375 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. J. Bishop et al. (eds.), Handbook of Research in Educational Communications
and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36119-8_17
Instructional Design for Learner
Creativity
Jason K. McDonald, Richard E. West, Peter J. Rich,
and Brad Hokanson
Creativity is a critical learning outcome for the twenty-frst century (Pellegrino &
Hilton, 2012; Soulé & Warrick, 2015). Changing economic conditions throughout
the world, the demand for fresh solutions to diffcult societal problems, and the
personal benefts that arise as individuals fulfll their creative potential, all indicate
the importance of creativity becoming not only part of, but deeply integrated into,
all types of educational environments (Naghsh, Abari, & Motlaq, 2013; Sawyer,
2012; Wadaani, 2015). This includes learners at all levels—in elementary and sec-
ondary education (Beghetto, 2016b); higher education (Livingston, 2010); and
workplace learning (Carnevale, 2013).
Because creativity is so crucial to both individuals and societies, helping people
become more creative is a task that educators, policy makers, and other stakeholders
cannot ignore (Paniagua & Istance, 2018). Yet factors within the educational system
challenge our ability to foster learner creativity. Unfortunately, many people, teach-
ers included, believe that creativity is innate and cannot be developed (Aljughaiman
& Mowrer-Reynolds, 2005). Additionally, even when attuned to the need, many
teachers are ill-prepared to teach in a manner that nurtures creativity (Liu & Lin,
2014). Similarly, outside of the arts, curriculum is typically underdeveloped in the
area of creativity skills (Sternberg, 2015; Wyse & Ferrari, 2015). Some teachers feel
that systematic conditions, such as high stakes testing, have imposed barriers that
interfere with their ability to encourage creativity within students (Olivant, 2015).
And fnally, although research has shown that most people can become more cre-
ative to some degree (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2014), there is still much progress to be
J. K. McDonald (*) · R. E. West · P. J. Rich
Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA
e-mail: jason@byu.edu; rickwest@byu.edu; pjrich@byu.edu
B. Hokanson
University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA
e-mail: brad@umn.edu