Högskolepedagogiskt centrum

Paperpresentation 20 maj

Teaching creatively in higher education: The roles of personal attributes and environment

The aim of this study was to explore university teachers’ perceptions of creative teaching and other factors that may influence academics’ efforts to teach creatively in higher education in Sweden. A qualitative case study was employed, interviewing 14 university teachers in three focus group interviews. The results show that the university teachers’ perceptions of creative teaching differed slightly, yet were interconnected. They perceived creative teaching as an ability to engage students in learning, to solve problems in challenging teaching situations and introduce innovation or novelty into their teaching. The results also show that apart from personal attributes (e.g., imagination), environmental factors (e.g., departmental structure and culture) play an important role in enabling creative teaching practices. 

Presentatörer: Khayala Ismayilova och Klara Bolander Laksov


Learning environment uncertainty and students’ approaches to learning: A self-determination theory perspective

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Previous research has concluded that it is quite common among higher education students to adopt a surface approach to their learning. To better understand how this phenomenon can be countered, this study of 19 business students at a Swedish university aimed at identifying qualities in the learning environments that may contribute to provoke such a surface approach. The results point to three types of learning environment uncertainty that students may experience, due to how such environments tend to frustrate one or more of their basic psychological needs to feel autonomous, competent, and related. And importantly, we find that adopting a surface approach to learning constitutes an important strategy for reducing or handling such experienced uncertainty.   

Hans Englund och Helen Stockhult


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