Abstract:

The contemporary era makes the ability of being creative one of the most valued features of every human being. This is required in manufacturing processes, management activities and even policy-making. In this context, it is obvious that an ambitious task of preparing students for creative activity should be set for education. This task cannot be accomplished without teachers who are characterised by the ability to take a creative approach towards the educational process. Practice shows that skillfully designed and implemented activities result in raising the level of teachers' creativity. Current ICT resources are a valuable aid on this path.

The article presents a method of teacher education based on group creative work in a specially prepared for this purpose Innovation Laboratory (i-Lab). The work in innovation laboratories involves the use of synergy of several components, such as specially designed environment, activities stimulating creativity and access to computers with special software. The software supports the use of activation techniques, especially a specially developed program for the implementation of brainstorming in electronic version. This combination encourages i-Lab users to work productively, develop new ways of learning, participate in collaborative activities that can accelerate thinking and creation processes.

By presenting the method of working in the innovation laboratory, the authors demonstrate the particular value of group work in strengthening the mobilisation of participants, their motivation and the mutual support amongst all members of the group. Working in a group allows also to observe the results of other people's activities, which are sometimes fundamentally different from their own results. Thanks to this, the person experiences directly the effects of using a different approach, observes the original solutions to unexpected situations.

This article is based on the results obtained during the three-year Erasmus+ KA2 project 2014-1-PL01-KA202-003428. The aim of the project was to exchange the experiences and the good practices in the organization of the educational process with the use of new methods of education, available by applying Innovation Laboratory

Keywords:

Creativity, teachers, electronic brainstorming, innovation laboratory, i-Lab.