Creative self-efficacy. Three items were used to
assess students’ creative self-efficacy (α = .86). The
items were based on previous work done in the area of
creative self-efficacy (as presented by Tierney &
Farmer, 2002), definitions of creativity (Plucker,
Beghetto, & Dow, 2004), and the concept of self-efficacy
(Bandura, 1997). Specifically, items were intended
to measure students’ beliefs about their ability
to generate novel and useful ideas and whether they
viewed themselves as having a good imagination. The
three items were (a) “I am good at coming up with new
ideas,” (b) “I have a lot of good ideas,” and (c) “I have a
good imagination.”
Monday, July 20, 2009
Self-Report for Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The Work Preference
Inventory was used to measure intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation (Amabile, Hill, Hennessey, &
Tighe, 1994). The intrinsic motivation scale includes 15
items that assess the degree to which respondents enjoy
the challenge of the work at hand. Sample items are ‘‘I
enjoy tackling problems that are completely new to
me’’ and ‘‘I enjoy trying to solve complex problems.’’
Cronbach’s alpha for the intrinsic scale was 0.71. Extrinsic
motivation was also measured with a 15-item scale.
This scale includes items such as ‘‘I am strongly motivated
by the grades I can earn’’ and ‘‘As long as I can
do what I enjoy, I’m not that concerned about exactly
what grades or awards I can earn.’’ Cronbach’s alpha
for the extrinsic scale was 0.65. Each item for both the
intrinsic and extrinsic scale was followed by a four-point
scale where 1 ¼ Never or almost never true of you, 2 ¼ Sometimes true of you, 3 ¼ Often true of you, and 4 ¼ Always or almost always true of you.
Inventory was used to measure intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation (Amabile, Hill, Hennessey, &
Tighe, 1994). The intrinsic motivation scale includes 15
items that assess the degree to which respondents enjoy
the challenge of the work at hand. Sample items are ‘‘I
enjoy tackling problems that are completely new to
me’’ and ‘‘I enjoy trying to solve complex problems.’’
Cronbach’s alpha for the intrinsic scale was 0.71. Extrinsic
motivation was also measured with a 15-item scale.
This scale includes items such as ‘‘I am strongly motivated
by the grades I can earn’’ and ‘‘As long as I can
do what I enjoy, I’m not that concerned about exactly
what grades or awards I can earn.’’ Cronbach’s alpha
for the extrinsic scale was 0.65. Each item for both the
intrinsic and extrinsic scale was followed by a four-point
scale where 1 ¼ Never or almost never true of you, 2 ¼ Sometimes true of you, 3 ¼ Often true of you, and 4 ¼ Always or almost always true of you.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Research Problem and Hypotheses
Research problem: Students do not create well-structured, meaningful films.
Egri’s Creative Model: Playwrights must develop a premise (also known as a theme or central organizing principle (COP)). According to Egri, drama requires character, conflict and resolution (CCR) but Egri also advised writers to search for a simple one sentence statement of their theme. A premise or COP is a one sentence statement of the big idea behind a dramatic work that a writer can use to organize their creative efforts.
Our Pedagogical Model: Students discover their COP and use it to develop their CCR by choosing from a list of exercises (intrinsic self-motivation) which will not be graded by the instructor (no extrinsic reward).
Research method:
1) Pre-test self-report determines a) level of intrinsic motivation and b) creative self-efficacy (other independent variable information collected, such as age, gender, etc.)
2) Test Group A: Students choose their own exercises which are not graded
Test Group B: Students are assigned exercises which are graded
Control Group C: No exercises are available or assigned
3) Post-test self-report determines which exercises were completed and creative self-efficacy (How can we test for film structure and meaning? Outside evaluators?)
Hypotheses:
H1: The higher the level of intrinsic motivation on pretest, the more exercises the student will complete
H2: The lower the level of intrinsic motivation on pretest, the fewer exercises the student will complete
H3: The more exercises the student completes, the higher their post-test score will be in creative self-efficacy
H4: The more exercises the student completes, the more significant difference will be present when comparing pretest and post-test measures of creative self-efficacy
H5: Some independent variables, such as gender, will be predictors of creative self-efficacy
RQ1: Which group will produce the best-structured and most meaningful films?
