In 1,000 words, summarize the arguments contained in the readings that have been set for the first 4 weeks of this unit.

Marking criteria:

• Demonstrated familiarity with, and communication of, the relevant literature covered on the unit so far
• Demonstrated ability to clearly articulate the arguments put forth in the readings so far using academic language
• Demonstrated understanding of how key theories are framed within disciplinary contexts
• Demonstrated ability to engage with, interpret, and apply academic sources
• Clear identification of assignment aims (and whether these are achieved)
• Cited works should be referenced using an established system
• Clarity of expression in line with expected academic standards

An example of a literature review is available via the unit iLearn site. Check out how the author has reviewed the literature and in doing so, has produced a ‘dense’ piece of writing that surveys a lot of literature while also picking up on key themes. Note how the different texts are put ‘in conversation’ with each other. This is what you should aim to do for your literature review assignment for this unit. This will help you to work towards the learning outcomes of being able to practice creative thinking and learning how to create new knowledge concerning the management of creativity. Through doing this task you will also learn how to summarise management literature and use key ideas to produce collaborative creativity in teamwork. Furthermore, this assessment task requires you to interpret and evaluate various case studies in order to generate ideas pertaining to group creativity.

This type of exercise is called a ‘literature review’ because in order to create new knowledge (the aim of academia), we first need to find the gaps in the literature by surveying what has already been published. This assessment task will therefore help you to meet the learning outcome of being able to research the study of creativity and to analyse the arguments put in this field within a broad historical context. In this way what you are doing as undergraduate students in this unit mirrors the approach that a Higher Degree Research (HDR) student would take. If you are interested in this field of study you should consider applying to enrol in Macquarie University’s Masters of Research (MRes).

By doing a literature review, you will have learnt a valuable new skill and you will have started to engage with the ideas, to see links between the different topics, and by thinking in a critical and analytical way early on, you will now be able to let the ideas incubate in your mind across the semester. This will lead to better moments of insight when you produce the following assessment tasks. By way of its design, this unit will enable you to generate moments of insight and this often results in outstanding conceptual elaboration, metaphorical thinking and conceptual combination in the latter assessment tasks. Ultimately this will help you to apply professional and personal judgment and initiative regarding the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, leadership and team building within the cultural industries.

For this assessment task, students will be put into groups in the first two seminars. The task will culminate with a group presentation. Throughout the seminars for this unit, students will work in groups and will use the creative thinking techniques, and other theoretical materials covered on this unit, in order to create a project that relates to the arts. The groups can create actual art; a play, a song, a film etc, or they can create a new idea for an arts related business or process. Each student will need to present their creation as a group and then use a participant observer methodology in a critical and analytical essay that concerns how their group collaborated in order to manage their creativity. This will be assessed with particular regard to the following marking criteria:

Marking Criteria:

In order to pass this assessment task, students will need to:

• Display comprehension of key debates, theories, and perspectives, through the detailed analysis of key texts and further readings.
• Actively engage with their group by summarising management literature and using key ideas to produce collaborative creativity in teamwork.
• Interpret and evaluate various case studies in order to generate ideas pertaining to group creativity and apply these through this assessment task.
• Apply professional and personal judgment and initiative regarding the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, leadership and team building through this ‘hands on’ assessment task.

NB - This assessment task will be graded in accordance with the University's assessment policy (see below).

GROUP ASSESSMENT

A group assessment task prepared and presented as a single entity where the contributions of individual students cannot be identified are to be:

• graded on a pass/fail basis, and
• limited to 30% of the total assessment for the unit.

1250 Words. Students are required to use a participant observer* method of research to critically analyse how their group produced their project. Students are required to engage with theoretical material covered on the unit when writing these individual essays.

*Some research methods (such as questionnaires) stress the importance of the researcher not becoming "personally involved" with the respondent, in the sense that the researcher maintains both a personal and a social distance between themselves and the people they are researching. Participant observation, however, is a form of subjective sociology, not because the researcher aims to impose their beliefs on the respondent (this would simply produce invalid data), but because the aim is to understand the social world from the subject's point-of-view. Participant-observation is organised so as to produce a type of writing called ‘ethnography’; which is a qualitative research method designed for learning and understanding cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group. Data collection is often done through participant observation, interviews, and questionnaires.

A key principle of the method of participant observation is that one may not merely observe, but must find a role within the group observed, from which they can participate in some manner, even if only as "outside observer." This method involves the researcher "getting to know" the people they're studying by entering their world and participating in that world. This means you put yourself "in the shoes" of the people you're studying in an attempt to experience events in the way they experience them (http://www.sociology.org.uk/ Accessed 14.2.12). Thus with regard to your group seminar presentation, you’re a participant and an observer and you therefore need to employ this methodology to write this essay.

