Playing with Thinkertoys to build creative abilities through online instruction

Although the importance of teaching creativity in higher education has been widely recognized, empirical research addressing the success of such attempts, has been scant. The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the effects of an online Creative Thinking Program. The program included a series of modules whose design, content and instructional media were conceptually based on past theoretical contributions and research identifying criteria affecting the success of creativity training. Pre- and post-measures revealed a significant increase in the participants’ creative self-efficacy as well as their creative abilities as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. We discuss the implications of the results for developing creativity skills in university instruction as well as in organizational training programs.