Egri’s Creative Model: Playwrights must develop a premise (also known as a theme or central organizing principle (COP)). According to Egri, drama requires character, conflict and resolution (CCR) but Egri also advised writers to search for a simple one sentence statement of their theme. A premise or COP is a one sentence statement of the big idea behind a dramatic work that a writer can use to organize their creative efforts.
Our Pedagogical Model: Students discover their COP and use it to develop their CCR by choosing from a list of exercises (intrinsic self-motivation) which will not be graded by the instructor (no extrinsic reward).
Research method:
1) Pre-test self-report determines a) level of intrinsic motivation and b) creative self-efficacy (other independent variable information collected, such as age, gender, etc.)
2) Test Group A: Students choose their own exercises which are not graded
Test Group B: Students are assigned exercises which are graded
Control Group C: No exercises are available or assigned
3) Post-test self-report determines which exercises were completed and creative self-efficacy (How can we test for film structure and meaning? Outside evaluators?)
Hypotheses:
H1: The higher the level of intrinsic motivation on pretest, the more exercises the student will complete
H2: The lower the level of intrinsic motivation on pretest, the fewer exercises the student will complete
H3: The more exercises the student completes, the higher their post-test score will be in creative self-efficacy
H4: The more exercises the student completes, the more significant difference will be present when comparing pretest and post-test measures of creative self-efficacy
H5: Some independent variables, such as gender, will be predictors of creative self-efficacy
RQ1: Which group will produce the best-structured and most meaningful films?
Evaluating Creativity
Evaluating Creativity (edited by Sefton-Green and Sinker)
Traditional certainties about value, quality and taste are not absolute, but socially contingent—a struggle for control over meaning—“taste classifies the classifier.”
(Pierre Bourdieu, 1984)
If art is about personal growth and development, then all that you can evaluate is the student, rather than the work. Is that a proper role for a teacher? Some would say no, but students seem to appreciate and expect teachers to fill that role. (Gilbert, 1989)
Evaluation is an inappropriate response to creative production (Ross et al 1993).
So then, how do you argue for the validity of arts in education? (Abbs, 1994).
(There was an increase in vocational focus in public education in the late 1980s and by the early 1990s educators were writing a lot of articles arguing about whether this was a good or bad thing. Most tried to argue it was bad)
Creativity is defined differently by each subject and this should connect with how ability and advancement are measured.
Contradictions arise most in the evaluation process, so what is the role/importance of:
-the process of making the project
-the project itself
-the evaluation of the project
-the audience
Some kind of acceptable balance must be struck.
There is an ongoing debate about the value of art in terms of what it brings to society and what it brings to the individual.
Society: development of empathy and insight, cultural heritage, enlightened populace
Individual: facilitates cognitive skills, helps people grow, think and feel
What does our film department want?
-what do we value? –what kind of rigor is expected in a student film?
-how does that affect the way we evaluate or assess our students’ work?
Evaluation: Often discursive, qualitative. Can be ambiguous, judgmental.
Assessment: Summative, quantitative. Often feels institutional, analytical.
Traditional certainties about value, quality and taste are not absolute, but socially contingent—a struggle for control over meaning—“taste classifies the classifier.”
(Pierre Bourdieu, 1984)
If art is about personal growth and development, then all that you can evaluate is the student, rather than the work. Is that a proper role for a teacher? Some would say no, but students seem to appreciate and expect teachers to fill that role. (Gilbert, 1989)
Evaluation is an inappropriate response to creative production (Ross et al 1993).
So then, how do you argue for the validity of arts in education? (Abbs, 1994).
(There was an increase in vocational focus in public education in the late 1980s and by the early 1990s educators were writing a lot of articles arguing about whether this was a good or bad thing. Most tried to argue it was bad)
Creativity is defined differently by each subject and this should connect with how ability and advancement are measured.
Contradictions arise most in the evaluation process, so what is the role/importance of:
-the process of making the project
-the project itself
-the evaluation of the project
-the audience
Some kind of acceptable balance must be struck.
