University Staff Teaching Activity As A Factor Of Forming Students' Creative Activity

Abstract

The article presents the results of the research held by 30 Vietnamese teachers and 60 Vietnamese students of Hanoi Pedagogical University in Vietnam and Russian University of Peoples' Friendship of Russia in the field of forming creative activity of students in the learning process. Q-methodology was applied to identify the factors influencing formation of creative activity of students. Collecting materials and processing of statistical data were carried out using a web application-Ken-Q Analysis version 1.0.6. The uniqueness of this study lies in the comparative analysis of both the views of teachers and students on the factors of creative activity formation. The result of the study showed that teaching is a key factor in forming creative activity of students. The factor of teaching activity was chosen as a key one not only by the teachers themselves, but also by the students. The analysis of surveys of teachers and students showed similar results. Both showed a high level of agreement or disagreement with the following statements: "Teaching creates motivation for students' creativity" (20: +5); "Teacher is ready to support creative activity of students during classes" (18: +5); "Teacher is a paradigm example of creativity" (31: +4); "Style of leadership in management and organization of teachers' classes" (40: +4); "Teacher carries out supervision, meeting different needs of the students in the group" (26: +4); "Teacher and students establish positive relationship in the learning process" (29: +4); "When evaluating learning outcomes, teachers appreciate new, unique and useful products" (11: +3); and other.

Keywords: Teachingteacherkey factorcreative activitystudents

Introduction

Constant changes in modern society require universities to improve the quality of training and to form active creativity among students. This task attracts special attention of scientific researchers all over the world. Many authors are interested in clarifying the factors influencing formation and development of creativity among students (Sadeghi & Ofoghi, 2011; Powel & Carrol, 2013; Boonchan et al., 2015). There are many factors influencing formation and development of creative activity among students. Identifying the factors that play an important role is an important task for scientific researchers.

Currently, the use of Q-methodology is greatly expanded in research in the field of psychology, social psychology, politics, etc. (Mokry & Dufek, 2014). In the field of education we find out quite a few scientific studies using Q-methodology now. Q-methodology is poorly used in the study of factors affecting formation and development of creative activity among students. Among the available works in this area, it is worth noting such as: "Q-methodology: what and how?" (Bashatah, 2016); “Applying the q-methodology to visualize, ponder and study contrasting perspectives" (Yoshizawa et al., 2016); "Using Q-methodology to evaluate learning outcomes” (Hensel, 2017).

Q-methodology is a unique combination of qualitative and quantitative methods of study. It allows researchers to consider subjective points of view, beliefs, attitudes, and experiences of participants on the topic of the study. The essence of Q-methodology is the study of people's subjective view of a particular problem. Thus, it is very suitable for educational research.

In this study, we focused on analyzing the views of Vietnamese teachers and students in the field of creativity. We considered in detail different opinions on the role and influence of teaching on formation of creative activity among students. The experience of both teachers and students concerning the methods of forming creative activity, methods and technologies of developing this important component of the student's personality was also studied in detail. The uniqueness of this study is reflected in determination of the views of both teachers and students on this issue.

Problem Statement

Training creative individuals who are able to adapt to the constant changes in modern society is one of the key challenges in the field of modern education around the world. Improving the quality of education in the field of creativity and developing creative abilities of students is considered as an effective solution for implementation of this task. The teacher is an active subject of the educational process, he/she organizes, controls and manages the learning process to achieve the goals. Based on this statement, it is necessary to analyze the specific role of educational activities of teachers to form creative activity of students. It is also necessary to determine the methods and technologies that teachers should use to obtain high creative activity of students.

Research Questions

In this study, we focused on analyzing the views of teachers and students in the following aspects: (1) What role do teachers play in shaping the creative activity of students in the learning process? (2) What do teachers need to do in the learning process to generate creative activity of students?

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to determine the methods and technologies that teachers can use in the learning process to form a high creative activity of students.

Research Methods

Q-methodology was applied to determine the views of Vietnamese teachers and students on the factors to form creative activity of students. With the help of this technology, processing and analysing the results was also carried out. Ken-Q Analysis version 1.0.6 was used for data collection and their further processing (Banasick, 2019).

Q-methodology originated in 1935 when physicist and psychologist William Stephenson introduced it in a letter to the journal Nature (Watts & Stenner, 2005; Webler et al., 2009). He was interested in finding new ways to explore individual beliefs and relationships. Stephenson's most famous work is "Behavior Research: Q-methodology and its procedures", 1953 (Webler et al., 2009). The Q-contest has 56 claims and the Q-grid has an 11-point scale (from –5 to 5).

This study involved 30 Vietnamese teachers and 30 students of Hanoi pedagogical University of Vietnam and 30 Vietnamese students of the Russian Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.

Findings

The result of the study showed that teaching is a key factor in forming creative activity of students (figure 1 ).

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Teachers and students considering the factor of educational activity as the main one showed a high level of agreement with the following statements: "Teaching creates motivation for students' creativity" (20: +5); "Teacher is ready to support creative activity of students during classes" (18: +5); "Teacher is a paradigm example of creativity" (31: +4); "Style of leadership in management and organization of teachers' classes" (40: +4); "Teacher carries out supervision, meeting different needs of the students in the group" (26: +4); "Teacher and students establish positive relationship in the learning process" (29: +4); "When evaluating learning outcomes, teachers appreciate new, unique and useful products" (11: +3); "Teacher uses fun elements in teaching" (15: +3); "Democratic culture in assessment, consideration of opinions" (02: +3); "Teacher allows students to solve educational problems in their own way" (47: +3). These teachers and students also showed a high level of disagreement with the following statements: "Teacher does not use group forms of training" (43: –5); "Teacher does not use active methods in the learning process" (06: –4).

Thus, the educational activity of teachers plays an important role in formation and development of creative activity of students. Teachers should constantly improve their teaching skills, as well as use new practices and technologies to develop creative activity of students.

Conclusion

In this study, the views of control groups of students and teachers on the process of creativity formation among students are determined. The results showed that the main factor in the development of creative skills of students becomes the activity of the teacher. This activity can be related to various aspects of the learning process, such as: methods and means of teaching; forms of teaching; classroom environment; classroom management; evaluation of learning outcomes; support and encouragement of students 'creative activity; development of effective teaching skills and teachers' creative competence. These aspects are guidelines for teachers and help them to achieve the goals of forming and developing creative personality of the student.

References

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