The mediator effects of imagination between learning environment and academic performance: a comparison between science and engineering majors

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to examine the mediator effects of imagination between learning environment and academic performance, and (2) to compare differences between the environment–imagination–performance structural models of science and engineering majors. A survey was administered at eight universities across different regions of Taiwan. The participants in this study were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of 529 science majors, whereas the second group consisted of 523 engineering majors. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to confirm the structure of the measures employed in this study. A structural equation modeling was used to test all the hypotheses proposed. With respect to the science group, our results showed that, through the mediation of imagination, learning resources had a dominant impact on academic performance, whereas both human aggregate and organizational measure had moderate influences. In contrast, among the engineering group, both human aggregate and social climate had relatively strong effects on academic performance, whereas both learning resources and organizational measure had mild influence. These findings seem promising enough to warrant further inquiry. They also provide insights for fields in which imaginative talent and creative performance are essential. Finally, practical applications of the present study were suggested, limitations were acknowledged, and future research was discussed.     

Difference in time influencing creativity performance between design and management majors

This study is aimed to obtain a better understanding of difference in time of day as a factor influencing creativity performance between design and management programs students. Two hundred and ninety-seven college students, consisting of 154 design majors and 143 management majors at a university, participated in this study. Two idea generation tasks adapted from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking verbal tests were used to collect data on their creativity performance across school time intervals. The results show that the distributions of creativity performance across school time intervals reveal statistically significant differences in the fluency and originality measures between the two disciplines. Further, for the design majors, statistically significant differences are found in the fluency, originality, and elaboration measures of creativity; for the management majors, no difference is found for any of the creativity measures. That is, time of school day is a concern in creativity performance for the design students but not a significant factor for their counterparts. It is suggested that the timing issue should be taken into account when we try to assess the instructional and learning performance of creativity-related courses. An open mind and awareness of program differences are expected. More alternatives to improve time-constrains in traditional in-class learning and instruction are also suggested at the end, to create a more individualized and flexible learning environment for creativity.     

The importance of design thinking for technological literacy: a phenomenological perspective

“We know that progress depends on discovery, inventions, creativity and design, but we have simply supposed that it happens anyway,” de Bono (1999 p. 43). Technology education is ostensibly a foundation for future designers and creative thinking. However evidence of good design or creative thinking in outcomes displayed in school technology studios is limited. Technology is inextricably linked with applied science, but I argue that scientific method couldn’t be further from creativity and designing as technology education based on this premise can confine problem solving to a set of prescribed components that harness teachers to narrowly defined and deeply focused goals. This paper attempts to analyse the nature of this phenomenom, debate the place of creativity, imagination and personal sensitivities as part of designing and demonstrate that although there are inseperable links between design and technology the structure of a technology curriculum could be a barrier to opportunities for effective design thinking.     

论设计主题及其在印花面料中的表现

当今世界的服装产业快速发展,人们对服装的认识也不是单单地存在于表面,而是越来越注重服装内在精神的表现。设计师将设计主题用最直接的数码印花表现自己内心非凡的创造力和想象力。设计主题、印花图案与纺织面料三者相互作用、相互联系,共同演绎了印花艺术在服装设计中独特的风格魅力和自由随性的设计创造活力。     

Fostering creativity from an emotional perspective: Do teachers recognise and handle students’ emotions?

Emotions have a significant effect on the processes of designing and creative thinking. In an educational context, some emotions may even be detrimental to creativity. To further explore the link between creativity and emotion, a series of interviews were conducted with design and technology (D&T) teachers in Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing concerning their experiences of working with students on design projects. The intent was to investigate how these teachers understood and managed their students’ emotions while teaching creative design skills. Some teachers indicated that they understood their students’ emotions through observing their behaviour, connecting with them by synchronising emotions or by evaluating student performance. The teachers also reported using various other methods to handle their students’ emotions. This study highlights the importance of equipping D&T teachers with skills for awareness and regulation of emotions so that they can better enable students to cultivate creativity in the design process.     

Using software to engage design students in academic writing

First year undergraduate design students have found difficulties in realising the standards expected for academic writing at university level. An assessment initiative was used to engage students with criteria and standards for a core interdisciplinary design subject notable for its demanding assessment of academic writing. The same graduate attribute categories linked to assessment criteria and web-based software (REVIEW?) were used for assessing students’ other design assignments. Students engaged with criterion-referenced assessment of an essay exemplar in order to reflect on their own essay writing process. Tutor marking of the exemplar and student essays used a visual mark on a grading scale to reveal the variation between the tutor’s marks and students’ own judgments against each criterion. Data from the software and post-semester focus group discussions and questionnaires showed that the initiative promoted engagement and dialogue between tutors and students and fostered independence and confidence. Results suggest that students’ understanding of the required academic writing standards was improved by this reflective intervention and increased their appreciation that writing and research skills are important attributes for designers.     

