How student engagement has been enhanced through research into factors affecting creativity

Student engagement is critical in helping students learn effectively and achieve success. For students working in the areas of art and design, there is also a strong emphasis placed on the importance of creativity. Over recent years we have conducted research into the factors and processes affecting creativity and explored how these insights can help improve student engagement and student creativity. The paper discusses the relationship between factors affecting student engagement and creativity; how our curriculum has been designed to develop student creativity; and how we have evaluated and refined our curriculum to enhance student engagement, based on our research into creativity. We present results from the National Student Survey (NSS) and from our own internal qualitative and quantitative data analysis highlighting areas where we have made a positive impact on student engagement. We also reflect on areas for further development and the possible impact our approach and curriculum design could have on other disciplines