From stuck to sparked: insights from EDLAB's 13th Student-Meet

ESAB presenter Hoang opened the session with a deceptively simple question: what is inspiration? The answer he offered can be found in research - a motivational state that compels an individual to act on a new or improved idea. You encounter something new, you recognise a connection, a spark ignites, and if you follow through - action follows.

But why bother actively seeking inspiration at all? Hoang pointed to two reasons grounded in research. First, inspiration can reduce the lack of entry points to work on tasks. Second, inspiration expands our horizons. Relying only on what we already know sometimes can create a barrier to the problems we can solve and how we solve them. Adding new thoughts and inputs to the pool of existing solutions reduces the friction to get started and attain our goals.

Guest speaker Kim van Cruchten, lecturer at the Department of Organisation, Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Maastricht University's School of Business and Economics, shared her perspective on creativity in Problem-Based Learning.

Kim drew on her own teaching experience to illustrate how creativity shows up - or fails to show up - in student work: in written assignments, facilitations, and presentations. She described her own creative process as combining rigorous content with a creative "sauce". She illustrated this with examples of creative facilitations she and her colleagues have encountered. One student once sang a song based on the literature; others simulated a court process in a business course.

ESAB member Emma guided students to pool ideas and connect the dots in six steps: identifying what already interests them; noting what stuck with them from the session; drawing connections between existing interests and new inputs (without needing them to be logical yet); choosing the one connection worth exploring; defining a small, doable next step; and sharing it with another student to make it more concrete and have someone challenge the ideas or plans.

In the process of collecting ideas, Hoang argued that it is important to know what gets in the way of inspiration: information overload, tunnel vision, fatigue, perfectionism, and simple repetition - doing the same things and expecting different results. It helps for instance to be open to new inputs to bypass familiar mental blocks, and even a short break can give the brain space to make new connections.

The session encouraged students to stay open to new inputs and to use inspiration to move forward on personal or academic goals. 

Participants left with a simple method: collect inputs, connect them to existing interests, pick one promising link, and define a small next step.