Ignite Your Everyday Creativity (Coursera)

Upon completion of this course participants will:

• Recognize the inherent creativity in yourself and others.
• Identify characteristics of a creative person that relate to yourself.
• Develop creative problem solving skills using the basic elements of the creative process.
• Examine qualities of a creative environment in real world settings.
• Evaluate an idea using the creative product criteria.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
What is Creativity?
In this module, we will be featuring the skill “Look at it Another Way”. This skill is about becoming aware of what ideas, challenges, and solutions feel like from multiple perspectives, views, or mindsets. These ideas may manifest as spoken words or internal thoughts. For example, take a moment to picture a tree. What does it look like? Does it have leaves? What season are you in? Did you picture the tree from straight on? If so, try picturing the tree from a birds-eye view, or from an ant's perspective. If your tree was in full bloom, picture the same tree in winter. It probably looks much different! That's what this module is all about looking at things from different perspectives in order to gain new insights! As you go through this module's lessons, we would like you to consider the following things: What might be all of the different ways to look at these lessons and assignments? How does changing your perspective spark your imagination? When deliberately employing this skill, do you feel more creative? We encourage you to keep this description handy, as we will be asking you to apply this skill throughout the module. Ready? Let's get started! Skill taken from Torrance, E.P., & Safter, H.T. (1999). Making the creative leap beyond... Hadley, MA: Creative Education Foundation Press.**

WEEK 2
The Creative Person
In this module, we will be featuring the skill, “Visualize it Richly and Colorfully”. This skill is about using the five senses to paint a vivid picture of what you're trying to explain or understand.This module will require you to use your imagination during the lessons and the subsequent assignments. We will ask you to picture the many aspects of certain objects -- such as apples -- or to remember something as vividly as possible. Let's give it a shot: picture a flower. It doesn't matter what kind of flower it is -- it doesn't even have to be one that is known to humankind! What does the flower look like? What colors make up the petals? How many petals are there? Does the stem have thorns? Do the thorns hurt? Are the petals soft? Are they damp from a recent dew? How does the flower smell? What do you hear? Is there a bee buzzing around the flower? Are you brave enough to taste the flower? I know that sounds like a lot of questions, but you should incorporate all five senses into the lessons within this module. As you go through this module's lessons, we would like you to consider the following questions: How does visualization make your memories come alive? How does visualization spark your imagination? When deliberately employing this skill, do you feel more creative? We encourage you to keep this description handy, as we will be asking you to apply this skill throughout the module.Ready? Let's get started! Skill taken from Torrance, E.P., & Safter, H.T. (1999). Making the creative leap beyond... Hadley, MA: Creative Education Foundation Press.

WEEK 3
The Creative Press
In this module, we will be featuring the skill Enjoy and Use Fantasy. This skill is about imagination, and it is an integral part of creativity and learning. The ability to enjoy and use fantasy is a skill that can be applied to many facets in life. Though it is often misconstrued as inconvenient or inappropriate (especially as we get older), fantasy has been shown to motivate learning while providing a non-threatening environment. The employment of the skill Enjoy and Use Fantasy improves thinking, logic, and communication skills!
For example, imagine you’ve been given access to the world’s first time machine. As of right now, it only has one setting: to take you on a journey 1000 years forward in time. Just think! You will be the first person from the present to see what the future looks like: what people will be wearing, what businesses will be in place, what governments will be standing, and the effects of the human race on the entire planet. With 100% assurance that the time machine is 100% safe, you hop in and press the One Button: GO! How do you feel? Is your mind racing with ideas of what you might see? Are you excited to be a part of an unknown future? Are you nervous about running into a future relative? Good – that’s the point! As you go through this module’s lessons, we would like you to consider the following things: Are you fully experiencing the joy and child-like nature of fantasy? How does the deliberate use of fantasy spark your imagination? When deliberately employing this skill, do you feel more creative? Ready? Let’s get started!

WEEK 4
The Creative Process
In this module, we will be featuring the skill Break Through and Extend the Boundaries. This skill is about thinking outside of the prescribed requirements. You may know it better by the phrase “think outside the box” – but we want you to think of it as more than that. Expanding the boundaries is a skill that everyone possesses (though it can be developed and honed through practice), and is integral to creativity and problem solving. For example, have you ever had a child, student, or colleague who was perfectly content to give run-of-the-mill answers to intriguing questions? Sure, the answers were applicable and solved the problem at hand, but they lacked the innovation and excitement that you were after. Then one day, in frustration, you told that person to “think outside the box” – and he astounded you with an answer that was completely out of left field! As you go through this module’s lessons, we would like you to consider the following things: • Are you thinking beyond the prescribed requirements? • How does extending the boundaries spark your imagination? • When deliberately employing this skill, do you feel more creative? We encourage you to keep this description handy, as we will be asking you to apply this skill throughout the module. Ready? Let’s get started! *Skill taken from Torrance, E.P., & Safter, H.T. (1999). Making the creative leap beyond… Hadley, MA: Creative Education Foundation Press.

WEEK 5
The Creative Product
In this module, we will be featuring the skill “Combine and Synthesize”. This skill is about making new connections with what we already know, and combining relatively unrelated ideas and concepts. For example, perhaps you're having trouble keeping up with your household chores. You understand their importance, but you can never seem to find the time to get them done. You take a few minutes to generate ideas, but they're the same old ones you've tried before. So, in order to come up with more novel ideas, you decide to combine your current challenge with your strengths. Perhaps you're an engineer, or you love to paint, or you're a motivational speaker. You combine the skills and tools that you already know with the problem at hand, and you come up with brand new ideas that play to your strengths! As you go through this module's lessons, we would like you to consider the following things: What unrelated concepts might you combine to produce more novel solutions? How does making connections spark your imagination? When deliberately employing this skill, do you feel more creative? We encourage you to keep this description handy, as we will be asking you to apply this skill throughout the module.Ready? Let's get started! Skill taken from Torrance, E.P., & Safter, H.T. (1999). Making the creative leap beyond... Hadley, MA: Creative Education Foundation Press.

WEEK 6
Putting Ideas into Context
In this module, we will be featuring the skill "Put Ideas into Context". This skill is about putting smaller parts or experiences into a larger framework, or putting things together in meaningful ways. This is the perfect skill with which to bring our MOOC to a close. During this module, and as you continue on with your Everyday Creativity experiences, we would like you to think about everything that you have learned throughout this course. Try to apply the lessons to your everyday life. Remember, the learning doesn't end with this course! Creativity is a skill that can be constantly developed -- all you have to do is put what you've learned into context! As you go through this module's lessons, we would like you to consider the following things: How might you apply what you have learned in this course to your everyday life? When deliberately employing this skill, do you feel more creative? We encourage you to keep this description handy, as we will be asking you to apply this skill throughout the module.Ready? Let's get started!