There is an ongoing debate about the value of art in terms of what it brings to society and what it brings to the individual.
Society: development of empathy and insight, cultural heritage, enlightened populace
Individual: facilitates cognitive skills, helps people grow, think and feel
What does our film department want?
-what do we value? –what kind of rigor is expected in a student film?
-how does that affect the way we evaluate or assess our students’ work?
Evaluation: Often discursive, qualitative. Can be ambiguous, judgmental.
Assessment: Summative, quantitative. Often feels institutional, analytical.
Social-psychology of creativity
Amabile on Creativity Research
Psychological study of creativity: the focus is on the person and their behavior, not upon what they do or make. It is the study of the creative personality, or the study of a person with a unique pattern of creative traits. (J.P. Guilford, 1950)
It’s current status:
-social psychology is the least developed area in creativity research
-there is correlational evidence that social environments do have an impact on creativity
-no particular social factors have been isolated in carefully controlled settings
Correlational patterns:
-birth order contributes to adult creativity in fairly predictable ways
-exposure to cultural diversity has a reliable positive influence
-educational environments that encourage autonomy and self-directed learning are equally important in adult work environments
**exposure to a creative model in a particular domain can increase the likelihood that a young person will do outstanding creative work in that domain.
Theoretical model (See Amabile, pp 107-127, Model, Revised Model)
-because of the nature of the factors examined, the methods employed, and the data obtained there is no common theoretical framework to motivate inquiries
-the hypothesis most thoroughly tested experimentally is the intrinsic motivation hypothesis of creativity, stating that the intrinsically (self) motivated state will be conducive to creativity, but the extrinsically motivated state (reward) will be detrimental. This hypothesis applies only to heuristic tasks, where the problem does not have a clear and straightforward path to solution. (Wallach & Kogan, 1965)
More about intrinsically motivated creativity:
-people who have worked under the imposition of salient extrinsic constraints generally produce work that is lower in creativity than that produced by people who have worked in the absence of such constraints
-These constraints include external evaluation of work or the expectation of such evaluation, offer of reward contingent upon task performance, surveillance of work, and restricted choice in task engagement
-people placed in conditions designed to enhance intrinsic motivation, such as free choice in aspects of task engagement, generally produce work that is higher in creativity than produced by people not working under such conditions.
-there are significant correlations between subjects’ expressed intrinsic interest in their work and the related creativity of that work
**THEREFORE social factors that enhance an individual’s motivation to engage in an activity for its own sake will also enhance creative performance on the activity; factors that undermine that motivation, or factors that make more salient the motivation to engage in the activity for some external goal, will undermine creativity.
Independent Variables: Cognitive mechanisms, social-environmental factors
Dependent Variables: Creative outcome of the nonlinear task
Future research:
-longer temporal span
-greater control of factors
-more experimental research
-more study of global social environments, such as families, classrooms, workplaces, societies and cultures
LINKS:
Psychological study of creativity: the focus is on the person and their behavior, not upon what they do or make. It is the study of the creative personality, or the study of a person with a unique pattern of creative traits. (J.P. Guilford, 1950)
It’s current status:
-social psychology is the least developed area in creativity research
-there is correlational evidence that social environments do have an impact on creativity
-no particular social factors have been isolated in carefully controlled settings
Correlational patterns:
-birth order contributes to adult creativity in fairly predictable ways
-exposure to cultural diversity has a reliable positive influence
-educational environments that encourage autonomy and self-directed learning are equally important in adult work environments
**exposure to a creative model in a particular domain can increase the likelihood that a young person will do outstanding creative work in that domain.
