Creative students in self-paced online learning environments: an experimental exploration of the interaction of visual design and creativity

Michaela Rosar,Joshua Weidlich

doi:10.1186/s41039-022-00183-1

Abstract

Creativity is an increasingly recognized construct in technology-enhanced learning. However, our understanding of how creativity interacts with the design of online learning environments to affect learning experiences is still limited. For example, do creative students benefit from different learning environment designs than those benefitting their less creative peers? This experimental study (N = 187) explores this question by investigating the visual design of a self-paced online learning environment, specifically the degree of visual structure, in relation to students' creativity. Creativity was measured in different ways, along the lines of vocational/study choice, self-reported personality and behavior, and creative production. Students were randomly assigned to either a visually unstructured (experimental group) or a visually highly structured (control group) learning environment. They reported their preference, impulse for activation, and situational motivation after the learning experience. Results indicate interaction effects consistent with the role of creativity in perception and learning. More specifically, creative students reported more motivation after learning in an unstructured environment, whereas non-creative students reported relatively better learning experiences in the highly structured condition. These results contribute to resolving previous conflicting findings from separated studies, yet some ambiguities remain. Results and implications are discussed, and recommendations for future research are laid out.

Highlights

Creativity is considered an important twenty-first century skill as well as an increasingly explicit goal of formal learning that may help students navigate an uncertain future (Beghetto, 2005, 2010; Craft, 2011)
Further outcome variables that may result from student preferences and are conducive to student learning, like impulse for activation and situational motivation, should be considered. Given this preliminary state of research, we find it important to better understand how design features of self-paced online learning environments fit the creativity of the students that are the target groups of these learning experiences
How relevant is the visual structure for eliciting differential learning experiences in relatively creative versus relatively non‐creative students? In line with our understanding of creativity and the importance of visual design features, our results suggest an interaction between levels of creativity and the visual design of the learning environment, with respect to outcome variables

Summary

Introduction

Creativity is considered an important twenty-first century skill as well as an increasingly explicit goal of formal learning that may help students navigate an uncertain future (Beghetto, 2005, 2010; Craft, 2011). With information and communication technologies increasingly commonplace in all aspects of human endeavor and, usage of digital technologies for educational purposes being ubiquitous (Seaman et al, 2018; Garrett et al, 2019), there is a need for understanding how these online-based learning experiences may cater to individual differences, like creativity, in a pedagogically sound way. A central aspect of pedagogically sound learning design is the recognition of the role of the learning environment itself, the space in which learning activities take place. Besides general-level best practices, there is a need for understanding specific interactions in technology-enhanced learning, for example, how design features of online learning environments interact with creativity as an individual difference, such that engaging and effective learning experiences may be fostered

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Conclusion