of the Cyprus Interaction Lab at the Cyprus University of Technology. She is also the Leader of the Interactive Media and Education/Edutainment research group at the Research Center on Interactive Media, Smart Systems and Emerging Technologies (RISE). In her work, she aims to understand the significant supportive and mediating role of technology in promoting learning, communication & collaboration, and social change in varied circumstances and contexts.
Fernando Loizides
Fernando Loizides is a Lecturer (Assistant Prof.) in Computer Science and Informatics at Cardiff University. Fernando’s main area of research lies in Information Interaction, HCI and Digital Libraries and Accessibility. He has a computer science background, which he combines with digital library research to investigate how systems can be enhanced by emerging technologies. He has extensive experience in user testing and project management, both within industry and academia.