Evaluate critical and creative thinking in higher education

Education and training systems receive requests for change from many sides to better train the use of higher-level cognitive processes in the younger generations. In particular, critical thinking and creative thinking seem to be those most in demand and, at the same time, those on which there is frequently an unfulfilled expectation. Is tertiary education ready to meet this challenge and if so, what evaluation devices should it have? How could these devices also be placed within the framework of the Dublin Descriptors and Learning Outcomes, foreseen in the study courses? Starting from an analysis of the literature on the different definitions of critical thinking, the contribution focuses on the connections between critical thinking and creative thinking. The study also questions how this thought can be assessed in the academic field and provides, by way of example, the translation of separate rubrics, recently developed. Finally, the paper examines the Italian framework TECO-D Pedagogy, identifying the terms that already imply a reference to forms of critical or creative thinking and warning against the construction of cross-sectional rubrics, on aspects that at least for certain professionals.