“If I was going to design a chair,the last thing I would look at is a chair”: product analysis and the causes of fixation in students’ design work 11–16 years

Creativity is acknowledged to be important for economic growth and as an everyday life-skill, however several influential reports have suggested that education could do more to harness creative talent. Creative cognition literature suggests the lack of creativity is at least partly the result of ‘fixation’ (difficulty in generating novel ideas due to imagination being ‘structured’ by existing knowledge). This paper focuses on the secondary (students aged 11–16 years) design and technology (D&T) context in the UK. Here we examine whether teacher practice can contribute to fixation by focusing on one specific facet of teacher practice in D&T; the use of product analysis to inform the generation of creative design ideas. Data is drawn from the preliminary phase of a research and intervention project from interviews with D&T teachers (N = 14), students (N = 126) and lesson observations (N = 10) and an analysis of documents and student work. Product analysis is widely used at different points in design projects but, as is shown, in all cases current practice can lead to fixation, as thinking is constrained down specific paths and tasks are at best at procedural rather than comprehension level. The implications of these findings and tentative ways forward for practitioners are discussed.     

Balancing exploration and exploitation capabilities in high technology firms: A multi-source multi-context examination

Based on the dynamic capability view, this study examined the balance between exploration and exploitation capability. With this, we proposed a framework that synthesizes the impact of new product creativity and marketing program creativity on new product quality (internal product quality and external product quality), and further understanding the path to performance of new products in a select number of industrial and consumer products. The main findings revealed that the effect of new product creativity in consumer product firms through internal and external product quality was less dominant than those in industrial product firms. In contrast, the effect of marketing program creativity in industrial product firms through only external product quality was less dominant than those in consumer product firms. Additionally, this paper also discusses the research limitations, future research directions, and theoretical and practical implications.     

Effects of cognitive styles on 2D drafting and design performance in digital media

This paper investigates the interactions between design students’ cognitive styles, as measured by Riding’s Cognitive Styles Analysis, and performance in 2D drafting and design tasks in digital media. An empirical research revealed that Imager students outperformed Verbalisers in both drafting and creativity scores. Wholist–Analytic cognitive style dimension was found to be independent from drafting and design performance. The study suggests that examining the cognitive styles of students in Computer Aided Design (CAD) education deserves further attention and may facilitate for improvements in learning processes.     

Alone on an island: A mixed-methods investigation of salesperson social isolation in general and in times of a pandemic

Industrial salespeople spend more time outside of the firm than inside of the firm. As a consequence, they may be particularly prone to salesperson social isolation - or feelings of being disconnected from coworkers and colleagues. Potentially magnified by the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the prevalence of social isolation may become a more common and modern-day challenge for salespeople. As part of this, managers must consider the notion of salesperson social isolation and its impact on job performance. To explore this phenomenon, we employ a multi-study, mixed-methods approach. In Study, 1 we conduct a quantitative survey-based study (with a sample of 233 industrial salespeople) investigating the relationship between salesperson social isolation and salesperson performance and the processes through which it occurs. In Study 2, we utilize a discovery-oriented theories-in-use qualitative approach (with a sample of 27 sales professionals) to investigate the nature of salesperson social isolation (with certain pandemic related factors), its consequences (also considering pandemic related factors), and important manager and salesperson actions that offset the negative effects of salesperson social isolation. Altogether, our findings shed some light into the if, how, what (in much more detail), and when aspects of salesperson social isolation. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.     

The Impact of a Creativity‐supporting Work Environment on a Firm's Product Innovation Performance

