Creativity and Critical Thinking Module, 2012-13

Tutor Feedback (from Roisin and Jen)

Positive Points

· In the presentations this week, the tutors recognize that all the groups have worked conscientiously and diligently behind the scenes in preparation for their infographic. In five weeks, the majority of the groups have produced excellent graphic visual representations of a blend of information, data and knowledge on the topics of creativity or aspects of critical thinking, and we were suitably impressed by the quality attained in certain instances.

· The tutors believe that the following particular examples have the potential to improve understanding of the chosen displayed topics, and in particular, highly commend the Free Thinkers who have conducted primary research to inform their infographic on critical thinking, and used this need to shape the direction of the concrete concept that needed to be explained visually to research students across all disciplines. Humour was also used to communicate key points/messages more effectively for their intended audience.

· GMMP4CCT have settled on a teaching infographic – to inform academics to make best use of wikispaces to support groups. Drawing upon personal experiences and reflections can be useful in identifying key themes and ideas that will be of benefit to a potential audience.

· The Bobs demonstrated excellent production values and scholarship in both the infographic and associated posters, and have made a very useful transition between what they were discussing in the infographic – the need for a trigger for creativity and using the posters to do just that in their colleges. Effective use of visual content works well to pull the infographic themes together.

· The Creative Superheroes have taken the very important concept of community of learning for the classroom and produced a strong, visually appealing piece of work. The content is effectively structured and presented under 4 key themes that help to communicate a clear overall message.

· Creativity Collective - the artistic talents of individuals in the group have been well utilised to make this a unique offering. The cyclical nature depicted in the infographic works well to demonstrate the breakdown of the topic and the relationship between the various elements of creativity and communicates a clear accessible message to a potential audience.

· Height Achievers are the second group to concentrate on critical thinking for their infographic and have highlighted the key relationship between logical and critical thinking. Various perspectives to the topics have been utilised to demonstrate both similarities and differences.

· Mind Mappers really opened up our notions on what creativity is and used their individual interests to organically grow their infographic!

Developmental Points

· As the purpose of the infographic is to present complex information quickly and clearly to a particular audience, each group should revisit their work and bear this in mind when producing the final version. Some of the groups need to introduce theme graphics in their infographic to pull together or conceptualise the underlying visual representation of the data – rather than have an over-abundance of screen-shots or images. This will help demonstrate evidence of higher order thinking and engagement with their topic.

· Also, all groups should revisit one of the most important aspects of their infographic - that they contain some sort of valuable insight from the group into the data that they are presenting (this is what will make your work unique to your group), perhaps combining a diversity of approaches reflective of the blend of individuals that make up your group.

· Remember the three basic provisions of communication with your chosen audience that need to be considered when finalising your infographic – visual appeal, comprehension, and retention.

· There is a need to cut down on text in some infographics (you know this yourselves) and ensure that only the main message or theme is presented and that the infographic still works well as a standalone without the benefit of your accompanying narrative.

Group 4 Feedback:

Feedback is provioded by group, and each change of font type indicates a different person's feedback.

1.GMMP4CCT
practical, useful & informative. not sure about screen shots. dont think you get get 49 steps into the graphic

It struck me as student centred, useful, and I felt it was based on real, predicted difficulties, which made me warm to it. Screenshots felt a little like they might be hard work.

Very practical and over all a nice feel.
I would remove the screen shots and find an alternative such as a diagram or text

2. The Bobs
felt the concept was easy to grasp and well illustrated (fisherman & funnell). wordle at the end i’d change as didn’t seem to flow

The first part was clear, clean and crisp, and felt quite unified, good use of graphics, and easy to get, but felt a little too minimalist – mainly because the presentation poijted out loads of theory and context. The final part felt like it had great ideas, but was too text heavy, especially compared to the earlier part. The poster campaign helped with both, fleshing out the early part, and simplifying the later.

This was very good and I really got a good sense of what they were trying to achieve.

I would edit down the text on the poster campaign.

3. Free Thinkers

I thought this was the closest to the brief and I though the one that could be put up in a classroom and be really beneficial for students

The use of student data the group collected made this feel really student focused and driven, and thr groups connection and work ethic seemed to come through in the graphic – it all held together well, felt focused, and gave it a welcoming, student friendly feel. The graphics looked functional, but not amazing. Content though, seemed really engaging.

Really liked the layout and felt it was a positive approach.

Would ensure that this could stand alone without the explanation.

5. The Creative Collective
felt that they new the area very well and i think they said that more would be added so that will definately improve it

Lots of theory in this one. solid, well worked out. But the graphic didn’t really feel that grounded in it. It felt slight and too minimalist. Felt I could learn a lot from it’s simplicity, but it’s subject demands more complexity.

Visually very clear.
Much more information needed in order to clearly explain the info graphic

6. Height Achievers
Felt this one was slighlty confused in so much that asked a very good question but didn’t offer many answers.

