A pedagogy model that cultivates student creativity in HE design curriculum in China

Abstract

This thesis establishes a comprehensive design pedagogy model for cultivating students’ creative capacity in Chinese higher education and examines its implementation in an upper-level course in a game design course. The model combines problem and project-based learning, interdisciplinary inputs, students-centred learning and socially situated design practice. The experimental course is organised as a spiral sequence of lectures, workshops and studio projects around the theme of memory, culminating in a public exhibition of students projects. Using a design-based mixed approach, the study integrates curriculum design with iterative teaching, reflection and evaluation. Data sources include teaching diaries, structured analysis of student design artefacts, student questionnaires, interviews with students, and feedback from exhibition visitors, with additional triangulation from teachers and industry experts to strengthen external validation of creativity outcomes.

The research results indicate that, compared with the conventional courses within the same curriculum framework, students who participated in the experimental courses had more meaningful opportunities to generate original concepts. At the same time, they also gained more sufficient practical space in terms of peer communication and collaboration, problem-solving, as well as self-expression and presentation of results. The analysis of the project outcomes reveals that students' work has shifted from merely fulfilling course requirements to demonstrating greater conceptual coherence, a sense of social responsibility, market sensitivity, as well as the expression of personal values and emotions. The feedback from the exhibition attendees highlighted the outstanding performance of the students' works in terms of originality, emotional resonance, user experience thinking, and clarity of expression. The interviews with the teachers pointed out that the students' willingness to take creative risks and make breakthroughs has significantly increased and the evaluations from industry experts further affirmed the comprehensive growth advantages demonstrated by the students in the future employment competition.

The thesis contributes to higher design education by establishing a clearly articulated pedagogy model for fostering creativity at course level in Chinese universities. This is achieved by providing an empirically grounded case study that demonstrates how this approach can be implemented and evaluated within existing curriculum constraints. It also introduces a set of transferable design approaches to guide similar courses reforms and to inform wider conversations about curriculum development in design programmes in China and other examination based curriculum. Specifically, the thesis offers (1) a course-level integrated creativity pedagogy for the Chinese HE, (2) an empirically tested implementation pathway using DBR, and (3) Stakeholders evaluation strategy that strengthens the evidential rigour of creativity development.

Date of Award	2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Canterbury Christ Church University