performance needs assessment

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PERFORMANCE NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Fostering creative thinking skills in first-year students of the graphic design program at Cgep du Vieux-Montral by milie Ren-Vronneau ETEC651 Nadia Naffi Concordia University

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 Summary

4 Data collection

5 Defining creativity

6 The clients request

7 Performance gaps

8 Performers

10 Context

11 Constraints

12 Requirements

13 Cause analysis

15 Summative evaluation instruments

17 References and image credits

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The teachers of the graphic design

department at Cgep du Vieux-Montral

have expressed to Jose Laplante, the

coordinator of the department, their

wish that first-year graphic design

students would focus more on the cre-

ative process before diving into the

production of final pieces. A culture

of creativity is one of the main assets

of this program in comparison to other

graphic design programs of competing

institutions. According to the school,

ensuring the continuity and diffusion of

this culture will benefit the longevity of

the department. The following perform-

ance needs assessment reviews the

issue in a systemic way in order to guide

the design of potential interventions.

performance needs assessment

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Data collection

The data for this needs assessment has been collected through interviews face-to-face inter-views with graphic design teachers as well as former and current graphic design students at Cgep du Vieux-Montral. To get a more accur-ate grasp on the topic, graphic design teachers and students from other graphic design pro-grams as well as current graphic design pro-fessionals were interviewed.

Teachers were asked to give their impres-sions on first-year students creative thinking skills and what could improve or hinder the development of these skills in terms of environ-mental (information, resources, incentives) and individual factors (knowledge, capacity, motiv-ation). Teachers were also asked to self-report on their ability to be reflexive performers as creators and teachers.

Students from all levels were asked to give their impressions on what they feel supports or hinders their acquisition of creative thinking skills in terms of environmental (information, resources, incentives) and individual factors (knowledge, capacity, motivation).


This data is supplemented with my own experi-ence and observations as a former graphic design student and current teacher. Recent lit-erature about creativity and its assessment has also been surveyed. The following section first attempts to define creativity in more precise terms. All these elements will help address the clients request in a further section.

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Defining creativity

Creativity is a complex phenomenon. As such, working with the client to further define which aspects of creativity were most relevant regard-ing the context of the graphic design field and their business need was necessary.

Treffinger, Young, Selby & Shepardson (2002) have categorized and listed some of the manifestations of creativity found in indi-viduals which are shown in the figure below. Creative productivity is an interplay of ele-ments including individual characteristics, strategies to enhance creative thinking, influ-ences from the environment as well as the cre-ative results which are obtained. This model was used to guide the enquiry with the client.

Generating ideas

Digging deeper into

ideas

Openness and courage to explore ideas

Listening to ones

inner voiceContext of creative performance

creativity characteristics (Treffinger et al., 2002)

Generating ideasFluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, metaphorical thinking

Digging deeper into ideasAnalyzing, synthesizing, reorganizing, evalu-ating, seeing relationships, desire to resolve ambiguity, understanding complexity

Personal creativity characteristicsProblem sensitivity, aesthetic sensitivity, curi-osity, sense of humor, playfulness, fantasy and imagination, risk-taking, tolerance for ambigu-ity, tenacity

Openness and courage to explore ideasEmotional sensitivity, adaptability, intuition, willingness to grow, unwillingness to accept authoritarian assertions without critical exam-ination, integration of dichotomies or opposites

Listening to ones inner voiceAwareness of creativeness, persistence, self-direction, internal locus of control, intro-spective, freedom from stereotyping, concen-tration, energy, work ethic.

Personal creativity characteristics

Creative strategies used by performers

Creative outcomes generated

by performers+ =SOURCE Adapted from Treffinger et al. (2002)


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The clients request

The graphic design department of Cgep du Vieux-Montral has expressed the wish to address weaknesses in the creative processes of its first-year students. The teachers claim that students dont produce enough ideas early on and that they often limit themselves to the min-imum required quantity of sketches. In turn, this hinders the development of their creative thinking skills.

This phenomenon has gained traction ever since the curriculum was updated to include computers and software in the programs first year in the Fall 2014. The teachers are con-cerned for the reputation of the program as its creative output has always been one of its land-marks and they wish to keep this tradition alive.

business needGraphic design is a three-year technical pro-gram. Throughout their training, students work on projects to include in a portfolio which will be their ticket to a future career. Most of the works included in the portfolio are assign-ments undertaken in the last year. At this point, the projects look more professional, the exe-cution is more skillful, the ideas are better and the final pieces have more promotional value.

