This research project investigates how university students learn from their interactions with the emerging technologies that are reshaping our classrooms.
In recent years, we have seen the rapid development and broad dissemination of artificial intelligence and virtual reality. It is anticipated that these tools will have a big impact on how we create and learn. Still, there is little understanding of what it means to "think with AI" or what "learning through reality media" looks like.
Across one theoretical paper and two comparative case studies, one in Norway and another Chile, the project sets out to understand the creative affordances of our new learning ecologies in higher education.
Research questions
RQ1: How is generative AI shaping university students’ learning and creativity?
RQ2: What kinds of creative learning opportunities are afforded by the design and use of VR environments?
Methods
Both creativity and learning are complex phenomena which push against description and analysis. Because of this, researchers have called for an increasingly contextualized scholarship and for blended methodologies that can capture the various dimensions of creativity and learning, as well as the relationship between them.
Addressing these challenges, the project will seek to capture a detailed picture of the creative learning using design tasks, think aloud protocols, and interviews.
Articles
Rabello-Mestre, A., Ness, I. J., and Glaveanu, V. P. (2025). “Creative Learning – A Configurative Review of Features and Practices.” Thinking Skills and Creativity 56, 101775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2025.101775
Other results
Immersive exhibition (VR, mobile and desktop friendly): https://meet.aptero.co/Lbtr3QM/galeria-central-final
Presentations
Rabello-Mestre, A. (2024). “Thinking with Generative Technology: Reflections on Student Agency, Creativity and Learning.” Digital Humanities Seminar, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
Rabello-Mestre, A. (2024). “How do Students Experience Co-Creation With AI?” Asking the Right Questions of AI and Education Symposium, Dublin City University, Maynooth University, University of Bergen, online.
Rabello-Mestre, A. (2024). “AI-Assisted Creativity in Education: Challenges and Opportunities”. Noroff Summit, Oslo, Norway.
Rabello-Mestre, A. (2024). “Understanding & Possibility-Making in AI-assisted Creativity.” Expanding Conceptions for Research on Possibility, PSN International, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Rabello-Mestre, A., and Ness, I. J. (2023). "Creative Learning: Features and Practices.” Cultivating the Possible, PSN International Conference, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.
Rabello-Mestre, A. (2022). “Singing Rooms – Creative Becoming in Virtual Learning Spaces.” Technologies for Learning, Creativity, and Wellbeing, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.
Rabello-Mestre, A. (2022). “Ways of Worldmaking – Virtual reality and our dialogues with/though technology” Networks of Possibility, PSN International Conference, London Metropolitan University, London, UK.
