Friday, October 15, 2010

Using teaching strategy to inspire other's creative solution finding skills.

My intention
In this economy, businesses, and individuals, need to be innovative in their thinking.  Two issues often arise when trying to apply creativity in practical terms.  Individuals will often say, "I'm not creative," thus they are stymied. Organizations jump straight to brainstorming activities and get the same, old, results.  I have been studying the art and science of applied creativity for about five years now, and want to teach others how they can be productively creative with better outcomes in both their professional and personal lives.

Subject matter
Applied creativity in general, and specifically, the

Osborne-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Methodology


Learner Outcomes
1. Learners will be able to explain how applied creativity is useful in their own situation.
Strategy: Cognitive

2. Learners will be able to demonstrate the phases and steps of the OPCPS method by the end of class.
Strategy: Mental Model Strategy

3. Learners will gain confidence in their own ability to be a creative solution finder.
Strategy: Virtual Reality Strategy

For our assignment, I will focus on the third outcome and the virtual reality strategy.  In fact, this "lesson" could be executed as a three part course.   In planning for the third part, there will be some assumptions made regarding the first two parts in my lesson plan for implementing the virtual reality strategy.  

One note about the virtual reality strategy, although this serves well for learnings that need safe environments, particularly those learnings that have high physical risk, I feel that utilizing a specific creative solution methodology can also involve personal risk. Feeling foolish or embarrassed is big fear for many people.

It takes commitment and the confidence to execute a rigorous creative problem solving methodology., Others may not understand what you are doing as you proceed to the end, which, hopefully provides a better solution. This can feel very risky in professional situations as well as in some personal scenarios.

Also, by focusing on this issue in the third part of the lesson, hopefully people will demonstrate what they know in front of others, thus making a recommendation to others to take this class from me.

3 comments:

Allison Friederichs said...

Marianne,
Interesting idea! I really appreciate the passion you have for the importance of creativity. Your foundational idea about the place creativity holds vs. the place it could/should hold is definitely valuable. So many people think creativity is something one has to be born with, so it's exciting to see your plan to train people in this. I'm curious -- as you are the expert on this topic -- do you feel that creativity is something you don't train people to do or more like you train them to FIND it within themselves? I'd love to know your thoughts on that.

In terms of the training program you're proposing, this sounds like a great start. I'll tell you the same thing I told Juli regarding the fact that you'll ultimately use more than one strategy in the "real world": if you feel you can handle discussing all 3 parts in your paper, go for it. But if you prefer to stick with one, that is completely understandable.

You have done a good job thinking about the learning outcomes for this program. Can you think about how to make the LO for your 3rd part more measurable? How would you measure whether someone has "gained confidence"? (It's actually possible, but is that your intent?). And even if you could, is that really what you're hoping for -- just that they feel more confident? My guess is you have in mind something more concrete, yes?

It is wonderful that you have thought about the potential risks of using the Virtual strategy. And I agree -- creativity feels risky for adults! So I would suggest that one of your major charges in this plan is to think about how you will engage some of Wlodkowski's motivational strategies -- most obviously, probably, motivating learners toward their own self-efficacy. How will you address this in your program?

This is a great start. I am very much looking forward to reading your creative ideas in your final paper.
Allison

Allison Friederichs said...

Oops! That question in the first paragraph should say "do you feel that creativity is something you train people to do or..." (not "don't train...").

Marianne said...

Hi Allison, thanks for all your feedback. I do think that creative problem solving is a skill that can be refined through practice. Like driving a car. Some of us are better than others, but ultimately, barring any handicaps, we can all do it. I think the motivation, inspiration and commitment are aspects of it that come from within. I will definitely think about the other issues, such as measuring the confidence. I believe one of the ways in which I can imagine doing this is with a pre class and post class survey, but I will be thinking about other ways to describe the outcome, as well.