Read Me First Help

Welcome to Creative Problem Solving! Please review this page before getting started with week 1.

About this course

This course will help you understand the role of creativity, innovation, and problem solving in your own
life and across disciplines. It will challenge you to move outside of your existing comfort zone and to
recognize the value of that exploration. What makes an idea creative, anyway? This course will help
you understand the importance of diverse ideas, and to convey that understanding to others. It will
cover methods for generating new ideas, increasing motivation, and ways to increase your own
creative ability through assessment and discussion.

The principal learning activity in the course is a series of "differents" where you will be challenged to
identify and change your own cultural, habitual, and normal patterns of behavior. Creative prompts
such as "eat something different" and "do something as a child" will encourage you to recognize your
limits and overcome them. In addition, you are encouraged to understand that creativity is based on
societal norms, and that by its nature, it will differ from and be discouraged by society; in this course,
the persistence of the creative person is developed through practice. You will learn how to approach
problems in divergent ways and apply this knowledge to your daily endeavors.

Course format
Each week will include:
A set of lecture videos, some of which contain activities to complete
"Originality Assessment Engine" creativity drills to measure your increasing creative ability
Series of 6 "Do Something Different" assignments with peer evaluations
3 bi-weekly quizzes on video and reading material
1 reflective essay

Course navigation
Two weeks will be made available at a time; you will find all content for each week under "course" on the left
navigation bar. Each time you log in you will find due dates, recent forum posts and announcements on the main
page; any pivotal announcements will also be released via email. The syllabus, schedule and a breakdown of the
grading system can be found under "course information." Additionally, course content including currently
available videos, quizzes and forums can be found under course material; this content will be released in tandem
with each weekly page.

About the schedule

All assignments, evaluations and quizzes will be due on Tuesdays by 23:59 -006 (11:59 PM CST). You
will have a 60 minute grace period for submitting all assignments and peer evaluations. You can find
the full breakdown of the course schedule and workload under "schedule."

About the "Do Something Different" Assignments

On each week's page you will find a section devoted to the core work you will do in this class. There
are 6 "DSDs" total; you will find a general introduction video to the topic under week 1. You will have 1
week to complete the assignment and upload. Once the assignment deadline closes the peer
evaluation submissions will open; you will then have the following week to complete 4 peer evaluations
and a self evaluation.

Every week there will be a short "DSD introduction" video explaining the creative prompt for that week.
Each week also has a PDF of past examples for that prompt, a link to the assignment submission
page, and starting week 2, a link to the peer evaluation page for the previous week's DSD for grading.
When submitting your assignment, you will be able to view the quantitative grading rubric provided on
which you will evaluate your classmates and on which your project will be evaluated as well. A space
for comments/feedback is also provided. The peer evaluation portion of this class is designed to be
brief. You should not need to spend an excessive amount of time evaluating your peers; the idea is
that you will be able to see some projects in class and gauge the creativity of an idea based on a set
of personal, cultural and societal standards, and leave comments for feedback/improvement. You are
encouraged to share your projects in the forums with everyone and vote for the top examples; further
explanation is provided in the overview video.

Quick grading breakdown

Each quiz, to be completed in weeks 2, 4 & 6, is worth 10 points each (30 total). Each DSD is worth 10
points each (60 total). You will not get full points unless you complete both the peer and self
evaluations. You will find a complete grading overview under "grading and logistics."

Contacting the instructors

Brad Hokanson and Marit McCluske will both have office hours every week where we'll respond to
frequently asked/upvoted questions in the forums. Our office hours will be posted under "FAQ/Office
Hours". If you have pressing questions it's best to try posting to the appropriate area in the forums
first; likely your classmates will have the answer. Generally email is discouraged, try your luck with
asking the forums first.

Every week we'll also be posting a video as a "live" review of some of the most interesting DSD
assignments we've found from the past week and addressing additional topics that have come up in
class. You might find this helpful to learn more about critiquing the ideas of others or to get inspiration,
or to see what's being done by others in the class. You'll find this link active beginning week 2.

How to get started

Week 1 includes introductory videos for the class from your instructors, a general overview of the
course, introduction to the DSD assignments and the peer grading system, and a tutorial on getting
the best documentation for your projects. Therefore this week has a bit more content than the
following weeks; generally the video load is fairly short. Please check out all the videos before
beginning your assignments. Keep in mind you only have 1 week to complete your DSD assignment
and submit, so please review the material and get started as soon as possible! You'll need some time
to generate ideas, implement your idea, and compose a brief written description with photo
documentation to post.
Under "Activities and Exercises" for the first week you'll find a link to the introduction forums. Please
post something brief about yourself, where you're from, and include a photo of something neat in your
hometown. Additionally, each week under this section you'll find a link to our own "Originality
Assessment Engine" program which is a tool for developing your creativity skills and generating ideas;
information is provided in the PDF in week 1 about how this works and how to access it.

Quizzes are to be completed bi-weekly; these are short and designed to enhance your knowledge of
how creativity really works. Readings are provided and you'll find the article for the first quiz available
in week 1 under "readings" (Quiz #1 is only on this 1 article).

Review content under "Course Information" for a complete schedule. Then, check the forums for
conversation topics or if you have additional questions.

Finally, remember to have fun with this! This class is all about challenging yourself and expanding your
ability to be creative and find inspiration for innovation, and strengthen your approach to solving
relevant problems. Much of this course is what you make it, so do something that's different,
meaningful and engaging to you and others around you. Share your work, give constructive feedback
and contribute to an evolving knowledge base on which ideas form, grow and evolve.

Created Tue 18 Feb 2014 3:02 AM PHT

Last Modified Tue 25 Feb 2014 3:22 AM PHT