EU Research Project: TICON - Teaching Creativity online for HE Engineering Teachers

Research Lighthouse

Creative Industries and Media Society“ (CREAM)

The research lighthouse CREAM accompanies the digital transformation of the economy and society from the viewpoint of the creative industries and the media society in an interdisciplinary and application-oriented way. It wants to actively give impetus and thus help shape it. Current research topics are:

• Future of work: (digital) education, new competence profiles & job descriptions, transformation processes
• Mediatization & technology: high technologies & media business models, automation of creative services
• Location factors & communication: creative quarters, branding of cities, creative industries in rural areas.
• Innovation: economizing creative innovations

 https://www.hdm-stuttgart.de/hochschule/forschung/forschungsschwerpunkte/cream

 

EU Research Project: TICON - Teaching Creativity online for HE Engineering Teachers

Context

We witness an increasing adoption of education technology in Higher Eduction (HE). This development was amplified by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, when HEIs were “forced to move learning online due to nationwide shutdowns”, resulting in a massive shift towards hybrid and online learning settings which is assumed to stay Thus, the awareness, knowledge, readiness and capacity of HE teachers in using digital learning materials and distance learning techniques in general has increased dramatically over the last six months (Giridharan, B., 2020). However, creativity is said to rely on direct connection to others, and on teaching settings allowing for face-to-face phonetic experiences. This constitutes a challenge to teaching creativity online, and systematic approaches to guide engineering teachers in incorporating the topic into online teaching settings are yet missing.

 

Objective

The main objective of TICON is to identify and overcome the barriers in engineering HE for teaching creativity online, and to upskill the teachers in terms of digital teaching with appropriate pedagogical approaches. Being able to teach creativity online brings opportunities for students, and these may be defined as the secondary objectives of TICON. It will enable disabled students to join the courses, or groups of students from different regions and countries may learn and work on a project together while improving their innovation capabilities.

 

Outputs & Methodology

The TICON objectives will be achieved through a robust workflow, evolving around 3 outputs (O). Based upon preliminary and preparatory research and analyzed in focus groups, the O1:TICON Curriculum defines pedagogical approach and the structure and content of the learning materials to be developed within O2:TICON Learning Content, and provides recommendations for the user-centered design of the e-learning platform of O3:TICON Digital Toolbox. The use of design-thinking approaches in the focus groups allows to drill deeper into the challenges and needs of the HE teachers and ensures that the outcomes are user-centered and reflect reality.

 

International Consortium

The consortium consists of educational experts, engineering HE teachers, instructional technologists, and creativity experts from:

• Syddansk Universitet, Denmark
• Hochschule der Medien, Germany
• National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
• EGE University Izmir, Turkey
• eolas S.L, Spain,

The consortium collaborates with their different perspectives for reaching the objectives of TICON.

 

Research questions

• How can typical didactics in creativity teaching be translated to the digital space? What formats and tools are needed?
• What is the pedagogical concept to motivate and educate HE teachers to use those formats tools? How do they find their way into the curriculum of the degree programmes?
• What does that mean in terms of requirements for a digital toolbox?
• How can a digital toolbox and a innovative e-learning environment be designed and implemented to fulfill the needs of HE teachers but also inspires to translate existing course didactics to the digital space or mix the digital and the analog world?

 

Runtime: 01.05.21 – 30.04.23

 

Funding grant, funding agency ~300.000€, EU ERASMUS+

 

No. coworkers: 8

 

Scientific supervision

Prof. Dr. Christoph Kunz, kunz@hdm-stuttgart.de, tel: +49 711 8923-3157, room: I208/N8

 

Subject areas, degree programme

Didactics, media economics, business informatics, economics as well as other social science courses with (additional) IT qualifications.

 

Required prior knowledge

Strong interest in creativity and innovation, knowledge in user-centered design, user experience, business informatics. Medium programming skills and knowledge in Content Management Systems (CMS). Profound language skills in English.

 

Remarks

The successful applicant has the opportunity to be part-time contracted on a TVöD E9/E10 basis.

Literature

• Giridharan, B. (2020). Engaging with Students and Faculties Online in the Era of the Corona Virus Pandemic: A Higher Education Perspective. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research, 2, 103-110.
• Brown, M. (2018). 4 Cornerstone Skills Engineers Need for the Future of Work. Online at https://www.engineering.com/JobArticles/ArticleID/16807/4-Cornerstone-Skills-Engineers-Need-for-the-Future-of-Work.aspx
• Li, C. and Lalani, F. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. This is how. Online at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/
• Giridharan, B. (2020). Engaging with Students and Faculties Online in the Era of the Corona Virus Pandemic: A Higher Education Perspective. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research, 2, 103-110.
• Nonaka, I. & Toyama, R. (2007). Strategic management as distributed practical wisdom (phronesis). Industrial and Corporate Change, 16(3), 371–394.
• Kaiser, A. & Fordinal, B. (2010). Creating a ba for generating self‐transcending knowledge. Journal of Knowledge Management, 14(6), 928-942.
• McMurtrie, B. (2020). How to Reconnect with Students and Strengthen your Remote Course. Online at: https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/teaching/2020-04-09
• Tremp, P. & Balthasar, E. (2020). Klassiker der Hochschuldidaktik?: Kartografie einer Landschaft (Doing Higher Education) (German Edition), 1. Aufl. 2020., Wiesbaden, Deutschland: Springer VS
• Liebscher, J. & Jahnke, I. (2018). Kreativitätsförderliche Didaktik für das Lernen mit mobilen Endgeräten
• Wolf, K. (2016). Forschendes Lehren mit digitalen Medien: wie forschendes Lernen durch Teilhabe und mediale Unterstützung gelingen kann