Analysis of factors influencing the teaching of creativity at University level

Abstract

Universities have the unenviable challenge of producing and injecting graduates into the labour market who have not only the capacity to solve problems afflicting society but also to come up with new solutions to new problems that come up as the society develops and technology changes. To this extent, the purpose of this research was to explore the extent to which the Universities prepare graduates for this noble challenge that would see communities have an enhanced quality of life by establishing the extent to which the teaching of creativity is dependent on the aptitude of the student, the programs, the facilities used, and the faculty members, teaching methods employed and used to a varying degree in the University. The study was based on the production function theory. The schools were picked using random sampling. Quota sampling procedure was used to pick respondents from schools of education, engineering and Business and economics. Data was collected from Moi University final year students from the schools above who undertook special projects as a means of nurturing and developing creative abilities by using structured questionnaires and administered by the researcher from a sample size of 132 respondents. The data was analyzed quantitatively with the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found out from the research that there was a positive correlation between the creativity learning at the university and some of the variables that were investigated such as student aptitude, faculty members, and academic programmes. It was also found out that the teaching facilities and methods employed had negative correlation coefficients. The study reveals that although creative abilities are imparted to some significant extent, resource utilization at the university level is suboptimal and there is need to invest more on factor inputs such as teaching facilities, teaching methods, faculty members and continuous review of programs. Since a creative student will be an innovative one, it is recommended that there is need to improve on the various factors that enhance learning of creativity.