Employers and undergraduate programs highly value ideas and manifestations of the creative process as they are the best evidence of the candidates ability to deliver original solutions. Visual trends pertaining to execution often fall out of favor quickly but great ideas have more impact and lasting power. Ensuring that students start working on their creative skills from the start increases their chances of producing work that will remain in their port-folio for a long time. In turn, these improved portfolios has varied influences (increased dif-fusion of students work, increased likeliness of students getting hire or enrolled in under-graduate graphic design programs, improved reputation) which all converge in ensuring the longevity of the graphic design department.

job oneThe focus of this performance improvement project is for first-year students to increase their creative thinking skills.


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Performance gaps

current performance When asked to generate ideas to solve a vis-ual problem, students stare at the blank page for a while, draw a few sketches on which they spend excessive time and then say theyre not inspired or couldnt think of anything else.

Out of the few ideas they submit, they usually have one they express preference for. When asked to sketch more ideas, they resist by saying theyve already been through all the options they could think of. They procrastinate on Facebook or YouTube and quickly minimize their window when the teacher walks by.

Students who are interested in computers complain they dont want to sketch by hand and claim that using the computer right away would save them time.

They dont question the authority of the teacher much, and when asked to draw more sketches, they will comply but still show pref-erence to the same first idea. When they discuss their ideas with the teacher, they often mention a few ideas they had not drawn because they were afraid it was not appropriate.

During group critiques, teachers have to draw them out as none of them voice their opinion.

Occasionally, students rush to draw sketches to include with their final piece because they had skipped the creative process but dont want to lose the points dedicated to the research process.

ideal performance When asked to generate ideas to solve a vis-ual problem, students draw as many rough sketches of potential solutions they can think of, including ideas that they consider as silly. They enjoy using pen and paper because they are fluid and portable tools they can carry with them anywhere.

As their initial pace slows down, they apply creative thinking strategies to make sure they get as many as they can.

By then, they have a few ideas with real potential and many more backup ideas which could be improved on. They take a quick break to clear their heads and come back to their ideas for analysis.

They ask peers and teachers for feedback, lis-ten intently to their various opinions, and are eager to improve their ideas using the feedback they think was most helpful to them.

They sketch again, trying to improve on pre-vious ideas, getting a few new ones at the same time and making the most of this time that is allowed to the creative process.

During group critiques, students attempt to help their peers by giving their advice and try to predict what the teacher will say about the projects.

Before starting to render their final piece using the computer, their final idea is well elaborated.


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Performers

First-year graphic design students at Cgep du Vieux-Montral are usually Caucasians aged from 17 years old to early twenties and there is approximately 85% of females and 15% of males. A few students have ventured in other college programs but most are fresh out of high school. They were usually drawn to graphic design because of their affinities towards draw-ing and computers but may not have the con-fidence that they truly belong in the field yet.

key groups of performers From the previous information, it is possible to outline different groups who may benefit from different interventions according to:

Motivation towards graphic software and computers

Previous college experience

Confidence level

In the next section, different issues experienced by three learners from various backgrounds: Chlo, Sabrina, and Maxime are explored.

Low motivation towards graphic software

and computers

Average motivation towards graphic software

and computers

High motivation towards graphic software

and computers

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77performance needs assessment

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performer personas

chlo is 17 years old. She has always loved drawing as it allowed her to retreat in her own world. This is her first college experience, she is unsure of what to expect and somewhat intimidated but hopes she is in the right place as she never really enjoyed school so much. She is starting to get famil-iar with the software. Sometimes, if she feels others may not understand an idea, she erases her sketches. Drawing is a very personal thing for her and she has problems seeing how she will be able to cater to clients needs.

Chlo would benefit from detaching herself from her work and taking more risks.

sabrina is 19 years old. She studied for a year in health sci-ence but didnt like it. She has always enjoyed creating images with the computer so she signed up for the graphic design program. She is always very eager to work on the final render-ing and doesnt spend much time on the process as she feels she is already able to produce nice images and is comfortable with that. She often sketches her ideas after the fact just to get a better grade.

Sabrina would benefit from realizing that her work would be even greater if it was backed with a process that would allow her to get even better ideas. Also, grading her sketches in an earlier phase might create incentive for her to follow the creative pro-cess properly.

maxime is 21 years old. He already took a few courses in the photography department but realized he would prefer to be a graphic designer and switched programs. He is a bit ahead of the others and often has good ideas. For this reason, he already feels more creative than his classmates. He doesnt see why he should strive to produce more ideas and often sticks to his first intuition.

