Florida State University

Creativity, Flexibility, and Innovation in Education

Among the many roles that education plays in society is developing the capacity of students for “creative problem solving”. It is a role that is typically embraced by all disciplines. As educators, we strive to improve the collective quality of life by approaching issues through our unique lenses, science, art, psychology or, as is the FSU focus at this conference, design. Although this common goal unites all of us, we spend a great deal of time focusing on our differences, often approaching problems and potential solutions in silos.

As we advance, our societal problems have become increasingly more complex. Complicated problems require innovative solutions. The likelihood of innovative breakthroughs increases when people from differing disciplines bring their coequal expertise together into multidisciplinary teams. The creation of a truly sustainable world must include specialties not only working together, but also overlapping and intersecting in a more cohesive way. Although contemporary practice has more recently taken this inclusive approach, we have not updated the traditional model of education. A silo’ed approach does not serve our students who will go on to address the complicated issues of our time.

Educators have the opportunity to lead change by identifying and training skills and traits in their students that are most valuable when working in multidisciplinary settings. This is not to say that the separate disciplines need to be rebuked. On the contrary, the complexity of our issues will always require developing the skill areas and specialty knowledge that makes each discipline unique and indispensable. But, using design education as an example, we will need to spend more time focusing on what unites disciplines and strengthens the ability to work together – commonalities found in the design process, design thinking, social responsibility, and innovation. Are we currently answering this critical need? Are we preparing our students to answer the complicated problems of our age?

This call for presentations seeks:  Groundbreaking examples in education or practice that elevate multidisciplinary teams to tackle complex problems  |  Examples of successful educational paradigm changes that address these issues  |  Proposed educational frameworks that could be employed by educators to address these issues  |  History/anthology studies that contribute to a broad understanding of this topic  |  Research studies that contribute to a deeper understanding of these topics  |  Other presentation types that further this discussion

Part of the conference Transformative Teaching : See Full Call