Assessment of Creativity in Fashion Design Education in India
Arindam Das1, Sibichan Mathew2
1Mr. Arindam Das, Campus Director, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Gandhinagar (Gujarat), and Campus Director (I/c), NIFT Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), India.
2Dr. Sibichan K. Mathew, Professor of Fashion Management Studies, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi who also holds charge as Campus Director Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), India.
Manuscript received on May 05, 2019. | Revised Manuscript received on May 14, 2019. | Manuscript published on May 15, 2019. | PP: 42-45 | Volume-3 Issue-9, May 2019. | Retrieval Number: I0267043919 /19©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Creativity has been given a myriad of definitions, and involves generating innovative outcomes, ranging from an entirely new concept to an improvement of an existing idea. Such outcomes are often interpreted in relation to a particular field of application within a given domain. In design education too creativity, innovation and design are closely interlinked in the transformation of ideas into desired output, as part of a process where students are encouraged to convert abstract ideas into concrete outcomes. This is largely applicable to fashion education also, a major domain of design education, which, with its intrinsic connect to an industry concentrated on trend-driven innovative products, needs to assess creative potential through enhancement of divergent thinking and cognitive skills in an open perspective, and with focus on outcomes rather than grades. Fashion design education in India uses assessment methodology that is dissimilar to that used by other educational institutions in higher education. Assessment and evaluation followed in Indian schools are mostly based on written examinations, and largely driven by rote learning. In contrast fashion design programmes tend to rely primarily on encouraging creative thinking and applications based on explorations and innovative problemsolving, and assessment conducted through mentoring sessions, portfolios, presentations and juries. This paper seeks to identify and critically review key issues related to assessment of creativity for under-graduate level Fashion Design education in India against the background of some key parameters of creativity in design identified through earlier research.
Keywords: Creativity, Innovation, Design, Design Education, Fashion Design Education, Assessment, Assessment of Creativity.