Innovation

The purpose of the online learning is for you to develop your own learning. There are a number of tasks that you should complete before you undertake the next section.  You can work through this section at your own pace. It is expected that you would take up to 3 hours to complete this section.  You must complete this section before you move to the next section.

 

Task 1

Open the presentation “Unit 1 Review ” and listen to the commentary. 

This commentary summarises the previous Unit and enables you to see the links between the units.

 

Task 2

Open the presentation “Definition of Creativity ” and listen to the commentary.  Then answer the questions in your workbook for this Unit.

This commentary provides you with the second important definition fort his module.

 

Task 3

You need to watch the video “Why Creativity Matters ”

This video explains why creativity is growing in importance

 

Task 4

Open the presentation “Creative Types ” and listen to the commentary.  Then answer the questions in your workbook  for this Unit.

Understanding your own creative personality may help you develop your creative talent and skills.

 

Task 5

You need to watch the video “Creative Competencies ” Then answer the questions in your workbook for this Unit.

This video explains what skills you need to have to be creative. 

 

Task 6

Read the article “Creative Competencies ” and read it.  Then answer the questions in your workbook .

This article explains how you might improve your ability to be creative.

 

Creative Competencies

The argument that creativity is either natural ability or learnt is diminishing as we learn more about how we learn.  As we learn more about the brain and how it functions it is becoming clearer that talent, ability and skill are a combination of learning and natural ability.  This suggests that creativity can be something you learn. 

Nussbaum has developed a list of competencies or skills around which creativity occurs.  However, you cannot become a great painter or composer unless you have a latent capacity for the nuances that make painters and composers great.  For example if you are colour blind then you are unlikely to become a great painter, in the same way if you are tone deaf you are unlikely to become a great composer of music.  Yet, is it possible to become great at something.

In his book “Bounce”, Syed looks at how the great sports people became great.  Without exception is was due to practice around a latent predisposition towards certain abilities.  What this means is that with practice you can improve your own creative skills.

The process to improving your ability to be creative is to look at the five competencies and look at what you do and how you can improve them.  All of the five competencies are closely interlinked and each one leads to and spills over each other. You cannot engage in one without engaging in the others. 

Knowledge Mining and Framing

Both these competencies relate to curiosity about the world around you.  You own curiosity would be bounded by your interests and environment. You can begin to develop your curiosity skills by pushing yourself to question more what you see and how it relates or connects to you.

Playing

In a recent interview an artist was talking about how 12 year olds claimed not to be able to draw.  Yet, 10 year olds often say they can draw.  What happened in 2 years for these children to lose the ability to draw?  Basically they grew up.  Social structures force us to let go of some abilities and take up others.  Going back and exploring things around us is the first step here.

Making

As we have suggested creativity is a remix.  Taking objects and copying, transforming and combining them is crucial in finding a “new” object of process.

Pivoting

This sort of brings you back to the first competency.  Looking at where to go next is important in enabling your creative skills to develop and get better and better.  It is also important to acknowledge that this is not a linear process, but more of a circular one. 

References

Nussbaum, B. (2013), Creative Intelligence: Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire, New York: HarperCollins.

Syed, M., 2010. Bounce. London: Fourth Estate.

 

Task 7

You need to watch the video “What is Curiosity ?”

This video explains what curiosity is

 

Task 8

Read the article “Developing your creative skills”. Then answer the questions in your workbook .

This explores how you can improve you creativity skills.

 

Developing your creative skills

Our model of innovation is composed of three parts, curiosity, play and creativity.  The starting point to being creative is to have a strong curiosity about the world around you.  In the previous task we looked at this through Nussbaum’s first two competencies; knowledge mining and framing.  But what exactly is curiosity?  The video you have just watched suggests one answer.

There is a lot of evidence that we are naturally curious.  However, there is emerging evidence that as we rely more and more on technology our curiosity is being suppressed.  Yet this technology has given us access to an amazing volume of knowledge that has never been available before.

Paradoxically, the demand for curious people is increasing.  As we solve one problem we tend to create multiple problems that also need solving.  In the video you have just watched you can see how both education and employment favours the curious.  In the video Leslie presents two interesting graphs that show those with a university degree tend to earn far more than those that don’t and that work for non-routine jobs is increasing.  Both education and non-routine jobs require high levels of curiosity.

Curiosity is triggered when you face an information gap.  However, unless you have an interest in the information you are unlikely to investigate and attempt to close that gap.  The information gap can only occur when there some latent knowledge around the topic.  This is fact is a profound barrier to creativity.  As Leslie points out your interests and existing knowledge are critical factors that enable or disable your curiosity.

You should now answer the questions in your workbook.

 

Task 9

You need to watch the video “We are makers” It takes a slight American view, but is still relevant.  Then answer the questions in your workbook for this Unit.

This video demonstrates how easy it is to be creative.

 

Task 10

Open the document “Creativity ” and read it.  Then answer the questions in your workbook .

 

Creativity

The core message of this unit is that creativity is something we are all capable of. That we can copy, transform and combine things around us to make stuff.  Our creativity manifests itself in many ways that we are often not aware of.  The majority of people don’t see themselves as creative, yet as the previous video shows we are in fact all creative in that we are all makers.  Whether it is fixing a shelf or cooking a meal our personal preferences creep in and add something unique to the result.

If this is the case then there is no reason why you should not develop your creativity further.  Being curious is the first step, building on your own interests and looking beyond the framework you live in.  Curiosity is just a gap in the information that you hold around a particular factor and want to explore or close.

We recommend you read Nussbaum’s book particularly Chapters 3 to 7.  As these explain how the five competencies work.  Syed’s book is also something you should read.  It explains how great sports people became the skilled experts that they are.  I remember reading about one of the world’s most successful sport people; Donald Bradman.  As a child he practiced endlessly hitting a golf ball against a water tank with a cricket stump.  He went on to become the greatest batsman in cricketing history.  It is only by practising that we can develop our skills at being creative.

Dougherty argues that we are all creative at various times because we are makers.  This opens up an interesting point about the link between innovation and creativity.  Innovation is about change how we do something.  As makers creativity must be about what we do.  As a result of what we do we are able to innovate.  Not all creativity is innovative, but all innovation is creative.

There are two videos we recommend you watch.  The first one on scientists explains how an insatiable curiosity developed the scientific skills of Kary Mullis a Nobel scientist.  Of course reality says that you are unlikely to become a Nobel Scientist, but you certainly will improve your ability to be creative.  Mullis also talks about how he played with rockets and only late realised that essentially what he was doing was experiments.  The second video shows how play can lead to some amazing discoveries about how things work and how you can make stuff from almost everything.

 

Task 11

Quick quiz 

 

You should undertake further reading on the topics in this section.  We recommend that you read the following:

 

Nussbaum, B. (2013), Creative Intelligence: Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire, New York: HarperCollins. Chapter 3 to 7

Syed, M. (2010), Bounce. London: Fourth Estate.

And watch the following:

 

What scientists do

Tinkering school

 

The next section is Unit 2 OLL2