Group 6′s honesty really appealed to me. There’s no Infographic to respond to, but the theory they described was clear, well sketched out and interesting, and the gap between the two parts wasn’t a problem – it’s part of the process. A difficult one to respond to, as there’s no graphic, but the theory is definitely interesting.

I feel the end result has huge potential but a clearer vision needs to be established first.
I look forward to the end result

7. Mind mappers

very clear on their message and well presented. maybe more explanation (text) around graphic

difficult to separate this from the presentation, which was fantastic. My gut feeling on this one was strongest. I didn’t get everything, and a lot would be lost without the explanation, but it’s the one that will stick in my mind longest. It was an object lesson in play and creativity.

What can I say, I loved it. Very positive and clear approach. Extremely interesting.

Hard to find a negative however maybe the could define a definite target audience.

Group free thinkers

The Free Thinkers feedback focusing on the creativity, generating alternative ideas or solutions

1.GMMP4CCT

You seem to have carried out lots of research and have all the necessary information to complete the task. Substitute screen shots with simple graphics and replace text with bullet points. This will help the readability aspect of your text based information and the pictorial representation of instructing how to set a wikispace will fulfil the purpose of an infograph, thereby creating a balance of text and images.

If setting up something, best to have a simple clear idea that is easily grasped at a glance – journey is ideal (doesn’t have to be a road – could be a flight of steps – up a lift) – just a beginning, an end and some stops along the way.

2. The Bobs

Hard to improve on creativity. Works great with extensions like distributed posters. Can the various aspects be drawn together and compressed into an infographic that will still have the same impact? Consider developing the fish image and incorporate a direction/flow to your infographic so that links and connections of/between your points can be interpreted visually.

4. Creative Superheroes

Great design look. As you already know, a lot of text. Simple editing of what’s there may not be radical enough. Consider balancing your text with more images to ensure that your infograph is reader friendly and condense your text in order to fully engage with your audience.

5. The Creative Collective

Very appealing visually. The process is very clear when a commentary was available. The only comment to add here would be to consider how you should make your infograph more accessible? Does it need some more text? For example, is it clear what a ‘field’ means in this context?

6. Height Achievers

Very interesting question. But the suggested dichotomy and resolution need to be represented in a single infograph. Again, the idea of a journey comes to mind. At the beginning of the infograph (the journey), the two approaches are visually represented as being miles apart – by the end they have become as one.

Based on what you presented in your powerpoint, consider how you are going to present your approaches of critical thinking and how these can be applied in problem solving, using a creative way. With reference to ‘A Complete Solution – Is it possible?’ slide, think about how you can link these facets within your infograph, to advise approaches to problem solving.

7. Mind Mappers

Loved it.

While you incorporated good use of images, we advise that you enhance your infograph by adding some explanatory text. This will ensure your infograph will stand alone. If an infograph is supposed to provide information, answers – it probably doesn’t do that. It if is to provoke wonder, questions – I couldn’t improve on it.

Group 2 The Bobs

FEEDBACK FOR GROUPS

We had the enviable task of wearing the ‘black hat’. We felt that the presentations were well put together and the variety of approaches and topics made the day very interesting. Hopefully the points below are useful.

Best of luck with the final touches!

Group 1 GMMP4CCT

Work still incomplete but based on the presentation it seems important that the final presentation is an infographic rather than a flow chart or ‘to-do’ manual.

Not clear if the group had chosen creativity or critical thinking

Does this take a critical or analytical stance, as per the brief?

Group 3 Freethinkers

Reference to the survey material raised questions for me on the data, how many learners participated, what was the answer rate, what type of courses were included in the survey? All important stuff.

Not clear if the group had chosen creativity or critical thinking

The journey can be an overworked metaphor and the path/ linear infographic could include some dead ends and short cuts, to demonstrate that the path often divides and we are faced with difficult decisions, though that may be covered by the group on the infographic already

Group 4 Creative superheroes

Found the presentation overly long and think the editing of the infographic will be tough enough. Again were the group engaging with creativity or critical thinking, although the community of learners is valuable for both creativity and critical thinking.

Very text heavy.

Group 5 The creative collective

The one for me that did engage with creativity, it took a clear philosophical position but it needs to be clear that it is one of many different positions, in this case a significant emphasis on the social dimension necessary for creativity, so the key sources/thinkers in this area could be referenced.

There wasn’t much content, but we realise that it was a work in progress. More detail needs to be included to support argument. Who is the target audience?

One interesting side aspect was the emphasis on usefulness in creativity, however research suggests that usefulness as an attribute seems to be discipline specific, i.e. applied research vs blue skies research.

Group 6 Height Achievers

I missed the start and the group seem to have engaged in a genuine interrogation of the dichotomy between creativity and critical thinking, industry and academia, in a true Socratic way. Their completed jigsaw will be interesting to see. Interesting topic...can they distil? Huge swathes of data being presented.

The group may need to have a more detailed discussion on their topic, and the final direction that they will take.

Mind Mappers

Entertaining as in a TED talk yet I don’t know how it will work as a stand alone infographic without the performance. The final infographic should make sense to a neutral audience.

Group 1