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Implementing Sustainability in the Curriculum of Universities pp 173–192Cite as

Reflections on Using Creativity in Teaching Sustainability and Responsible Enterprise: A First and Second Person Inquiry

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Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

Abstract

This paper is a response to the need for teachers in higher and further education to better engage students in learning about the urgent but complex issues of sustainable development and responsible business practice and applying that learning in a range of disciplines. The potential of higher education (HE) to address these challenges through creativity is highlighted alongside emerging challenges for the HE sector. Undertaking creativity in teaching in practice is explored through the ‘I Love Learning’ Project (I♥L), an interdisciplinary project aiming to encourage creativity in teaching as a means to motivate and inspire students, supported by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). The contribution of first and second person action research methods to the development of creativity in higher education is examined. Drawing from practice, the paper offers two models employing extended ways of knowing to categorise creative interventions and suggests a ‘creativity map’ as a model to identify different elements of learning, presenting feedback from students on how the initiatives were received and providing some reflections on quality in the creativity initiatives undertaken. The paper argues for a participatory action research model to grow creativity in higher education through a self-organising structure, imagining ‘creativity greenhouses’ as a model. The paper draws the threads together to highlight creativity’s role in teaching sustainability and responsible enterprise and offers practice based insights. The authors are colleagues from different disciplines, working together in a co-operative inquiry to identify ways to make learning more creative.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    More-than-human-world was coined by David Abrams to describe the “sensuous world in which our techniques and technologies are all rooted” (1996: x).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, All Saints Campus, Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6BH, UK

    Helena Kettleborough & Marcin Wozniak

  2. Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University, Righton Building, Cavendish Street, Manchester, M15 6BG, UK

    David Leathlean

Authors
  1. Helena Kettleborough
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  2. Marcin Wozniak
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  3. David Leathlean
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helena Kettleborough .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Science, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

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Kettleborough, H., Wozniak, M., Leathlean, D. (2018). Reflections on Using Creativity in Teaching Sustainability and Responsible Enterprise: A First and Second Person Inquiry. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Implementing Sustainability in the Curriculum of Universities. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70281-0_11

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