EMBEDDING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN THE ENGINEERING CURRICULUM

Dennis McKeag

EMBEDDING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN THE ENGINEERING CURRICULUM

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

One of the challenges facing engineering faculties is the matter of embedding creativity and innovation into undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Creativity is perceived to be the domain of the arts, and the general understanding of innovation is any change. In industrialised society people expect originality, ingenuity and novelty from new or improved products processes and systems, and these factors are the basis of creativity. It follows that since most of products, processes and systems in industrialised society are based on engineering and associated technology, it is imperative that these values are an integral part of engineering education, and that innovation, which is the commercialisation of creative design, is also taught as a fundamental element in the education of an engineer. Having spent fifteen years as a professor in a Faculty of Art and Design and subsequently transferred to a Faculty of Engineering, the author has developed a well tried and tested system for embedding creativity and innovation in engineering courses, and this paper provides insight into the system and its success.

Original language	English
Journal	Processings of the SEFI Annual Conference, Alborg, Denmark, 30 June - 3 July 2008
Volume	2008
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 2 Jul 2008

Bibliographical note

Reference text: (1) Unlocking Creativity – making it happen; A publication by the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, DETI, DoE, and HEFTE; 2001
(2) The Creativity Question – what sort of education produces the most creative people; www.improve-education.org
(3) Norman Jackson; Imaginative Curriculum Nurturing Creativity Project; LTSN Generic Centre; 2003
(4) Symposium: Understanding and Embedding Creativity in the Curriculum; University of Ulster; March 19th 2008
(5) Collins Universal Dictionary
(6) Jeremy Clarkson; Don’t Stop Me Now; Penguin, P272; isbn: 978-0-718-14905-5; 2007
(7) Stuart Pugh; Total Design – Integrated Methods for Successful Product Engineering; Addison-Wesley, pp 44-66; isbn:0-201-41639-5; 1990
(8) (http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/)
(9) Rogers, E.M. (2003) Diffusion of Innovations (5th edn), London, Simon & Schuster
(10)Confidential document.

Keywords

engineering
creativity
innovation
education
industry

Cite this

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title = "EMBEDDING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN THE ENGINEERING CURRICULUM",

abstract = "One of the challenges facing engineering faculties is the matter of embedding creativity and innovation into undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Creativity is perceived to be the domain of the arts, and the general understanding of innovation is any change. In industrialised society people expect originality, ingenuity and novelty from new or improved products processes and systems, and these factors are the basis of creativity. It follows that since most of products, processes and systems in industrialised society are based on engineering and associated technology, it is imperative that these values are an integral part of engineering education, and that innovation, which is the commercialisation of creative design, is also taught as a fundamental element in the education of an engineer. Having spent fifteen years as a professor in a Faculty of Art and Design and subsequently transferred to a Faculty of Engineering, the author has developed a well tried and tested system for embedding creativity and innovation in engineering courses, and this paper provides insight into the system and its success.",

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note = "Reference text: (1) Unlocking Creativity – making it happen; A publication by the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, DETI, DoE, and HEFTE; 2001 (2) The Creativity Question – what sort of education produces the most creative people; www.improve-education.org (3) Norman Jackson; Imaginative Curriculum Nurturing Creativity Project; LTSN Generic Centre; 2003 (4) Symposium: Understanding and Embedding Creativity in the Curriculum; University of Ulster; March 19th 2008 (5) Collins Universal Dictionary (6) Jeremy Clarkson; Don{\textquoteright}t Stop Me Now; Penguin, P272; isbn: 978-0-718-14905-5; 2007 (7) Stuart Pugh; Total Design – Integrated Methods for Successful Product Engineering; Addison-Wesley, pp 44-66; isbn:0-201-41639-5; 1990 (8) (http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/) (9) Rogers, E.M. (2003) Diffusion of Innovations (5th edn), London, Simon & Schuster (10)Confidential document.",

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N2 - One of the challenges facing engineering faculties is the matter of embedding creativity and innovation into undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Creativity is perceived to be the domain of the arts, and the general understanding of innovation is any change. In industrialised society people expect originality, ingenuity and novelty from new or improved products processes and systems, and these factors are the basis of creativity. It follows that since most of products, processes and systems in industrialised society are based on engineering and associated technology, it is imperative that these values are an integral part of engineering education, and that innovation, which is the commercialisation of creative design, is also taught as a fundamental element in the education of an engineer. Having spent fifteen years as a professor in a Faculty of Art and Design and subsequently transferred to a Faculty of Engineering, the author has developed a well tried and tested system for embedding creativity and innovation in engineering courses, and this paper provides insight into the system and its success.

AB - One of the challenges facing engineering faculties is the matter of embedding creativity and innovation into undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Creativity is perceived to be the domain of the arts, and the general understanding of innovation is any change. In industrialised society people expect originality, ingenuity and novelty from new or improved products processes and systems, and these factors are the basis of creativity. It follows that since most of products, processes and systems in industrialised society are based on engineering and associated technology, it is imperative that these values are an integral part of engineering education, and that innovation, which is the commercialisation of creative design, is also taught as a fundamental element in the education of an engineer. Having spent fifteen years as a professor in a Faculty of Art and Design and subsequently transferred to a Faculty of Engineering, the author has developed a well tried and tested system for embedding creativity and innovation in engineering courses, and this paper provides insight into the system and its success.

KW - engineering

KW - creativity

KW - innovation

KW - education

KW - industry

M3 - Article

VL - 2008

ER -

EMBEDDING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN THE ENGINEERING CURRICULUM

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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