Many scholars and practitioners have suggested that a creativity‐supporting work environment contributes to a firm's product innovation performance. Although there is evidence that such an environment enhances innovative behavior at individual level, very few studies address the effect of a creativity‐supporting work environment on product innovation performance at firm level, and the results are inconsistent. This paper examines the relationship between a firm's creativity‐supporting work environment and a firm's product innovation performance in a sample of 103 firms. For measuring a firm's creativity‐supporting work environment, a comprehensive and creativity‐focused framework is used. The framework consists of 9 social‐organizational and 12 physical work environment characteristics that are likely to enhance employee creativity. These characteristics contribute to the firm's overall work environment that supports creativity. The firm's product innovation performance is defined by two distinct concepts: new product productivity (NP productivity), which is the extent to which the firm introduces new products to the market, and new product success (NP success), which is the percentage of the firm's sales from new products. In most firms, different knowledgeable informants provided the data for the variables. The results show that firms with creativity‐supporting work environments introduce more new products to the market (NP productivity), and have more NP success in terms of new product sales (NP success). NP productivity partly mediates the relationship between creativity‐supporting work environment and NP success. The mediation model shows that the two paths from a creativity‐supporting work environment to NP success are about equally important: the direct path between creativity‐supporting work environment and NP success has a coefficient of .22, and the coefficient of the indirect path via NP productivity is .23. The creativity‐supporting work environment framework can be used in managerial practice to enhance employee creativity for product innovation. It allows applying a flexible and broad approach by influencing both social‐organizational and physical characteristics of the work environment.     

Evaluating the impact of TRIZ creativity training: an organizational field study

Creativity training is used by many organizations in an attempt to improve the innovativeness of their employees, yet there has been relatively little systematic evaluation carried out of the impact of such training. This study reports on the evaluation of the effectiveness of a theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ)‐based creativity training program in a major international engineering firm. Cross‐sectional, longitudinal and multisource evaluation strategies were used to assess the impact of the training on a sample of design engineers (n = 123) and to make comparisons with nontrainees (n = 96). Results indicate that participation in TRIZ training led to short‐term improvements in both the creative problem‐solving skills and motivation to innovate of engineers, and these were associated with longer term improvements in their idea suggestion in the workplace. There was variable support for the translation of these ideas into new innovations and improved performance at work as a result of the training. Theoretical and practical implications for enhancing the effectiveness of creativity training interventions are discussed.     

Learning creativity and design for innovation

This paper puts the case for using a pedagogical framework based on the principles of grammatical design in conjunction with conventional creative problem solving strategies in higher education to foster learning for innovation and creativity. It explores the design and delivery of an inaugural creativity and innovation course that used a combination of individual and group projects to explore the combinatorial use of creative problem solving strategies and grammatical design schemas. Using established creative thinking evaluation techniques and reflective practice journals offers a powerful path for the creative development of innovative ideas. Testing (Torrance, Creativity in the classroom, 1977) found that the figurative based creative thinking scores of an experimental group of non-designer undergraduate students significantly improved according to pre and post course tests. Two dimensional and three dimensional design assessment tasks were completed in conjunction with a series of creative problem solving teamwork sessions. Standard SELTS course evaluation also strongly suggests there is value in the active teaching of creativity strategies for the recognition of valuable problems and the development of innovative solutions.     

Consequential creativity

Creativity is an original cognitive ability and problem solving process which enables individuals to use their intelligence in a way that is unique and directed toward coming up with a product. Architectural education is one of the fields in which human creativity has been exhibited; because, it can be defined as a design study that correlates with other disciplines: social sciences, management, history, operational research, philosophy, graphic design, math and etc. These features which distinguish architecture from other disciplines ascribe different kind of responsibilities for architectural education; since beside technical and professional skills, an architect must have imagination and to be creative at many levels. Thus, this research aims at proving that students can be trained in creative thinking via acquiring specific skills and systematic techniques, which directly acts on design product. The study methodology depends on the concept of experimental research that targets at exposing students to creative problem solving experience via carrying out a creative training course that concerns “Consequential Creativity”. That experiment examined the potentiality of enhancing the students’ ability of viewing problems in non-traditional perspectives that counts on the systematic procedures of problem solving. Tools for assessment before and after training have been implemented. The Experiment findings proved that the students’ creative thinking skill has been clearly improved after attending the course. Therefore, training in creative thinking can be considered as independent courses or within specific architectural curricula.     

