Page 255 - rise 2017

Creative and Innovative Culture Among Politeknik Merlimau Melaka Students Through Final
Semester Project

Azuan binti Alias & Khairulazam bin Annuar

Politeknik Merlimau, Melaka,

azuan@pmm.edu.my

Abstract
Creativity and innovation are key elements in the national development agenda since the beginning of
the 21st century, emerging era of innovation-based economy. Hence the need for changes in each
individual, especially students in higher education institutions to generate new and original ideas. This
is in line with the transformation of the national education which aims to produce students who can
think creatively and innovatively. The purpose of this paper is to foster creative and innovative culture
through students’ final semester project. The participation of students in the culture of creativity and
innovation will encourage them to perform well academically as they will become motivated seeing
the results of their exploration of the ideas of innovation and creativity being implemented. This is a
descriptive survey research and data were analyzed using SPSS Version 22 to obtain frequencies,
percentage and mean score. The quantitative data is collected using questionnaires distributed among
130 students. The findings showed that the final semester project has given positive values and helped
students to produce quality and innovative projects. In conclusion, through this final semester project,
Politeknik Merlimau is able to produce graduates who not only understand the term creative and
innovative but also is able to apply that knowledge in their lives.
Keywords: Creative, Innovative, Culture, Final Semester Project

Background of Study
Creativity is considered as a mean not an end, thus in the field of education, teaching and learning, it is
introduced and observed to instill higher-order thinking skills in students [1]. It is being innovative,
imaginative and characterized by being original. Creativity is the generation of new ideas, where as
innovation is the implementations of creative ideas in order to generate value, usually through reduced
operational costs and increased income. In broader terms, creativity means the ability of imagination or
invention or origination of anything new. Creativity is also an attitude to accept changes and newness,
willingness to play with ideas and possibilities while looking for ways of improvement. Creative people
tend to be hard working, improve ideas and solutions by making continue alterations and refinements in
their works.
Creativity is new ways of looking at existing problems, seeing new opportunities, and exploring
emerging technologies [2]. Innovation is the output of creativity; putting creative ideas into practice.
Creativity goes hand in hand with innovation. And there is no innovation without creativity. While
creativity is the ability to produce new and unique ideas, innovation is the implementation of that
creativity - that's the introduction of a new idea, solution, process, or product. [3]. Creativity is the
driving force behind innovation and the incorporation of looking at things from a different perspective
and freedom of restrictions by rules and written or unwritten norms.
The study conducted by Winfred Ebner [4] found that for the success of a design competition and
innovation, cooperation between industry and higher education institutions is very important. The
competition will encourage participation. Out of these investments will generate new ideas or new
products into society. Most of these investments are not going to build relationships among students and
open space between them to explore the idea of a better future. The study also found an incentive
payment to the winning side in a game is something that will encourage continued participation and
involvement in the future. This course will develop a culture of innovation, particularly among the
younger generation.
Culture is a complement to the formal, established rules of doing business. Culture in this paper
generally means promoting a culture of innovation, risk taking and experimentation. Culture is the
pattern of arrangement or behaviour adopted by a group of people or an organisation as the accepted
way of solving problems. Employers value soft skills such as the ability to think critically and creatively