Theoretical model (See Amabile, pp 107-127, Model, Revised Model)
-because of the nature of the factors examined, the methods employed, and the data obtained there is no common theoretical framework to motivate inquiries
-the hypothesis most thoroughly tested experimentally is the intrinsic motivation hypothesis of creativity, stating that the intrinsically (self) motivated state will be conducive to creativity, but the extrinsically motivated state (reward) will be detrimental. This hypothesis applies only to heuristic tasks, where the problem does not have a clear and straightforward path to solution. (Wallach & Kogan, 1965)
More about intrinsically motivated creativity:
-people who have worked under the imposition of salient extrinsic constraints generally produce work that is lower in creativity than that produced by people who have worked in the absence of such constraints
-These constraints include external evaluation of work or the expectation of such evaluation, offer of reward contingent upon task performance, surveillance of work, and restricted choice in task engagement
-people placed in conditions designed to enhance intrinsic motivation, such as free choice in aspects of task engagement, generally produce work that is higher in creativity than produced by people not working under such conditions.
-there are significant correlations between subjects’ expressed intrinsic interest in their work and the related creativity of that work
**THEREFORE social factors that enhance an individual’s motivation to engage in an activity for its own sake will also enhance creative performance on the activity; factors that undermine that motivation, or factors that make more salient the motivation to engage in the activity for some external goal, will undermine creativity.
Independent Variables: Cognitive mechanisms, social-environmental factors
Dependent Variables: Creative outcome of the nonlinear task
Future research:
-longer temporal span
-greater control of factors
-more experimental research
-more study of global social environments, such as families, classrooms, workplaces, societies and cultures
LINKS:
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Steve Meeting 7.1.09
I met with Steve yesterday to catch up on our summer so far. At a point that felt comfortable, I steered the conversation toward our research. Through talking with Steve about the problems I've been having with a-evaluating a student's creative work and b-imposing structure on the creative process I believe I may have come upon a new way to approach this research.
It seems to me the two main struggles I have as an "art teacher" are 1). how to fairly evaluate my students' "art projects" and 2). figuring out exactly how much "structure" to impose upon their creative process as they bring their project to life.
The literature I've been reading reminds me that the word "value" exists inside the word evaluate, so if a student's values differ from my own then my evaluation of their work isn't really justified. What to do about this? Be sure that the student understands and buys into the values of the course and creates their project knowing their work will be judged based upon the core common values upon which the course is built.
As for imposing structure, there is plenty of literature to support the notion that the creative process can survive, even thrive if thoughtful constraints are placed upon that process. The constraints must exhibit the values discussed above and must be relevant to the desired outcome of the final project. They cannot be constraints associated only with the natural power struggle that exists between student and teacher.
For our study we need to decide what kind of outcome we want before we can design the assessment tools and exercises. We cannot get protocol approval until we determine what kind of data we will collect and how we will collect it. Therefore: theory+exercises+assessment tools= outcome. We must define and develop each variable in this equation, working backwards from outcome.
Outcome: I wish to shift our emphasis away from the creative project itself to the process by which students make their project. The desired outcome could be simply this: "The student's film was the result of disciplined and creative planning, research and direction." The outcome to be evaluated is the process, rather than the product.
Assessment tools: I wish to shift our emphasis away from our own evaluation to evaluations made by the students themselves. These tools could be online surveys, a blog, a journal, etc. but the students themselves will make these assessments. Each assessment must be tied into a particular stage of the process. A final cumulative assessment will be made by the student on whether their overall process evoked the core values of the course. I would suggest the completion of the assessment tools be considered for the student's course grade but that the actual "scores" on the assessment tools NOT be a part of the grade. (I have a concern that the IRB only understands survey research and would not approve of us collecting data from something more personal, like a journal or blog).
Exercises: This was the most fun part of my discussion with Steve yesterday, but I think the development of these exercises will be the biggest challenge. There are two big questions here: 1). Do we incorporate exercises to emphasize story structure and development in addition to existing coursework or do we weave them into what we're already doing? 2). Are these exercises conducted in class our outside of class? Steve and I agreed that whatever exercises are developed, they have to go beyond the elementary "let's all work with playdough for 5 minutes and see what we come up with." They should incorporate all aspects of arts and humanities, from literature to music to art to theatre. The point of the exercises is to a). enhance the values of the course (i.e. values of Aristotle, Egri, Jung) and to b). get students to think differently about art and the hope is that they will then approach their own work with a new perspective.
