Contents
Presenters
Johanna Payton – Associate Dean, Student Experience
Paper
Educators are struggling to engage their students (Marshall, 2024), encourage critical thinking (Golden, 2023) and develop their resilience (Markovikj and Serafimovska, 2023; Šimunjak, 2023). Creative thinking is the most sought-after skill in the global jobs market (World Economic Forum, 2023), but an ‘anxious generation’ (Haidt, 2024) of post-pandemic, smartphone-centric students have mental health and behavioural issues that have already tested school and FE teachers (Bajwa, et al., 2023; Hill, 2024; Hill, et al., 2024). An interdisciplinary pedagogical model could help educators to engage and nurture their students’ creative thinking and human skills, building confidence and preparing them for life beyond university.
The model I propose has a foundation of skills and knowledge at its core, situated within a supportive ecosystem that encourages ‘eudaimonia’ to occur (Huta, 2013). Eudaimonia is a state of wellness, authenticity, growth and excellence, particularly apt for contemporary students as it can be cultivated in stressful and pressured environments. 21st-century graduates need highly tuned ‘human skills’ (Sinek, 2021) and positioning eudaimonia as a primary educational outcome could produce creative thinkers with an improved sense of wellbeing, mastery of their human skills, positive collaborative experience and relevance to the 21st-century society they will live and work in.
The model was developed in the context of PhD research that looks at developing a creative culture in journalism and journalism education. It is underpinned by a practice-led study (Smith and Dean, 2009) including semi-structured interviews, a digital avatar activity and, inspired by the Delphi Method (Dalkey and Helmer, 1963), three stakeholder focus groups. A thematic approach (Braun and Clarke, 2006) was employed for data analysis, and the model is supported by a conceptual framework of sociocultural constructivism with Tsai’s (2015) creative education model and Runco and Beghetto’s (2019) primary and secondary model of creativity.
I will outline the paper in a 15-minute presentation that will provide a brief overview of the problems our students face in engaging with their studies, how my research relates to this issue and key information to explain how the model was developed from an empirical qualitative study. I will relate the model to my own teaching and explain how it is being used to design a new first year journalism module at City St George’s called Launchpad; Industry, professionalism and collaboration The presentation will be designed to inspire colleagues, disseminate the research I have completed around creative pedagogy, and provide practical ideas for how this model can be employed in any curriculum. In the five minutes for questions at the end, colleagues can interrogate the model and potentially ask:
- What kind of activities and interventions could contribute to a supportive ecosystem;
- How a creative pedagogical model can be used in disciplines that are not considered creative (e.g. STEM subjects);
- If teaching towards eudaimonia presents any of the same benefits/risks as transformative education;
- How a supportive ecosystem can encourage our students to attend their classes;
- Whether it is our job, as university educators, to shape student behaviour in this way.
References
Bajwa, R. S., Abdullah, H., Zaremohzzabieh, Z., Jaafar, W.M.W. and Samah, A.A. (2023) ‘Smartphone addiction and phubbing behavior among university students: a moderated mediation model by fear of missing out, social comparison, and loneliness’, Frontiers in Psychology, 13, p. 1072551.
Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), pp. 77-101.
Dalkey, N. and Helmer, O. (1963) ‘An experimental application of the Delphi Method to the use of experts’, Management Science, 9, pp. 458-467.
Golden, B. (2023) ‘Enabling critical thinking development in higher education through the use of a structured planning tool’, Irish Educational Studies, 42(4), pp. 949–969.
Haidt, J. (2024) The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Penguin.
Hill, J. (2024) What’s behind the rise in bad student behaviour in colleges? Available at: https://feweek.co.uk/whats-behind-the-rise-in-bad-student-behaviour-in-colleges/ (Accessed: 03 April 2025).
Hill, M., Farrelly, N., Clarke, C. and Cannon, M. (2024) ‘Student mental health and well-being: overview and future directions’, Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 41(2), pp. 259-266.
Huta, V. (2013) ‘Eudaimonia’, in I. Boniwell, S.A. David and A. Conley Ayers (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Happiness. Oxford Academic, pp. 201–213.
Markovikj, M. and Serafimovska, E. (2023) ‘Mental health resilience in the journalism curriculum’, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 78(2), pp. 233-250.
Marshall, M. (2024) Why aren’t students engaging any more? Available at: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/why-arent-students-engaging-any-more/ (Accessed: 03 April 2025).
Runco, M. A. and Beghetto, R.A. (2019) ‘Primary and secondary creativity’, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 27, pp. 7-10.
Šimunjak, M. (2023) ‘Teaching emotional intelligence for enhancing resilience in journalism’, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 78(2), pp. 127-141.
Sinek, S. (2021) There’s NO such thing as “soft skills”. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9uzJ0LgvT0 (Accessed: 03 April 2025).
Smith, H. and Dean, R. T. (2009) Practice-led Research, Research-led Practice in the Creative Arts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Tsai, K.C. (2015) ‘A framework of creative education’, Education, 21(1), pp. 137-155.
World Economic Forum. (2023). Future of jobs 2023: These are the most in-demand skills now – and beyond. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/05/future-of-jobs-2023-skills/ (Accessed: 22 December 2024).
