Factors Influencing Lecturer Creativity While Using Social Media

The article examines lecturer creativity in the context of social media use in the process of teaching and learning. Social media have been recently extensively used in educational settings, including higher education, and are becoming an integral part of the process of teaching and learning. Learning supported by the use of modern technologies has made creativity and its expression particularly important. The concept of creativity is multifaceted and still under development. Applying social media in the process of teaching and learning, mastering social media and using them for teaching, lecturers get involved in the continuous process, the success of which is determined by creative personal characteristics and the creativity-supportive environment. Lecturer creativity determined by the intertwined factors of the environment and personal characteristics stands out as the impetus of social media use in the process of teaching


Introduction
"The promise of the Information Age is the unleashing of unprecedented productive capacity by the power of the mind.I think, therefore I produce.In so doing, we will have the leisure to experiment with spirituality, and the opportunity of reconciliation with nature, without sacrificing the material wellbeing of our children.The dream of the Enlightenment, that reason and science would solve the problems of humankind, is within reach.Yet there is an extraordinary gap between our technological overdevelopment and our social underdevelopment.Our economy, society, and culture are built on interests, values, institutions, systems of representation that, by and large, limit collective creativity, confiscate the harvest of information technology, and deviate our energy into self-destructive confrontation.This state of affairs must not be.There is no eternal evil in human nature.There is nothing that cannot be changed by conscious, purposive social action, provided with information, and supported by legitimacy.If people are informed, active, and communicate throughout the world; if business assumes its social responsibility; if the media become the messengers, rather than the message; if political actors react against cynicism, and restore belief in democracy; if culture is reconstructed from experience; if humankind feels the solidarity of the species throughout the globe; if we assert intergenerational solidarity by living in harmony with nature; if we depart for the exploration for our inner self, having made peace among ourselves.If all this is made possible by our informed, conscious, shared decision, while there is still time, maybe then, we may, at last, be able to live and let live, love and be loved." (p. 396) Manuel Castells In the context of social media, creativity is related to collective participation, constant learning and personal development.It has permeated all spheres of human activity, including education.Recently it has become an inseparable part of higher education; it is more and more extensively used in the process of teaching and learning stimulating lecturer creative use of social media.The present research focuses on the factors which influence lecturer creativity while using social media.Professional activities, application of the newest technologies such as social media encourage lecturers to work in a creative way.Creativity is a constant construction of new meaning, and while using social media lecturers engage the learners, raise their interest and by their own personal example demonstrate that the uptake of social media opens up new ways to independent learning and discloses personal creativity.In regard to lecturer creativity, it is important to analyse the factors encouraging its expression, which allows fostering creativity.Creativity has been investigated by many authors and from different perspectives.It has been established that creativity could be approached from the systems theory perspective viewing it as three interacting systems: the system of the individual, the system of social environment and the system of culture.However, lecturer creativity using social media in educational environments has not been extensively researched.The object of the present research is lecturer creativity while using social media in higher education with the main aim to define and analyse factors influencing lecturer creativity while using social media in the process of teaching and learning.The research objectives are to reveal the prerequisites determining the necessity of social media use in the process of teaching and learning, to show the importance of lecturer creativity while successfully applying social media in teaching and learning process and to define the factors influencing lecturer creativity.
The research begins by introducing literature overview regarding the use of social media in higher education followed by the explanation of the research methodology and research limitations.The findings of the investigation are then reported.To carry out the research, qualitative methods were used.

