Creativity and Innovation by Dorca Ruíz

1. Creativity. What is it and what is it not?

admcont — 2025-04-11 02:09:12 UTC

1.1. A necessary introduction

admcont — 2025-04-11 02:11:32 UTC

It is not always necessary to create something new or innovate in a disruptive way in all areas. Perhaps we just need to do well what we already do well, to insist on what already works. And in education we find the need to include new ways of impacting students. To make the learning experience more rewarding for all the agents involved.

In order to achieve educational objectives, it is necessary to make education a full educational experience and to include creativity in pedagogical approaches.

The speed of change is dizzying and knowing how to adapt to this reality is part of the responsibility of the knowledge and skills to be transmitted in the educational environment.

1.2. Creativity What is it not?

admcont — 2025-04-11 02:13:56 UTC

Originality is the quality by which something is different and novel in some way. The creative brings value and is useful to achieve an end.

- It is not diagnostic or measurable.

- Being creative is not being funny

- To be witty is not to be creative

- To be creative is not to have a taste for arts and crafts.

- Being restless or hyperactive is not being creative.

1.3. Creativity, what is it?

admcont — 2025-04-11 02:15:06 UTC

The creativity of a person lies in the conjunction of an attitude, a set of skills and a way of working following a set of rules, techniques and methods. The creativity of a result of the creative process lies in the achievement of certain characteristics in that result.

“Creativity is the state of consciousness that allows generating a network of mental relationships and connections to identify, pose and solve problems in a relevant and divergent way.” Mihály

2. Innovation What is and what is not?

admcont — 2025-04-11 02:16:38 UTC

2.1. Differences between creativity and innovation

admcont — 2025-04-11 02:17:39 UTC

“Creativity is thinking of new and appropriate ideas, while innovation is the successful application of ideas within an organization. In other words, creativity is the concept and innovation is the process.” William Coyne

The main difference between creativity and innovation is the approach.

Creativity is subjective, and as we have seen, it is difficult to measure. Innovation, however, is completely measurable.

2.2. Differences between I+D and innovation

admcont — 2025-04-11 02:19:19 UTC

Research: activities aimed at acquiring new knowledge that may be useful for the creation of new products, processes or services or contribute to significantly improve existing ones.

Development: acquisition, combination, configuration and use of existing knowledge and techniques with a view to developing plans and structures or designs for new, modified or improved products, processes or services.

2.3. What is innovation?

admcont — 2025-04-11 02:20:54 UTC

Creation or modification of a product and its introduction in a market.

Sometimes, improvement and innovation go hand in hand without establishing clear differences between the two concepts. Improvement is conservative in that it follows a path that has already produced positive results. On the other hand, innovation is not only about improving a process or a product, but also implies generating a real change. It involves taking risks since neither the path nor the results to be obtained are known a priori.

2.4. What is educational innovation?

admcont — 2025-04-11 02:23:08 UTC

Jaume Carbonell, understands educational innovation as a set of ideas, processes and strategies, more or less systematized, through which an attempt is made to introduce and provoke changes in current practices (...) Its purpose is to alter the current reality, modifying conceptions and attitudes, altering methods and interventions and improving or transforming, as the case may be, teaching and learning processes.

For Jesús Salinas, innovation is reflected in actions that produce changes in practices, thus implying the transformation of educational practices. It is an intentional and planned process, based on theory and reflection, which responds to the need to transform practices in order to better achieve their objectives.

Francesc Imbernón, who states that educational innovation is the attitude and the process of inquiry of new ideas, proposals and contributions, carried out collectively, for the solution of problematic situations of practice, which will bring about a change in the contexts and in the institutional practice of education.