Short-Form Content-Based Creative Learning Strategies : Focusing on a Generative AI Course

This study examined the linkage and transfer effects of a generative AI-based short-form content creation course on learners’ creativity. Using a mixed-methods design, 24 first-year university students completed a 15-week, three-stage instructional sequence comprising consumption, creation, and feedback. During consumption, learners’ flow and empathy increased while perceived cognitive load remained low. Subsequent AI-supported creation and iterative feedback produced significant gains in four creativity dimensions—fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration—assessed with rubric-based ratings and triangulated with self-report measures. Notably, flow and empathy cultivated during consumption tended to transfer to creativity and autonomy through production and feedback cycles, with metacognitive regulation emerging as a mediator. Repeated-measures analyses indicated a cumulative trajectory for elaboration, reflecting refinement through strategy adjustment and revision. Qualitative accounts corroborated these patterns, highlighting the internalization of feedback as hypothesis testing and the responsible use of AI tools. The findings extend theorizing on creativity education in digital learning environments and offer practical guidance for course design that couples purposeful media consumption with AI-supported making and reflective feedback.