- 911吃瓜
- Events
- Inquiry Support
- Workshops & Programs
- SoTL 101: Introduction to SoTL and Teaching + Learning Inquiry
- SoTL 102: Formulating an Inquiry Project
- SoTL Thoughts
- Coffee + Conversation
- Tools for Inquiry: Conducting Inquiry Using CES
- Amundsen Fellowship Program
- Decolonial Teaching + Learning Seminar Series
- Decolonizing and Indigenizing Curricula
- Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching Program
- Exploring Well-being in Learning Environments: An Integrated Seminar Series + Grants Program
- Inquiring into Your Multilingual Classroom: An Integrated Seminar Series + Grants Program
- New Ways of Teaching, New Ways of Learning: Supporting Learning in Online Environments
- Open Education Grant Pilot Program
- Teaching and Learning Development Grant Program
- Project Archive
- Amundsen Fellowship Program
- Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching Program
- Exploring Well-being in Learning Environments Program
- Inquiring into Your Multilingual Classroom Projects
- New Ways of Teaching, New Ways of Learning
- Teaching and Learning Development Grant Program
- Scholarship of Teaching + Learning Projects
- Conferences & Calls for Proposals
- FLO Workshop: GenAI and the Indigenous 5Rs Framework [June 16, 2026]
- Cfp: 2026 Global Students as Partners Roundtable [Deadline: June 29, 2026]
- Graduate Students/Post-docs Teaching in Higher Education Conference [August 07, 2026]
- 2026 DPI Conference [August 18-20, 2026]
- 2026 Global Students as Partners Roundtable [October 01-02, 2026]
- 2026 SoTL Symposium Conference [October 22-24, 2026]
- For Research Personnel
- News + Stories
- AI as learning coach: project explores ChatGPT integration beyond plagiarism concerns
- Investigating the motivations and perceptions of undergraduate students using AI for assignments
- Faculty teaching confidence soars through peer observation program
- Research proves role plays work: evidence-based approach transforms history and labour studies teaching
- Welcome Kaitlyn Watson!
- Authentic learning transforms large epidemiology course: students find personal meaning in public health research
- Developing AI-resistant teaching through story-centered approach
- Life-changing plant course reveals how to help students see the green world around them
- Strategic repetition transforms mobile computing education: students master challenging topics through distributed practice
- Beyond grades: Ungraded portfolios transform teacher education
Discursivity and Creativity in Upper-Division Production Courses
Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)
Grant recipient: Michael Filimowicz, School of Interactive Arts and Technology
Project team: Veronika Tzankova, research assistant
Timeframe: September 2012 to August 2013
Funding: $10,000
Final report: The report is available by request to Michael (mfa13@sfu.ca).
Description: The objective of this applied teaching research project is to present and enhance discursivity in upper-division creative production work within the specific context of the School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT). In addition to further investigating and conceptualizing the relationship between creativity and discursivity, this project will include the practical application of the pedagogic pattern of rich questions and dialogue. Such an approach provides for (1) a safe and shared space for verbal feedback and constructive critique, as well as (2) relegating much of the material traditionally delivered in lectures into web-based delivery, creating an overall 鈥渂lended鈥� mode of instruction. This approach also addresses some of the systemic problems in our undergraduate curriculum that have been collectively identified by SIAT faculty. These problems can be summarized at the highest level as follows:
- Weaknesses in digital craft (students鈥� technology skillsets need to be strengthened)
- Weaknesses in students鈥� ability to critically understand and create discourse around their work
In my first Teaching and Learning Development Grant, I addressed some of the issues surrounding the first identified weakness (which I had defined as enhancing 鈥�case-based knowledge鈥�) by introducing a major change in project format and feedback structure. From that study, I am extrapolating and formalizing the evaluative data toward some ideas for a model that may be generalizable across a greater range of courses within SIAT. Together, these two projects work toward addressing these two inter-related and systemic issues frequently identified within SIAT as in need of curricular attention.
Within the parameters of this new project, I aim to address the second issue 鈥� specifically, students' abilities to engage in and create discourse around their work. Here, I will focus on the question of discursivity within the context of creativity. As "discursivity鈥� is a fairly broad term, the focus on creativity is meant to distinguish and establish the particular role of discourse in the context of production courses in a program with an overall professional orientation. An objective of this proposal is to better build discursivity into our production courses and explore the result of such an approach.
Questions addressed: The major research question addressed concerns the ways in which discursivity can be implemented into production courses and can contribute to students' practice and critical understanding of their creative work, with the following subquestions:
- Will the application of the pedagogic pattern of rich questions and dialogue, combined with blended-mode delivery and integration of specific forms of discourse-engaging reading and writing activities improve the discursive and creative skills in upper-division SIAT students? In particular, will such a pedagogic intervention result in improved abilities of students to create discourse around their work?
- What kinds of discursive activities (drawings, diagrams, journals, artist statements, pre-visualization, role playing) will engage students most effectively, and lead to demonstrable improvement in student project work?
- What might constitute an appropriate range, scale, and scope of 鈥渄iscursive activities鈥� and how best can they be connected to some of the key concepts and insights of creativity studies generally?
- What kinds of readings will best engage students in support of the full range of course objectives and aimed-for learning outcomes? In particular, what kinds of readings do students perceive as 鈥渞elevant鈥� to their project work?
Knowledge sharing: The research summary will be made available across FCAT through the appropriate channels (e.g., emails to colleagues and departmental UCC chairs).
Filimowicz, M., & Tzankova, V. (Eds.). (2017). Teaching computational creativity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Filimowicz, M., & Tzankova, V. (2015). Discursivity and creativity: Implementing Pigrum's multi-mode transitional practices in upper division creative production courses. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 174, 483-490.
Filimowicz, M. A., & Tzankova, V. K. (2014). Discursivity and creativity: Implementing Pigrum鈥檚 multi-mode transitional practices in upper division creative production courses. Proceedings of the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET), pp. 142-150, Oshawa, ON.