Title:

“Assessing Creativity: the necessity for circumspection”

The workshop: 

The importance of nurturing creativity within the curriculum is becoming increasingly widely recognised, but this in turn requires us to look at again at some of the assumptions that underlie many conventional methods of assessment. In particular, methods of assessment that are predicated on the idea of there being “right” and “wrong” answers can be problematic where the aim of a programme of study is to encourage students to make unexpected discoveries.

This interactive workshop-based seminar will seek to illustrate the psychology of the creative process, and allow participants collectively to create a ‘stage-map’ of the mind of a creative student. In particular, it will explore the tension between the desire to be creative and the desire to play safe in order to achieve good marks.

Finally, we will consider assessment methodologies that seek to reconcile these often conflicting objectives.

About David Grant…

David Grant has worked extensively in theatre throughout Ireland as a director and critic.   He has been Managing Editor of Theatre Ireland magazine, Programme Director of the Dublin Theatre Festival and Artistic Director of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.  He has directed more than a hundred theatre productions in contexts ranging from Her Majesty's Prison Magheraberry to London's Royal National Theatre. He has been a lecturer in Drama Studies at Queen’s since 2000.