Honors 57
The Creative Process:
Exploring the World of Ideas and Imagination
Prof. Robert D. Woodward
Drake University
Fall Semester 2002
Creativity. What is it? Who has it? How can it be developed? Who kills it? Questions. Questions. Questions. This course will explore what creativity is perceived to be, what its history is, how it manifests itself in world culture, and how it can be stimulated by thinking, reading, talking, and writing about it.
The main objectives of the course will be to provide students with a solid understanding of the creative process; to explore how creativity exists in widely diverging areas of human experience, to stimulate students to explore individual histories of creativity within their own disciplinary areas; and to foster a learning environment where creativity prospers.
Required Reading
Ayan, Jordan. Aha! 10 Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit and Find Your Great Ideas. New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1997.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: HarperPerennial, 1997.
Goldberg, Natalie. Writing Down the Bones. Boston: Shambhala, 1986.
Von Oech, Roger. Creative Whack Pack. Stamford, Conn.: U.S. Games, Inc. 1992.
Creativity and the World Wide Web
In addition to the readings in the printed texts, we will be using digital assignments on the World Wide Web. Here are some Web sites for beginning, and we will expand the syllabus with new sites during the semester.
The Creativity Web in Australia shows how quickly we can move across the digital globe for ideas. The site is one good starting point for thinking about creativity.
Go to the Creativity Portal for lively ideas. One of the interesting ideas there is the question: "When is the last time you looked at popcorn with your imagination?"
See the Creativity for Life site for other perspectives.
Check the sites on Creativity at Work and Innovation Tools.
Creativity Groups
To approach our overall subject and to explore the possibilities for projects during the semester, we'll create four or five groups of students for discussions, for thinking, and for creative action.
Course Requirements
You will be required to attend class regularly; to participate in classroom discussions; to do brief credit/no credit discussion papers; to keep a creativity journal; to write three papers--two shorter analytical papers and a major research paper; and to complete a creative project.
Paper No. 1: The first analytical essay should be 5-6 pages and should provide a personal perspective on creativity. In your experience, where, when, and how have you encountered creativity? At home? In the classroom? In your own thinking and work? On television? On a walk in the woods? Elsewhere?
Paper No. 2: The second analytical essay should be 5-6 pages and should be a case study of creativity at work. You can choose the subject area and an individual or individuals--and interpret the subject/individuals for their creativity.
Major Paper: 20 pages plus endnotes and a bibliography. Ideally, this paper would explore extensively how creativity exists in your disciplinary area. You might choose to write about the creativity of an individual or a group. You might choose a topical area--for example, creativity in public broadcast television.
Major Project: Here especially is where your creativity can come into play. This class is intended to be innovative, so you will be asked to develop a creative project for the semester. We'll let the creativity of the class define what the project(s) will be.
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