Some (brief) examples Steve and I discussed:
1). In-class discussion of an abstract painting, such as a Picasso. Through discussion, help students understand what Picasso was doing and how it could be relevant to making a film.
2). Playing a TV show like "Have Gun Will Travel" while also playing classical music. Help students discover that music carries its own emotional meaning that can easily bleed over into the image, so you have to be very careful about music selection in a film. It has to be a very deliberate choice.
Theory: While I'm still struggling with this one I'm getting closer. I've already made some notes in the blog about constructivist theory. I think we need to do more searching in the film theory world. Perhaps Chris Harris could be helpful. After all, he's the one who actually comes out of an art school.
In summary, a film is only the byproduct of the process (Steve). When we all attend the student screenings at the end of the year we tend to judge students by what we see on the screen. But, I feel there should be more to a film education than that. It's not ONLY about the film they make, because 99% of the students will NOT become film makers. If we put more thought and care into the process by which they make their film they will come out of the program with a more enriched experience and knowledge they can apply to whatever it is they wind up doing for a living... or to the quality of their lives in general.
It seems to me the two main struggles I have as an "art teacher" are 1). how to fairly evaluate my students' "art projects" and 2). figuring out exactly how much "structure" to impose upon their creative process as they bring their project to life.
The literature I've been reading reminds me that the word "value" exists inside the word evaluate, so if a student's values differ from my own then my evaluation of their work isn't really justified. What to do about this? Be sure that the student understands and buys into the values of the course and creates their project knowing their work will be judged based upon the core common values upon which the course is built.
As for imposing structure, there is plenty of literature to support the notion that the creative process can survive, even thrive if thoughtful constraints are placed upon that process. The constraints must exhibit the values discussed above and must be relevant to the desired outcome of the final project. They cannot be constraints associated only with the natural power struggle that exists between student and teacher.
For our study we need to decide what kind of outcome we want before we can design the assessment tools and exercises. We cannot get protocol approval until we determine what kind of data we will collect and how we will collect it. Therefore: theory+exercises+assessment tools= outcome. We must define and develop each variable in this equation, working backwards from outcome.
Outcome: I wish to shift our emphasis away from the creative project itself to the process by which students make their project. The desired outcome could be simply this: "The student's film was the result of disciplined and creative planning, research and direction." The outcome to be evaluated is the process, rather than the product.
Assessment tools: I wish to shift our emphasis away from our own evaluation to evaluations made by the students themselves. These tools could be online surveys, a blog, a journal, etc. but the students themselves will make these assessments. Each assessment must be tied into a particular stage of the process. A final cumulative assessment will be made by the student on whether their overall process evoked the core values of the course. I would suggest the completion of the assessment tools be considered for the student's course grade but that the actual "scores" on the assessment tools NOT be a part of the grade. (I have a concern that the IRB only understands survey research and would not approve of us collecting data from something more personal, like a journal or blog).
Exercises: This was the most fun part of my discussion with Steve yesterday, but I think the development of these exercises will be the biggest challenge. There are two big questions here: 1). Do we incorporate exercises to emphasize story structure and development in addition to existing coursework or do we weave them into what we're already doing? 2). Are these exercises conducted in class our outside of class? Steve and I agreed that whatever exercises are developed, they have to go beyond the elementary "let's all work with playdough for 5 minutes and see what we come up with." They should incorporate all aspects of arts and humanities, from literature to music to art to theatre. The point of the exercises is to a). enhance the values of the course (i.e. values of Aristotle, Egri, Jung) and to b). get students to think differently about art and the hope is that they will then approach their own work with a new perspective.
Some (brief) examples Steve and I discussed:
1). In-class discussion of an abstract painting, such as a Picasso. Through discussion, help students understand what Picasso was doing and how it could be relevant to making a film.
2). Playing a TV show like "Have Gun Will Travel" while also playing classical music. Help students discover that music carries its own emotional meaning that can easily bleed over into the image, so you have to be very careful about music selection in a film. It has to be a very deliberate choice.
Theory: While I'm still struggling with this one I'm getting closer. I've already made some notes in the blog about constructivist theory. I think we need to do more searching in the film theory world. Perhaps Chris Harris could be helpful. After all, he's the one who actually comes out of an art school.