Marking criteria:

For this assessment task, students will need to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of research methodologies such as the participant observer method that is required for this assessment task.
• Demonstrate an understanding of how theory is used and framed in terms of participant observations of their group’s creative process.
• Demonstrate an ability to clearly and articulately structure an argument using academic language.
• Provide evidence of analysis and understanding of key group creativity theories demonstrated in a sophisticated application of these theories, or theory, to their experiences as part of their presentation group.
• Demonstrate an ability to research, interpret and apply academic sources.

In addition, the following criteria applies:

• Relevance of sources.
• Credibility of sources.
• Clear identification of assignment aims (and whether these are achieved).
• Detailed analysis of key texts and further readings.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct independent wider research.
• Cited works should be referenced using an established system.
• Clarity of expression in line with expected academic standards.

3000 Words. Students will collaborate with the unit convenor to design their own self-directed research project that utilises theories and methodologies concerning the management of creativity. In order to assist in the development of your own self-directed research project, a list featuring research question ideas will be distributed during the second half of the semester. By way of its design, this unit will enable you to generate moments of insight on an on going basis and therefore this list of question ideas will be a record of these moments of insight. You will then be able to play with these ideas by combining these insights and by engaging in conceptual elaboration, metaphorical thinking and conceptual combination when it comes to designing your own research project. By contributing to the development of the essay question options and ideas through group brainstorming sessions, that will take place in the seminars in the latter weeks of the semester, you will be able to crowd source ideas from the student body and then collaboratively generate the essay question and topic that you would like to research. 

•     Questions and further details will be available on iLearn and discussed at the lecture.

•     Grading Criteria in the form of a rubric is available on iLearn.

•     Assignments must be submitted via the Turnitin dropbox that is available via the unit iLearn site. 

Marking criteria:

For this assessment task, students will need to:

• Demonstrate an ability to create their own research question
• Demonstrate an understanding of how theory is used and framed in the field of creativity research and how it differs from other disciplines
• Demonstrate an ability to clearly and articulately structure an argument using academic language
• Provide evidence of analysis and understanding of key cultural industries theories demonstrated in a sophisticated application of these theories, or theory, to everyday practice and life
• Demonstrate an ability to research, interpret and apply academic sources

​In addition, the following criteria applies:

• Relevance of sources
• Credibility of sources
• Clear identification of assignment aims (and whether these are achieved)
• Detailed analysis of key texts and further readings
• Demonstrated ability to conduct independent wider research
• Cited works should be referenced using an established system
• Clarity of expression in line with expected academic standards

Essay grades:

Obviously at the base level there is referencing. This needs to be in order. There is a referencing guide available on the unit iLearn site. Grades above P as a general rule have to be referenced well. 
 
After this, there is the issue of writing style. Essays above P have to be written clearly and appropriately. You need to employ a formal/academic writing style and you need to substantiate claims you make with evidence. Your topic sentences need to flow together and your paragraphs need to be tight and punchy. For example, a paragraph typically consists of the following sentences: 
 
Topic Sentence 
Statement of Position 
Evidence/quote 
Summary 
 
If your paragraphs are constructed in this way, you will avoid the common pitfalls relating to paragraph length: when paragraphs are too short, this signifies to the marker that you most likely have not substantiated the assertions you have made with evidence; when paragraphs are too long, the marker will often lose the thread of your argument because long paragraphs are fatiguing to read. 

Essays using a colloquial/conversational and/or journalistic writing style will be viewed unfavourably. Don't use rhetorical questions and don't write in the first person unless you have justified writing in this way by way of your research methodology (for e.g. if you have stated that you are using a participant observer methodology then obviously at some point you may need to write in the first person). You also need to use numerous references in order to contextualise your essay within the surrounding discourse. Remember, you are making a contribution to knowledge. There is academic freedom, not freedom of expression. These are different. Academics are only free to make points that they can prove. Your opinions cannot be based on thin air. 
 
Essays that will receive grades higher than CR will need to have a certain density to them. Academic writing often involves big words and concepts. In this way, academic writing is a form of short hand (for e.g. relativism and essentialism are words that signify larger paradigms of thought) and therefore good academic writing is able to say more using less words. Authors who demonstrate that they are fluent in this shorthand will be viewed favourably. The amount of extra-curricular research conducted and the originality of each individual research initiative will also be considered.

Furthermore an essay is considered to be excellent or outstanding when the student can fluently relate the readings and lectures to the arguments and evidence made in the essay. Students will therefore be assessed on how well they evaluate theories and issues, which means that students will be assessed on how they make judgments about the value of ideas they are expected to comment on, or write about. Making judgments or evaluating would usually be demonstrated by a reflection or discussion on what the student considers to be the limitations or intellectual perspectives of the theory, or a discussion of the limitations and perspectives taken by particular texts or readings, or by comparing and discriminating between ideas, issues and theories.