Maxime would benefit from focusing on increasing his own performance instead of comparing his ideas to others ideas and that challenging himself would increase his skills further in the long run.

Chlo

Sabrina

Maxime

s Low motivation towards graphic software and computers

s No previous college experience

s Low confidence level

s Average motivation towards graphic software and computers

s Previous college experience in a non-artistic field

s Average confidence level

s High motivation towards graphic software and computers

s Previous college experience in an artistic field

s High confidence level


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Context

This program will focus on the performance of creativity within the context of Cgep du Vieux-Montral.

Since 2015, the graphic design courses all take place on the fifth and sixth floors. In previ-ous years, first-year students were taking their courses on the second floor and were not inter-acting with second and third-year students.

Most graphic design courses are held in rooms equipped with a projector, billboards, recent MacOS or Windows computers and black and white laser printers. A small lab is available for students wishing to work from school while they are not in their courses but they are usually free to come and go in other courses when computers are available for use, if the teachers allow.

The students also have access to a silkscreen workshop as well as printing facilities where large formats of work in color can be produced on varied types of paper.


Multiple means of displaying work publicly are available, namely through a few exhibit rooms and displays, as well as through the department and institutional website.

As mentioned earlier in this needs assess-ment, the Cgep du Vieux-Montral hosts a culture of creativity. The institution is the home of a myriad of other disciplines such as visual arts, photography, industrial design, interior design, woodworking, glassblowing and more. Moreover, the area where Cgep du Vieux-Montral is established is a dynamic environment where festivals, music shows, exhibits, and many other cultural events unfold throughout the year. The Universit du Qubec Montral is also nearby and offers one of the top graphic design programs in Canada.

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Constraints

curriculum constraintsSome key aspects of the curriculum are set in stone such as competencies the students need to acquire in specific courses. While some pro-jects may be modified, the program require-ments must still be covered.

time constraintsTeachers in the program are able to take on some extra activities up to a certain point.

Interventions should take place at times when the school is open and students are around.

budget constraintsThe sponsor does not have extensive budget to inject in this performance improvement program but has access to multiple resources within the department such as:

Teachers and students who can dedicate some time to creating print material, web-sites, t-shirts, planning events and more

Display billboards in the hallways

Printing and silkscreen facilities

Classrooms including computers, overhead projectors and exhibition rooms

Relationships with other departments who may be interested in a collaboration

An active college environment in a stimu-lating part of the city.

Students may be able to afford some materials but their own budget is often fairly limited.

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Requirements

In this section, the business objectives and per-formance objectives required to be addressed are outlined as well as some issues which have emerged from the context analysis.

objectives

Business objective Given their acquisition of creative thinking skills, the performers will have increased chan-ces of integrating quality graphic design jobs and undergraduate design programs, impacting positively on students admission, revenue and reputation, and therefore, the longevity of the graphic design program.

Performance objectives for studentsBy the end of the year, performers will lever-age their creativity to generate greater quan-tities and quality of ideas consistently in their projects.

s Given information about creativity and cre-ative thinking as well as proper models of behavior, performers apply techniques to leverage their creative skills when encoun-tering obstacles.

s Given tools such as paper and pen, per-formers record their ideas by drawing ori-ginal inspiration from themselves and their surroundings.

s Given a problem, performers create multiple sketches which communicate ideas, without censoring themselves.

s Given time to reflect on their ideas, perform-ers test their solutions by seeking construct-ive feedback from peers and teachers.

Performance objectives for teachersGiven information about creativity, creative thinking and reflexive teaching, the perform-ers explain and model their own creative pro-cesses, facilitating the students acquisition of key creative personal characteristics.

Performance objectives for all performersGiven a positive environment where creative behaviors are valued, performers interact in playful, cooperative and trusting ways to facili-tate creative outcomes and processes.


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Cause analysisUsing Chevaliers (2003) updated behavior engineering model, I have analyzed the relevant aspects of the environment and the individuals which form the performance context.

environment individuals

Information Knowledge/skills

s Students are unaware of the value of creativity in the current market.

s Students are unaware of the extent to which they are expected to produce ideas (only a minimum is requested).

s Students come from environments where a single solution was valued and carry on this influence to the program.

s Although science has come a long way to explain creativity, some of its aspects are still not well defined.

s Teachers lack time or ability to fully express their own creative processes when modeling behavior.

s Students ignore how creativity works and have no knowledge of creative thinking techniques.

s Students are not used to write down their observations/ideas and documenting their process.

s Students are not used to meta-thinking and introspection.