Theoretical approach to the research
In the information and globalised society, new technologies have essentially changed the nature of human work and personal life, including social and cultural dimensions of one's personal world.The fragmentation of the post modern world forces the individual to independently take decisions and construct one's individual reality, create one's own personal and social world, including the world of work.Contemporary modern society is the society of information technologies, where an increasing demand for new educational attitudes and methodologies is arising in the context of lifelong learning and personal development which have become an integral part of adults' life (Glastra et al., 2004).The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies which result in the creation of shared information resources and their applications such as social media (e.g.wikis, Facebook, etc.) are changing educational processes.These changes have been investigated by a number of researchers (Prensky, 2001;McLuhan, 2003;Ruskin, 2006;Beer & Burrows, 2007;Lenhart, 2010;Baumann, 2011, etc.).For example, Raskin (2006) analysed the ways of mastering new technologies so as to ensure a better quality of life, whereas Bauman (2011) pointed out to the potential pitfalls of their use, including a trap of virtual illusory reality and consumer confusion as well as a possible manipulation of virtual reality, which is changing human life.According to the recent study of social media use, they are rapidly gaining popularity as approximately 95% of young people (within the age groups from 13-17 and 18-29) regularly use social media (Lenhart, 2010).Web 2.0 applications have become increasingly embedded in people's daily lives, particularly in young people's lives in different places and in different contexts (Hargittai, 2007).
According to Beer and Burrows (2007) (Selwyn, 2007).One of the directions for further investigation is educators' use of social media in their teaching practice (Hewitt and Forte, 2006).
According to Prensky (2001), contemporary students represent the generation which grew up with the new technologies.The researcher introduces the term Digital Natives as "the digital language" is their native language, i.e. computers, electronic mail, the Internet, mobile phones and instant messaging are integral part of their lives.Meanwhile, some of their teachers are Digital Immigrants (Prensky, 2001) who have mastered the digital language later and their understanding and skills are not perfect.Prensky (2001) identifies the educational problem in that Digital Immigrants are trying to teach Digital Natives whose habits of information reception and understanding are different.So, Digital Immigrants face the fact that they have to master social media, learn to communicate in their students' language and style, and have to accept the mosaic simultaneous realities of both social media and their students (Prensky, 2001).The concept of Digital Immigrants implies that lecturers cannot shut the doors to the reality of the modern world, which brings social media into the process of teaching and learning.Similarly, the problem is described by McLuhan (2003) who states that the times of mechanistic, linear philosophy are over, that the linearity has been changed by the simultaneity and concentricity of the electric age with its infinite intersection of planes, where all types of media are constantly interacting with each other.Therefore, lecturers have to enter this simultaneous world involving themselves into the teaching and learning processes, the success of which is determined by personal creative expression, and in which the creativity is realized.
Although creativity has been traditionally associated with artistic, spiritual activities, modern scholars extend the concept by emphasizing its practical and professional perspectives.According to the representatives of the humanistic philosophical school of thought, creativity is revealed and sustained through personal characteristics.Maslow (1968) states that courage, freedom, spontaneity, self-confidence and the ability to take risks allow a person to work in a creative way and achieve self-realization.Rickards (1994) considers creative people to be vitally important resources.Approaches to creativity and creativity research have been systemically analysed by Sternberg and Lubart (1999) who distinguish seven paradigms of creativity evaluation ranging from the mystical approach to creativity, psychoanalytic, pragmatic, psychometric, cognitive, and social-personality approaches and finishing with modern, interdisciplinary theories.The most relevant creativity research paradigm, which is identified by the authors, is the confluence paradigm.The aim of the theories attributed to this paradigm is to reveal the multiplicity of creativity, combine a wide range of components and convey the understanding of a broader impact of the context.
Cropley ( 2008) introduces three characteristics of creativity which are important in psychology and education.The first is novelty, which is understood as a product, a process or an idea.The second is efficiency, which means that it works and gives some results that can be aesthetic, spiritual or tangible.The third is ethic, which means that the term creativity is not used to describe manifestations of self-interest or destructiveness.Cropley ( 2008) also discusses such important components as creative products which can be tangible or intangible, creative personality which is the cause or the potential for the products to appear, characteristics of a creative personality such as openness, flexibility and courage, and the interaction with the social environment, where some space for creativity appears.
Lecturers who use social media as new technologies in the process of teaching and learning demonstrate such qualities as interest in innovation, self-confidence, the ability to experiment and take risks, which are characteristic qualities of creative personalities.Personality characteristics and socio-cultural environment are identified as a source of creativity and key factors of creativity in the componential theory of creativity.Amabile (1983) indicates that certain personality characteristics such as independent thinking, self-confidence, interest in complex phenomena, aesthetic needs and risks often characterize creative people.
Csiktzentmihalyi (1996) viewed creativity through the perspective of the systems theory.The author distinguishes three systems the interaction of which induces creativity.The first system is the system of an individual where creative ideas as well as the need to create, to change and to improve appear.Every creative act or a piece of work in a certain sense is considered to be a deviation from the norm.When some of these deviations are positively assessed they get rooted and become new norms.
The second system is social environment, which includes people who promote and accept creative initiatives.In the case of academic environment, these are colleagues and administrators.
The third system embraces culture.The expectations of performance dictated by administrators and the reaction of employees shape the unique culture of the organisation.Amabile et al. (1998) investigated the influence of organisations on creativity and identified three levels of creativity which illustrate how it is fostered.The first level starts with the process of generating new ideas, followed by their development and promotion of their exchange, their further support and implementation.The second level includes the manager approach and the promotion of creativity at the institutional level.The third level refers to peer support, collaboration, openness to innovation and change, constructive approach to challenge and the relationship based on trust and mutual assistance.Jeffrey and Craft (2004) stress that creativity is an essential element of self-expression and satisfaction, that it is vital in ensuring motivated and meaningful learning and life, including lifelong learning, in spite of the changing market forces and employment opportunities.
Applying social media in the process of teaching and learning, mastering and using it for teaching, lecturers get involved in the continuous process, the success of which is predetermined by personal characteristics of creative personalities and creativity-supportive environment.

