Course Format
The course will be taught virtually. The structure will comprise a combination of weekly Zoom meetings, typically lasting 60-90 minutes, with daily activities which participants undertake in their own time. Participants should expect to spend approximately 30 minutes a day on these activities.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the 9-week course, participants should be able to:
- Define creativity using a research-based framework that includes novelty and usefulness, and distinguish between different types and levels of creative thinking.
- Frame challenges as open-ended questions to promote curiosity, reduce mental blocks, and encourage more creative problem-solving.
- Apply divergent and convergent thinking strategies to generate a wide range of ideas and thoughtfully evaluate them for practical use.
- Strengthen promising ideas using structured tools to affirm value, anticipate obstacles, and improve solutions without diminishing creative potential.
- Develop and implement actionable plans for creative initiatives, using task mapping, prioritization, and environmental analysis to sustain progress over time.
- Identify personal cognitive styles and preferences using tools such as FourSight and the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory, and reflect on how these influence individual and team problem-solving.
- Analyze the creative climate within their organization by assessing environmental factors that support or hinder innovation.