Key Information
About the content
This course deals directly with your ability for creativity which is a critical skill in any field. It focuses on divergent thinking, the ability to develop multiple ideas and concepts to solve problems. Through a series of creativity building exercises, short lectures, and readings, learners develop both an understanding of creativity and increase their own ability. This course will help you understand the role of creativity and innovation in your own work and in other disciplines. It will challenge you to move outside of your existing comfort zone and to recognize the value of that exploration. This course will help you understand the importance of diverse ideas, and to convey that understanding to others. The principal learning activity in the course is a series of "differents" where you are challenged to identify and change your own cultural, habitual, and normal patterns of behavior. Beginning with a prompt, e.g. "eat something different", you will begin to recognize your own = limits and to overcome them. In addition, you are encouraged to understand that creativity is based on societal norms, and that by it's nature, it will differ from and be discouraged by society. In this course, the persistence of the creative person is developed through practice. At the same time, these exercises are constrained by concerns of safety, legality, and economics, which are addressed in their creative process.
Syllabus
- Week 1 - Introduction to the Course
Creative problem solving is a skill that can be developed. It requires extensive work by learners, but the lessons, while not conveying traditional content, will change the you in ways you do not foresee, but ways which are cherished. The course is a hybrid; ... - Week 2 - Divergent and Convergent Thinking
In this unit we'll look as some of the ways we can describe creativity and examine the concepts of divergent and convergent thinking. We'll look at generating more ideas, how to critique and make improvements, and continue to practice our development of ideas.... - Week 3 - Creative Methods
Sometimes, we need external methods to help us touch all the bases in our creative capability. Here, we'll look at a couple of good methods for helping us generate new ideas.There are a wide range of creativity exercises available; these are but a few. Finding... - Week 4 - Creativity and Observation
A lot of the time, creativity can be spurred by something in the environment, triggering connections with new ideas. We react to things we have seen and our experiences; that is from where we build our new ideas. - Week 5 - Creativity Models and Theories
There are a lot of different ways to examine the complex concept of creativity; we'll look at some of them and continue to build our own creativity. - Week 6 - Conclusion
The goal of the course is for you to continue to develop your own creativity, in your own way and in your own life. Here are some ways to move forward.
Instructors
Brad Hokanson, PhD
Professor
College of Design
Jody Nyboer, PhD
Instructor
School of Design
Content Designer
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is an American university founded in 1851.
It is located jointly in the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, known as the Twin Cities, in the state of Minnesota in the United States. The university is the oldest and largest part of Minnesota's university system. It is often ranked among the top 30 universities in the world by the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Its student body is the second largest in the United States, with 52,557 students and a ratio of 1 professor to 16 students. It is located on two campuses in each of the two cities, linked by a dedicated bus system. Because of Minnesota's unique geography (more than 12,000 lakes, and hundreds of miles of parks and forests), the university is heavily involved in research into the environment, renewable resources and energy, and sustainable development. Its annual economic impact on the local economy is estimated at 8.9 billion dollars.
Platform
Coursera is a digital company offering massive open online course founded by computer teachers Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller Stanford University, located in Mountain View, California.
Coursera works with top universities and organizations to make some of their courses available online, and offers courses in many subjects, including: physics, engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and other subjects.
SO INTERESTING AND FUN. Have you ever took a stranger'S secret and propose another stranger to take that secret in exchange of one of his? This course is an opportunity to do crazy stuff like that!
Excellent premise, good suggestions. Some technical issues with repeated videos & lack of experience w/talking to a camera instead of a person, but nothing too distracting.
What makes the course great is its simplisity and insights. Originally, I was not sure if the course's content will be relevant to business environment, but it proved to be more that applicable.Great content, great excercises and highly valuable concepts!P.s. sometimes oversimplified, so minus one star :)
This is really good Course, if we apply creative ideas in our life on our daily basis work in diffrent way...you can understand....How much is easy to live with ppl and family friends....
It was fun. But I think that would be great to add more various tasks and do something with the quality of the video, because sometimes it was hard to concentrate on the content.Nevertheless, it is good start to develop your creativity and open some useful tools for yourself.
This is a fun and engaging class. I was challenged by the assignments on so many levels while taking this class. They have encouraged me to try new things even if it seems ridiculous to others. I especially liked the feedback, the constructive critiques all helped me through this course.