The Creativity Challenge Game: An educational intervention for creativity enhancement with the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

Abstract

Creativity enhancement is an educational objective. The integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) into the curriculum is another goal of many educators. In this study a creativity enhancement intervention was conducted with participants students (N = 90, 46 male, 44 female) of mean age M = 18.38, in an information systems course. A quasi-experimental design was employed and the proposed method included the extensive use of Facebook, a collaborative team structure, a game-like competitive environment, questions generation and answering. Creativity was measured with several pre-post divergent thinking tests. Academic achievement was obtained through exam results. Additional data were collected with online questionnaires. Results show that the intervention was overall effective in stimulating creativity. There was a statistically significant increase in fluency, flexibility, elaboration and originality, as measured by divergent thinking tests. Total student creativity calculated with the use of principal component analysis showed a significant positive link to academic achievement and ICT knowledge. Students with almost zero Facebook usage exhibited the highest levels of creativity followed closely by their peers with the highest Facebook usage. Creativity enhancement was not related to Facebook usage or ICT knowledge. Results and implications are discussed, and propositions for future research are offered.