Creativity as a Driver for Transformative Learning

This exploratory study identifies aspects of pedagogical design and teaching practice that enabled creative capacities through the lens of the researcher’s lived experience. A guiding research question in this investigation follows: (a) What is the nature of the relationship between creative activity and transformative learning and (b) In what ways are they connected through the lived experience? To conduct this exploratory study, I adopted a dual role as researcher and student in the context of a PhD-level education course at a university in Ontario, Canada. A methodological approach that drew on elements of narrative, self-study, and autoethnography was applied. Data sources include (a) field notes, (b) teaching and learning materials, (c) an individual interview with the instructor, and (d) a focus group with the other four female students in the course. Participants of the study reported that their traditional perspectives of academia were shaped and changed in the context of the creative activities and interactions. Findings reveal how creative acts served as a catalyst for transforming the ways in which the instructor and the students in the course experienced knowledge making.