Postgraduate Module Descriptor


EFPM916: Thinking Skills and Creativity in the Internet Age

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

A number of sessions/topics will focus on theories and current ideas around teaching thinking in the context of the Internet Age. You will engage with ideas and theories around thinking and teaching thinking, as well as creativity and creative thinking, including current thinking around linking communications technology and social networks, group learning and theories of cognition and meta-cognition.

In other sessions/topics, you will be introduced to a number of more practical approaches to teaching thinking, including group thinking, and creative thinking and you will be asked to consider the relationship between teaching thinking and the wider school culture. In these sessions, you will link the theories and ideas to more practical approaches. You will be able to discuss and reflect on possible education futures in relation to teaching thinking and creativity and focus on new directions in teaching thinking and new research on thinking skills and cognition.

You will be provided with opportunities to discuss ideas with peers, both through online media and face-to-face in seminars throughout the module.

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
302700

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities3030 hours of face to face and/or online seminars (1-3 hours)
Guided Independent Study100Preparation for assignments
Guided Independent Study50Set readings
Guided Independent Study120Engagement with specific online materials, videos, preparations for academic tutorial, preparing for seminar activities, responding to seminar, collaborative group tasks

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Banaji, S. & Burn, A. (2010) (2ndedition) The Rhetorics of Creativity: A Review of the Literature, London, Arts Council England. https://www.creativitycultureeducation.org//wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rhetorics-of-creativity-2nd-edition-87.pdf

Beghetto, R. A., & Kaufman, J. C. (2007). Toward a broader conception of creativity: A case for 'mini-c' creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1(2), 73-79 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/26aa/096578798a27c093bae0a66ceb701a543931.pdf

Boden, M. (2004) The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms, (2nd ed) London: Routledge

Brown, John Seely and Douglas Thomas. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. World Future Review (World Future Society), Vol. 3(2), p115-117

Craft, A. (2005). Creativity in schools:  tensions and dilemmas. Abingdon: Routledge Falmer.

Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindset: How You Can Fulfil Your Potential. London: Constable & Robinson Limited.

Flynn, J. R. (2009). What Is Intelligence: Beyond the Flynn Effect(expanded paperback ed.). Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Larkin, S. (2010). Metacognitionin Young Children. London: Routledge.

Lucas, B. and Claxton, G. (2010) New Kinds of Smart; How the science of learnable intelligence is changing education. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Littleton, K. and Mercer, N. (2013). Interthinking: Putting talk to work. Abingdon: Routledge.

Sternberg, R. (ed). (1999). Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.

Trilling, B & P. Hood, (2001) “Learning, Technology and Education Reform in the Knowledge Age, or ‘We’re Wired, Webbed and Windowed, Now What?’”, in C.  Paechter, R. Edwards, R. Harrison, & P. Twining, (Eds.), Learning, Space and Identity, Paul Chapman Publishing & The Open University, London, UK, 2001. Also at: http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/654

UNESCO (2005). Towards Knowledge Societies: Unesco World Report. [www.unesco.org/en/worldreport]

Wegerif, R.B. (2011). Towards a dialogic theory of how children learn to think. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 6(3), 179-190.

Wegerif, R. (2013). Dialogic: Education for the Internet Age. London and New York: Routledge.

Wegerif, R, Kaufman, J. C. & Li , L., (2015) Routledge International Handbook of Research on Teaching Thinking. Routledge.