This project examines creativity in a series of activities involving the use of IT in a freshmen engineering course sequence spread across two semesters. The technology we will focus on primarily is pen-based direct input computers or Tablet PCs. The fundamental idea behind this study is to understand how students engage in creativity within the constraints of engineering design activities (EDA). EDAs are bound by design guidelines and limitations of space, time, material resources, and use of specific technologies, forcing students to be inventive and creative in accomplishing their goals, whether with artifacts or with people. The study will consider how students ?make do? and what role does technology play, and how creative practices develop over time. The project uses a longitudinal study comprising of an ethnographic field study component and laboratory based studies of interaction, spread over 18 months. Rather than relying solely on pre-designed instruments that measure creativity, the project assesses creativity contextually to try and understand the full spectrum of creative practices. In addition to serving as data, the video records collected during the study will also serve as the basis for building a digital video case library to teach creativity to undergraduate and graduate students.
For economic and technological advancement of the nation, it is essential that young engineers are adept at using information technology and are creative and innovative in their approach towards engineering. This research project studied how engineering students can be trained to be more creative in their use of IT and in their design output. By examining teams of engineering students working on design projects related to sustainable development, this project identified the immense constraints that are placed to students as part of their engineering coursework and studies and how that affects their design outcomes as well as their use of technology. In addition to research findings, this project also resulted in the training of both undergraduate and graduate engineering students. In addition to supporting doctoral work, the project also supported undergraduate student training in engineering design. The students worked on design problems that were developed specifically with the purpose to increase creativity and innovativeness. The outcomes shows that authentic projects developed in partnership with the community resulted in more creative and useful solutions. These projects also increased student motivation to participate and their engagement with the design projects. Several design problems and ideas developed as part of this project have been implemented in large engineering classes impacting thousands of engineering students. The findings from our work have been presented at major conferences in the field and have also been published in conference proceedings and journals.