When mind, heart, and hands meet: communication design and designers

Hong Kong’s transformation from a manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy has prompted the local government to promote the city as a regional design center. The 2008 Policy Address delivered by Hong Kong’s Chief Executive calls for the creation of a large pool of creative and knowledgeable talent. The government recognizes that, in addition to disciplinary knowledge and skills, the high-quality workforce demanded by the economic transition requires creativity and broader competences. The University Grants Committee of Hong Kong considers outcome-based education (OBE) the best approach to developing a workforce qualified to meet the demands of the professional marketplace and, accordingly, is strongly encouraging its deployment in all higher education institutions. This article investigates the effects of the OBE approach on the curriculum revision, implementation, and evaluation of a two-semester undergraduate-level communication design course that was selected for an OBE pilot study at the author’s university. To establish stronger linkage between the academic and professional contexts, it was deemed necessary to seek the opinions of experienced design practitioners about the attributes they expect of graduates and the methods they employ in training junior designers. The author conducted in-depth interviews with 13 art/creative directors from 11 design agencies in Hong Kong in 2007. Their opinions were incorporated into the formulation of intended learning outcomes (ILOs), teaching and learning activities (TLAs), and assessment tasks (ATs) for the revised outcome-based course curriculum, which was then implemented in the 2008–2009 academic year. This article reports the findings of the aforementioned interviews and discusses the design of the revised curriculum with illustration from samples of students’ creative projects. It also provides a preliminary evaluation of the effectiveness of the course design and student learning, as revealed in quantitative and qualitative feedback from students and in the course designer’s self-reflection.     

Implementing an exemplar-based approach in an interaction design subject: enhancing students’ awareness of the need to be creative

In higher education effective teaching includes making learning goals and standards clear to students. In architecture and design education in particular, goals and standards around assessment are often not well articulated. There is good evidence that when teachers engage students before an assessment in marking exemplars, and explain why the exemplars received the grades they did, students’ performance in their written assessment is consequently enhanced. However some teachers are concerned that exemplars may discourage students from being creative; this concern is particularly important in design education. In this small-scale mixed methods study we explore interaction design students’ perceptions of the effect of an exemplar-based teaching approach on their work in a design task. Our quantitative and qualitative results show that students developed their understanding of task criteria and standards; far from discouraging their creativity, most students perceived that their experience of the approach enhanced their awareness of the need to produce an original design. The exemplar-based approach used in this study complements the studio-based teaching approach in design education, and helps to make clear the design goals and standards that teachers expect their students to strive for.     

关于蓄电池充电器中的恒流源电路设计

论述了应用于蓄电池充电器中的线性恒流源、开关恒流源和集成恒流源电路的设计 ,并分析了它们的结构和特点     

服装材料再造与创新性思维拓展

随着近几年国际高级时装领域对面料重塑再造的运用,材料再造成为服装设计师进行创作的重要物质载体。各大纺织服装院校也纷纷开设了材料再造这门课程,其教学思路与教学方法的探索也在实践中得到了很大发展。把此课程转化为提升学生专业素质的服装基础教学课程,也成为教师探索课程改革的重点。在改变面料外观的同时,拓展其思维能力,激发学生的创造力和想象力。     

A path model of factors affecting secondary school students’ technological literacy

Technological literacy defines a competitive vision for technology education. Working together with competitive supremacy, technological literacy shapes the actions of technology educators. Rationalised by the dictates of industry, technological literacy was constructed as a product of the marketplace. There are many models that visualise different dimensions of technological literacy, but clear empirical evidence on how these interact is still lacking. A measurement method that comprehensively evaluates technological literacy is missing. Insights into the stem structure and interaction of technological literacy dimensions could be useful for technology education curriculum design and its implementation. In this study, the multifaceted nature of technological literacy was measured using a new assessment method, and dimensions of secondary school students’ technological literacy were empirically investigated. A total of 403 students participated in the quasi-experimental research design. The treatment group consisted of 121 students taught optional subjects relating to technology education. The control group consisted of 282 students. Results from variance analysis showed that optional technology subjects enhance technological literacy, especially students’ technological capacity where a large effect size (η ²  = 0.14) was noted. Results from a path analysis revealed critical thinking and decision-making as the most important dimensions of technological literacy while the predictor of active participation in out-of-school technical activities and technology homework was a key independent influencing factor. A large effect size (R ²  = 0.4) for career path orientation predictors was detected. Technological capacity was revealed as a decisive predictor for a career path in vocational education and technical high school.     

Motivation for creativity in architectural design and engineering design students: implications for design education

The investigation reported here dealt with the study of motivation for creativity. The goals were to assess motivation for creativity in architectural design and engineering design students based on the Cognitive Orientation theory which defines motivation as a function of a set of belief types, themes, and groupings identified as relevant for the development of creativity. Differences between the two groups of students were expected in some of the scores of the belief types, themes, and groupings. Participants were 112 students (52 from architecture, and 60 from engineering) who were administered the questionnaire of the Cognitive Orientation of Creativity. Significant differences in numerous motivational contents were observed between the groups of students. Major characteristics of the architectural design students were an emphasis on the inner world, inner-directedness, and a development of the self, and of the engineering design students being receptive to the environment, and demanding from oneself despite potential difficulties. The findings provide insights for intervention programs targeted at improving architectural and engineering design education.