Educators reveal creative strategies for collegiate classroom in new book

LAWRENCE — Educators are always seeking fresh approaches to bring out the innate creativity in their students. And, sometimes, to reinvigorate their own.

“The most misunderstood thing about creativity in the classroom is that it involves gimmicks,” said Deborah Elizabeth Whaley, professor of American studies and English at the University of Kansas. “Or this idea that you need to come up with learning activities meant to entertain students. The goal is to help them develop and build upon their own creativity.”

Her new book, “Quick Hits for Creativity in the Classroom: Successful Strategies from Award-Winning Teachers,” introduces compelling techniques from the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences that enhance learning and support professional development experiences for college students and faculty alike. The book is published by Indiana University Press.

“You do have to engage students, but sometimes that only requires a small tweak here or there to an in-class activity or changing how we think about assignments and assessment of assignments. Thinking about ways where they can have an investment in the material is the way in which I believe creativity builds. For some instructors, it could seem daunting to move away from what you’re used to doing and trying something different,” she said.

Co-edited by Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick of Indiana University-Columbus and Michael Morrone and Karissa Rector of Indiana University, Whaley’s book gathers multiple experts who contribute 40 essays to equip higher-ed instructors with teaching strategies, tools, materials, ideas and assignments to foster engagement with as many students as possible while supporting faculty in the learning process. 

“Creativity is not necessarily about transforming an entire course or thinking that you have to spend a lot of time creating an assignment built around entertainment. It’s really about having students find a sense of investment and ownership in the class and the work. That’s what matters the most. And any instructor can do that,” Whaley said. 

She said not every instructor considers themselves creative.

“They may just think of themselves as a good teacher, as someone who cares, but they do things the way they were taught,” Whaley said. “Part of this involves being willing to grow as an instructor, to try things that may not work, to try things that may be scary. But they must realize it’s all part of the process.”

Whaley points to several chapters that showcase this willingness to push the boundaries of creativity.

Asha Leena Bhandary of the University of Iowa contributes a chapter titled “Unsettling Social Expectations About Who Should Care: The ‘Surviving “the Indifferents”’ Video Game.” Co-created with her class, the titular game requires users to assign caregiving tasks to the members of a spaceship’s crew in a science fiction scenario. In doing so, it engages students’ intuitions and lays the groundwork for theoretical work.

Another standout is “Punk Pedagogy as Creative Reuse: DIY with Trash” by Marsha Bryant of the University of Florida. Noting that punk rock’s “expressive alienation and acts of refusal often manifest through everyday objects,” she encourages students to make wearable body art they can display at an annual music festival held near their campus.

“‘Adaptability’ is a good word to describe the chapters,” Whaley said.

“There’s this self-reflexive aspect of the pieces, where they’re asked to think about how their assignment might work in a class that’s not focused on their respective discipline(s). In other words, someone could say, ‘This was done in a philosophy class, but I teach math. How would I integrate this assignment?’ We really made a consecrated effort to think in terms of adaptability.”

Whaley applies this approach to her own teaching.

“In my courses, I teach them how to create 3D AR/VR exhibitions, ARC GIS Storymaps, digital stories and films, podcasts, children’s books and comic books that distill the complexity of our course material in accessible ways. In my social justice course, co-learners do service work in the community as an assignment, and they create interdisciplinary portfolios to think through the work of social movements via art, poetry and music,” she said.

Whaley completed her doctorate at KU in 2002 and returned as a faculty member in 2025. The Wheat Ridge, Colorado, native deems herself an Americanist, focusing her research on American cultural history and literature, 1800 to the present. Her previous books include “Black Women in Sequence: Re-inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime” (University of Washington Press, 2015), which has a second edition coming out this year, and “Disciplining Women: Alpha Kappa Alpha Black Counterpublics, and the Cultural Politics of Black Sororities” (SUNY Press, 2010), which was based off her KU dissertation. 

There is one underlying concept she said she hopes readers of her new book come away with: Anyone can be creative in the classroom.

“Instead of thinking of students as ‘students,’ I consider us all co-learners and co-creators,” Whaley said. “Therefore, they’re not students doing an assignment for credit; they’re authors. They should have proud ownership of the work they’re producing and putting out in the world.”