Collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to develop creative mindsets.

Bremner, Pauline A.M.; Davidson, Ann

Abstract

The three-tier Scottish Innovative Student Awards (SISA - https://www.sie.ac.uk/sisa/) from the Scottish Institute of Enterprise (SIE) are an awards programme that develops innovation skills in both undergraduate and postgraduate students. At the Robert Gordon University the scheme has been integrated into the School of Creative and Cultural Business through collaboration and with the accreditation of degree modules in line with level one of the programme. Students who are successful can progress onto the next levels, hence SISA provides students with the ability to: 1) recognise the innovation skills they have developed within the curriculum (level 1 Future Thinker); 2) build on these skills and apply them to societal challenges in multidisciplinary teams (level 2 Innovative Catalyst); and 3) demonstrate an intent to innovate and act (level 3 Innovative Champion). Adopting this collaborative and interdisciplinary practice within the Fashion Management curricula has supported the development of students' intrinsic competencies and values, as well as their development in expanding awareness of external environments. In applying this theory into practice, it aligns with the UK Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education (2018), which provides guidance to help educators embed, enhance and promote enterprise across the academic curriculum. More importantly, "whole person" education is a factor of holistic curricula (Miller 2019). Adopting the SISA model acts as an enabler for "whole person" education, making a more holistic curricula. This is seen as the way forwards, where students take more responsibility for their own lifelong learning and seek to develop relevant skills sets for employment. With the growing need for collaborative practices, communication, cognitive and problem solving skills in the 4.0 professional workplace (Fuglsang Ostergaard and Graafland Norlund 2019), having external input that focuses on the "bigger picture" allows for graduates to be well-placed to thrive in their professional careers.

Citation

BREMNER, P.A.M. and DAVIDSON, A. 2020. Collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to develop creative mindsets. Presented at Creative experiment in the higher education classroom, 25-26 June 2020, virtual symposium.

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: Creative experiment in the higher education classroom
• Start Date: Jun 25, 2020
• End Date: Jun 26, 2020
• Deposit Date: May 6, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: May 6, 2021
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Student skills; Graduate employability; Career planning; Scotland
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1290249