In summary, a film is only the byproduct of the process (Steve). When we all attend the student screenings at the end of the year we tend to judge students by what we see on the screen. But, I feel there should be more to a film education than that. It's not ONLY about the film they make, because 99% of the students will NOT become film makers. If we put more thought and care into the process by which they make their film they will come out of the program with a more enriched experience and knowledge they can apply to whatever it is they wind up doing for a living... or to the quality of their lives in general.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Lisa's Books
I've been checking out a lot of books in connection with this research, so below is a list of the books and maybe one piece of information I've gleaned out of each so far that seems worth following up on.
The Courage to Create by Rollo May
-Love this book, should be required reading for MFA students
-Address the artist's struggle and desire to be immortal.
-Informed by everyone from Einstein to Camus to Picasso. Fun to read.
-Often quotes Carl Jung, especially on artistic breakthrough... a process by which the consciousness gives-way to the unconcious
Teaching for Thoughtfulness: Classroom Strategies to Enhance Intellectual Development by John Barell
-at first I was rejecting any books that dealt with high school classrooms, but then I remembered that our students are not so far removed from high school and reading about what high schools are doing wrong can help us understand how to help these students.
-Barell reminds us that any strategy must lead to a clear goal (the premise of our study!) Thinking + Feeling = Thoughtfulness. This is very Jungian.
Archetypes for Writers by Jennifer Van Bergen
-This is brand new and the author teaches at New School in NYC.
-"In this book you will learn how to find your own character archetypes. Character archetypes contain the action-principles of particular human behavior." She calls this "doing arkhelogy" and her book contains lots of exercises to "develop the skills needed to do arkhelogy work." Hmm.
Evaluating Creativity: Making and learning by young people edited by Julian Sefton-Green and Rebecca Sinker
-Reminds that the word "value" exists in "evaluation," so in order to fairly evaluate any creative product, values must be established.
-"If art is about personal growth and development all that you can evaluate is the student, rather than the work, and is that a proper role for a teacher? However, students do seem to accept and appreciate this role" (Gilbert, 1989).
Teaching for Creative Endeavor by William B. Michael
-Mostly addresses teaching creativity to children, but there are some interesting models in here.
100 Ideas for Teaching Creativity by Stephen Bowkett
-some of these are downright silly, but some could work...
The Courage to Create by Rollo May
-Love this book, should be required reading for MFA students
-Address the artist's struggle and desire to be immortal.
-Informed by everyone from Einstein to Camus to Picasso. Fun to read.
-Often quotes Carl Jung, especially on artistic breakthrough... a process by which the consciousness gives-way to the unconcious
Teaching for Thoughtfulness: Classroom Strategies to Enhance Intellectual Development by John Barell
-at first I was rejecting any books that dealt with high school classrooms, but then I remembered that our students are not so far removed from high school and reading about what high schools are doing wrong can help us understand how to help these students.
-Barell reminds us that any strategy must lead to a clear goal (the premise of our study!) Thinking + Feeling = Thoughtfulness. This is very Jungian.
Archetypes for Writers by Jennifer Van Bergen
-This is brand new and the author teaches at New School in NYC.
-"In this book you will learn how to find your own character archetypes. Character archetypes contain the action-principles of particular human behavior." She calls this "doing arkhelogy" and her book contains lots of exercises to "develop the skills needed to do arkhelogy work." Hmm.
Evaluating Creativity: Making and learning by young people edited by Julian Sefton-Green and Rebecca Sinker
-Reminds that the word "value" exists in "evaluation," so in order to fairly evaluate any creative product, values must be established.
-"If art is about personal growth and development all that you can evaluate is the student, rather than the work, and is that a proper role for a teacher? However, students do seem to accept and appreciate this role" (Gilbert, 1989).
Teaching for Creative Endeavor by William B. Michael
-Mostly addresses teaching creativity to children, but there are some interesting models in here.
100 Ideas for Teaching Creativity by Stephen Bowkett
-some of these are downright silly, but some could work...
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