Creativity and Learning in the Virtual Sphere: Perspectives from Doctoral Students

Vol. 9 No. 2

Year: 2012

Issue: Oct-Dec

Title: Creativity and Learning in the Virtual Sphere: Perspectives from Doctoral Students 

Author Name: Thalia Mulvihill, Dr. Raji Swaminathan 

Synopsis: 

The purpose of this article is to analyze the perspectives of doctoral students on creativity and learning in the virtual environment. The researchers investigated the following central research question: to what extent is creative thinking fostered in virtual environments? In addition, the paper also examined how creativity is practiced in virtual environments. The paper will share the results of a 10 item anonymous survey distributed to doctoral students and doctoral faculty regarding their experiences with virtual learning environments and their creative thinking activities. Descriptive statistics and open coding were used to analyze the survey results and to make recommendations for innovative doctoral-level virtual pedagogies meant to build and enhance creative thinking. The results provide educators with further insights about how to structure learning environments with a view toward fostering creativity.