Research Aim
The aim of the present qualitative research is to define and analyse the factors influencing lecturer creativity while using social media in the process of teaching and learning at the university.The study of the phenomenon is based on lecturers' "lived" experience while using social media in this process.

Research Questions
The main research question is focused on how lecturers perceive and identify the factors that influence their creativity while using social media in the process of teaching and learning.What aspects of their experience reveal the factors that influence lecturer creativity while using social media in the process of teaching and learning and how they relate to lecturer creativity?How does the social environment of the organisation influence lecturer creativity?

Researcher Role
Our interest in lecturer creativity arises from an academic environment, i.e. we work at Mykolas Romeris University where lecturers are actively encouraged to apply e-learning and social media.The work environment demands mastering different tools of social media to be used in the process of teaching and learning.We learned much from our colleagues; however, there were instances of some technical cases when we had to rely on our students, Digital Natives' help.Therefore, we became interested in the following questions: what the lecturers' "lived" experience is like, who have started using social media in the process of teaching and learning, what it means to them, how it relates to the forms of creativity and what aspects of creativity it involves.
Lecturer creative expression is relevant because creativity is linked to the permanent processes of constructing new meanings.Lecturers who use new technologies such as social media and engage their students into the process of learning are creative.Through the process of self-development they set a personal example and encourage their students to become actively involved in the process of learning.

Research Strategies
The study is based on the phenomenological interview used as a tool to get authentic material on the study participants' experience.The recorded semi-structured interviews provide data for deep investigation of the phenomenon.An interview allows respondents to raise issues that are important to them as well as to present their versions of the events.The social source of information is the individuals who experienced the phenomenon.In this way, the researcher collects empirical data through communication with the study participants.
ISSN 1392-0340 E-ISSN 2029-0551 Pedagogika / 2017, t. 125, Nr. 1 Ricoeur (2000) reveals the importance of communication and its power to transfer lived experience to another person.According to Ricoeur (2000), communication is a way of crossing the fundamental loneliness of each human being.Loneliness is understood as something that is experienced by one person and that is not possible to be fully conveyed to someone else, therefore, my just experience cannot become another person's experience, and the event belonging to one stream of consciousness cannot be directly transferred to another stream of consciousness (Ricoeur, 2000).However, the researcher states that despite this, there is something in me what could go to someone else, something from one sphere of life moved to another sphere.That "something" is not just experience, it is its significance, and its meaning, because experience which is lived through remains personal, whereas its meaning and its significance become available (Ricoeur, 2000).So, communication overcomes radical impossibility to transcend personal nature of lived experience.Thus, phenomenological interview gains meaning, and in such a way the semi-structured interview becomes a source of authentic material conveying the lecturer lived experience of using social media.Moreover, this experience can be analysed.According to Ricoeur (2000), the aim of structural analysis is to carry out the segmentation of the research material (horizontal dimension) and then define different levels of integration of different segments into the whole (hierarchical approach).

Data Collection Methods
The present study is focused on how eight lecturers from Mykolas Romeris University perceive and identify their creative expression associated with the use of social media in the process of teaching and learning.The study participants were selected according to two main criteria, i.e. their potential to provide a complete view of their lived experience while mastering and using social media in the process of teaching and learning as well as their potential to present some insights on the expression of creativity and the factors which influence it.To ensure homogeneity, the sample was constructed on the basis of the nature of their work (they are all lecturers who use social media in the process of teaching and learning) and the length of work experience of using social media (the requirement of at least three years of using media was applied).
Our personal relationship with the study participants ensured knowledge of their professional backgrounds and of their involvement in the process of using social media.It also facilitated the study participants' openness and sincerity during the interviews.The study participants were introduced to the research aim and objectives and voluntarily decided to participate in the study.They were assured that pseudonyms will be used in order to guarantee anonymity regarding their personalities.
Semi-structured interviews were used for empirical data collection.To elicit the study participants' stories (the narratives) about their experiences, open-ended questions were designed, which created a possibility for a deep investigation of the phenomenon.In the course of the interview, the questions could be changed or not asked at all if a study ISSN 1392-0340 E-ISSN 2029-0551 Pedagogika / 2017, t. 125, Nr. 1 participant presented his/her experience in detail by answering the questions even before they were asked.The interview allowed the study participants to raise the issues that were important to them and also let them submit their own versions of the events.

