THE IMPACT OF LECTURERS’ THINKING STYLES ON STUDENTS’ CREATIVITY IN DISTANCE HIGHER EDUCATION

The purpose of this study was to investigate the group creativity on thinking styles in distance education based on collaborative learning. Sample included 120 students from three intact classes of the College of education were selected as the participants for the main study. The instruments of measurement were the thinking styles inventory and the creative product semantic scale. Using the factorial quasi-experimental design, impact of thinking styles in the group creativity was tested. The results of the present study showed that male students tended to prefer the legislative thinking style more than the female students. There was no significant difference between male and female students in the overall creative ability. In addition, this study found that there was no significant association between the average group member creative ability and the overall group creative performance. The findings also supported Sternberg’s argument that ability is different from style