Fostering creativity in engineering education: The CEDE project and the design of a European e-learning platform

<ns3:p>Background Engineering plays a central role in today’s technology-driven society, requiring professionals not only with strong technical knowledge but also with creative, critical and digital competences. However, creativity is still insufficiently integrated into many engineering curricula. The Erasmus+ project CEDE – Creative Engineering addresses this gap by promoting innovative educational approaches aimed at enhanced creativity and related transversal skills in engineering higher education. Methods The project follows a collaborative, international methodology involving five European countries (Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Slovakia). First, a comparative analysis was carried out to examine how creativity is currently addressed in engineering degrees at partner universities and in those countries. Based on this analysis, a common complementary module was designed, structured into five thematic areas: critical thinking, design thinking, digital problem solving, digitalization and artificial intelligence, and soft skills. Each module includes specific learning outcomes, teaching methodologies and assessment tools to evaluate creative competences. An e-learning platform was developed to deliver the content. Feedback was collected through round tables with students, professors, university staff, professionals and companies from the engineering sector, and used to refine the modules. Results The comparative report identified significant differences in the treatment of creative competences across institutions, as well as opportunities for early curricular implementation. The resulting common module provides a flexible framework adaptable to different engineering degrees. Feedback gathered during the round table confirmed the relevance, usability and pedagogical value of the modules and the e-learning platform, and provided concrete suggestions for improvement, which were incorporated into the final version. Conclusions The CEDE project demonstrates the feasibility and value of systematically integrating creativity-related competences into engineering education through participatory and interdisciplinary approaches. This approach not only fosters creativity but also prepares engineers to tackle complex, interdisciplinary challenges in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.</ns3:p>