“È POSSIBILE SVILUPPARE LA CREATIVITÀ NELL’EDUCAZIONE SUPERIORE ATTRAVERSO LA VALUTAZIONE?”,

Originality and innovation are two of the main aspects to be considered in order to define creativity in education. If the domain where creativity is to be developed is Higher Education, these elements become crucial. After having learned a large amount of informatio, students at University should start applying those concepts and conceive of original ideas, in order to foster improvement in society. In our time, without creativity we would not benefit from any of the countless possibilities we experience every single moment of the day,from getting on the underground to reach our workplace, to browse the iNternet and communicate instantly with the whole world. It is vital therefore to understand properly what creativity is, teaching its main characteristics to the students and being able to assess it.As Cowan (2006) underlines, – being the heart of the creative process often the sudden insight, the blue flash out of which the germ of an idea emerges – creativity is often so unpredictable that it is even difficult to capture for those who experience it. Consequently, assessing creativity is as important as much as complicated. This paper discusses how to deal with this issue. Different aspects of the subject matter are analysed, and assessment of creativity is developed with particular reference to its processes and results. Even though many researchers have investigated the elements which lead to the creative act, there are no standards for measuring creativity. For this purpose, some attempts of assessing creativity are reported and discussed. Finally, some proposals are made regarding the basic features which a reliable assessment method should consist of.

L’originalità e l’innovazione sono due degli aspetti principali che devono essere considerate allo scopo di definire la creatività in educazione. Se il dominio dove lacreatività viene sviluppata è l‘istruzione universitaria, tali elelmenti divengono cruciali. Dopo aver appreso un’ampia quantità di informazioni, gli studenti all’università dovrebbero iniziare ad applicare quei concetti e concepire idee originali, allo scopo di favorire lo sviluppo sociale. Nel tempo in cui viviamo, senza la creatività non beneficeremmmo di alcuna delle infinite possibilità che sperimentiamo in ogni singolo momento del giorno, dal prendere l ametropolitana per raggiungere il posto di lavoro, al navigare la rete e comunicare in modo istantaneo con il resto del mondo.