Methods of Data Analysis
In phenomenological research, the retrieved data are analysed in the following order: firstly, the collected material (the narratives) is overviewed and significant statements (units of meaning), which could be phrases or passages (parts of phrases) providing information about the research participants' experience related to the phenomenon, are highlighted.Moustakas (1994) calls this stage of analysis horizonalization.The next step in the analysis is organising the highlighted statements or excerpts into themes making certain groups of meaning (clusters of meaning).The highlighted significant statements and themes are further used to compile the textual description of the context or the situation that led to the participants' experience.Then, on the basis of the structured data, a coherent personalized story about a particular experience and its significance to the person is written.While discussing the data, the meaning of a number of different contexts is summarised, logical relationships are identified and a clear picture of the phenomenon relying on the interpretation presented by some study participants is created.
In the present investigation, the first step in the process of the empirical data analysis was phenomenological reading of the text in the light of a specific question about the lecturer lived experience of using social media in the process of teaching and learning.The next step was the identification of significant statements and marking them bold in the text.Then the statements were abstracted and structural analysis was performed by clustering the statements into subthemes, which in turn were clustered into themes.Finally, the themes were incorporated into the major categories that helped to disclose the picture of the phenomenon.

Research Results
The analysis of semi-structured interviews allowed highlighting significant statements in the study participants' narratives.Then the significant statements were abstracted to form the subthemes, which were later merged into the themes and the major categories.In response to the questions what affects lecturer creativity while using social media, how they begin to use social media, what factors influence their creative use in the process of teaching and learning, the study participants stressed the encouraging examples of their colleagues, new ideas and the university environment, provided conditions and expectations to improve the process of teaching and learning through the use of social media.
The transcribed interviews were revised several times and significant statements (units of meaning) were distinguished; then the units of meaning were organised into the key themes and merged into categories.As the result, external and internal factors affecting lecturer creativity were identified (Table 1-2).

External factors
Table 1 presents the external factors influencing lecturer creativity while using social media in the process of teaching and learning at the university, the main theme and its sub-themes, as well as the units of meaning.

Colleagues sharing ideas
There was the teaching staff and every lecturer shared his/ her own ideas.

Training colleagues
However, I started using them actively when I started training my colleagues.

Information acquired during seminars
During the seminars, there are plenty of things presented.

Information acquired during courses
During the courses, lots of the Internet addresses with the available free of charge programmes were shown to us and we could use them.

Ideas acquired through experience
If I start remembering how I started using social media, when I started using them, I can see some ideas from various technical experiences, creating a programme, perceiving the logics of the programme, and then there was the intranet ...

Active social media use
Which you do not use later if you do not start using them actively and systematically.How did I start?There were training seminars at our university, so I joined them, we had to prepare an interactive study module, and my colleagues did not have any time, so I had to do everything myself.Institutional influence University institutional impact I started using ... Moodle environment; most probably it was my first media because the university forced [me] to use it.The University encourages the use of Moodle environment, so we start using it.Students use Moodle environment because it is formalized and the university promotes it.Everything started from a workplace situation, some colleagues did not have a computer at home, some of them did not know how to use the word processor 'Word', but as it was a workplace situation they were interested in performing the job.personal creativity: "How I started <…> we had to prepare an interactive study module, and my colleagues did not have time, so I had to do everything myself".In psychology textbooks, stressful situations which encourage people to mobilize their inner resources for acting are related to bodily physical instant reactions and are identified as "fight-orflight" situations.We assume that it is highly credible that creativity is mobilized alongside with the whole body and alert mind.
The findings of the present investigation are also in line with Csiktzentmihalyi's findings (1996) resulting from the study of creativity conducted from the systems theory perspective, mainly that there are three interacting systems: the system of the individual, the system of social environment and the system of culture.The major category of external factors distinguished in this research supports the manifestations of the systems of social environment and culture.The system of social environment is related to the sub-theme of colleague influence, whereas the system of culture is related to the university institutional influence.The expectations for faculty performance dictated by the management are revealed in the statements of the research participants that the university encourages and promotes the use of social media.
Thus, it can be stated that lecturers' creativity is affected by various seminars, courses and trainings, by literature, colleagues' examples, diverse technical experience acquired in work situations, and by the influence of the university as an institution.