Resources Capacity

s There are no reminders of how creativity works in the classroom.

s Teachers lack time to model behaviors for students.

s Students are not comfortable with the rendering tools so they rush the creative process to get started on the final submission.

s Students lack the confidence to show their ideas to everyone.

s Students have difficulty evaluating the worth of their ideas.

s Students have difficulty accepting feedback objectively.

s Students can have personal problems hindering their creativity (family problems, depression, etc.).

Incentives Motivation

s Teachers can accept early ideas if deemed good enough, removing incentive for students to come up with more ideas.

s Teachers may not support students to be truly creative.

s Although a part of the grade is dedicated solely to the creative process, the bulk of the grade is still dedicated to the final rendering of an assignment.

s Sketches are evaluated at the same time as the final project. Students take advantage of this to draw sketches after the fact, defeating the purpose of the creative process.

s Students think their current ideas are good enough and that they dont need to draw more.

s Students are afraid to take risks.

s Students are in a rush to start producing the final and skimp on the process, sometimes producing sketches after the fact.

s Students have problems detaching themselves from their first ideas.

s Students resist sketching ideas by hand and prefer to use the computer.


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environmental issues TrainingResearch has been able to explain some aspects of creativity more fully in recent years but some aspects are still not completely explained by science. Teachers themselves have learned creative techniques through a combination of declarative knowledge, trial-and-error, experi-ential learning. Making sure teachers and stu-dents are informed with the latest findings on creativity could lay stronger foundations for all involved.

ModelingThe teachers may have problems explain-ing their own creative processes to students or modeling behavior in a way that seems accessible to students. As experts in their field, these skills are often automatized and partly unconscious.

Mindset and awarenessStudents are likely to come from an educational background where getting the single right answer was most valued. The graphic design department is often guilty of this mindset as well; although a part of the grade is dedicated to researching ideas and sketching, the focus is often on the final outcome.

Presentations, exhibits and corridor displays usually showcase final pieces instead of pro-cesses. Students are therefore unaware of the cheer number of ideas that can be explored on a single problem.

Projects and interventions which value the creative process for its own sake should be explored.


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Summative evaluation instruments

Since creativity is strongly related to personal attitudes and inner processes, the attainment of objectives will be evaluated by gathering quali-tative data through interviews conducted with both students and teachers. Teachers were asked to provide their observations of students behaviors in order to avoid disrupting the class-room environment with a researcher.

engagement

Interviews conducted with students How do you feel about the creative process

as opposed to when you first started the program?

Do you feel more creative at school and outside of school? If so, how?

Do you record and express your ideas? Do you ever leave some of them out? If so, why?

Do you feel comfortable expressing your ideas to your peers and your teachers? What do you think makes you more or less comfortable?

How do you feel when you give and get feedback on ideas?

How have your creative processes improved post-intervention? What has helped you most? Please explain.

Journal use evaluation To what extent were the students journals

used? Is the content of the pages varied in a way that would let presume the journal has been used over a long period of time?

Interviews conducted with teachers How would you describe the dynamics

within your groups and the cohort in general?

Do students express and critique their ideas regularly? Do some of them encoun-ter problems? Would you say they give constructive feedback?

Have your teaching methods changed post-intervention? Are you more aware and able to explain your own creative processes to students?

individual performance Assess quantity and quality of ideas

generated in creative processes as well as final projects post-intervention (based on criteria of quantity, diversity, relevance, originality and elaboration)

Interviews conducted with teachers Have you noticed an improvement in the

quantity and quality of students ideas post-intervention? Please explain.

Interviews conducted with students Have you noticed an improvement in the

quantity and quality of your peers ideas post-intervention? Please explain.


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organizational performanceShort-term results will not be felt by the insti-tution. The effects will most likely origin-ate from the graduated students and impact the reputation of the institution. Therefore, if engagement and individual performance show positive results, interventions should be maintained as different cohorts go through the program.

Although multiple other factors may inter-vene with the data, it may be possible to assess some organizational performance benefits through gathering data and analyzing long-term trends about:

Attendance to different exhibits of the graphic design department, especially the graduation exhibit.

Percentage of students hired in graphic design jobs or admitted to graphic design undergraduate programs pre- and post-intervention.

Quantity of new students requesting admission to the program.


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References

Chevalier, R. (2003). Updating the behavior

engineering model. Performance Improvement,

42(5), 814.

Treffinger, D. J., Young, G. C., Selby, E. C., &

Shepardson C. (2002). Assessing creativity:

A guide for educators. Storrs, CT: The National

Research Center on the Gifted and Talented,

University of Connecticut.


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