Internal factors
The second major category reflects the inner creative personality factors encouraging the use of social media as a new technology in the process of teaching and learning process at the university.
While describing how they personally felt their creativity as they began using social media, the survey participants indicated their inner personal qualities which helped them to start using social media, develop their skills and apply them creatively in the process of teaching and learning.Table 2 presents the internal factors encouraging the use of social media in the process of teaching and learning, the main theme and its subthemes, as well as the units of meaning.

Openness to information flow
Information is not just square sheets of paper, information is a metaphysical thing, it just needs to be understood, it exists here in great quantities and it is important not to oppose to the flow.
The theme: personal characteristics.Data analysis revealed personal characteristics being the main internal factors which encourage the use of social media in the process of teaching and learning.Such creative skills as the ability to take risks allows lecturers to confidently try new techniques without any fear of errors, testing and attempts: "I can take risks, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid of losing the material".Another related feature is the ability and willingness to experiment, which allows mastering new media through trying as if through playing: "<…> you try doing something, you don't know, you keep trying J if you don't know, you ask".Another important personal feature which encourages the use of social media is the ability to solve problems creatively, which allows seeing the ways of applying social media when other technologies do not work.These findings are in line with the personality features highlighted by Maslow (1968) in his humanistic approach to personality and also strengthen the findings of Tidikis (2003) who considers the ability to take risks, flexibility, "childishness" or, in other words, the ability to play and experiment to be attributes of a creative personality.Other important factors which are also ascribed to creative personalities are deep fascination with social media, which means a genuine interest promoting a deeper understanding of social media and enthusiasm to apply them as in: "And you get inspired, and you try…" Finally, the participants' insights regarding the need for information, significant changes occurring in the processes of information communication and creation, their perception that changes are inevitable and it is necessary not only to abandon any resistance to them, but also to live with them, all these personality-related factors influence the adoption and use of social media.
Thus, lecturers consider creative personality characteristics, such as the ability to take risks, flexibility, willingness to experiment, enthusiasm, openness to innovation and change as helpful in the process of adopting social media and using them in the process of teaching and learning at the university.

Conclusions
The research reveals two major categories affecting lecturer creativity while using social media in the process of teaching and learning at the university, i.e. the external factors and the internal factors.The external factors promote the expression of lecturers' creativity while using social media in the process of teaching and learning at the university.This major category includes colleague influence, sharing ideas and their active implementation as well as the institutional influence of the university.The internal factors include creative personality characteristics that allow lecturers to use social media successfully in the process of teaching and learning.While describing the external factors, lecturers state that such factors as colleague example and new ideas, as well as lecturers' willingness to try social media in the process of teaching and learning are stimulated by the internal factors (personality characteristics) such as willingness to take risks, willingness to experiment, openness to innovation and a desire to creatively solve problems.All these features and their expression manifest themselves in the process of using social media.Both dimensions are intertwined and form a whole system of factors influencing the process of lecturer mastery of social media and their use in the process of teaching and learning process at the university.Similarly, in his study of creativity through the perspective of the systems theory, Csiktzentmihalyi (1996) states that personal effects and social structure act as the factors integrally related to each other.Lecturer creativity is encouraged by their colleagues, sharing ideas and the faculty performance expectations dictated by the university as an institution encouraging the use of social media.We can conclude that a broad understanding of creativity delineated by the representatives using humanistic philosophical approach is manifest in lecturer activities through their openness to innovation (social media) and challenges (mastery of social media application in išoriniai ir vidiniai veiksniai, tampantys socialinių medijų naudojimo mokymo ir mokymosi procese varomąja jėga.
Gauta 2015 09 04 / Received 04 09 2015 Priimta 2016 10 26 / Accepted 26 10 2016 , Web 2.0 technologies offer the potential which can change social distributions.This creates opportunities and reconfigures our relationships with objects and places, and with each other.Although the research on how social