Description, Preparation before taking the course, Overview, and Objectives

OFFICIAL COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:
CrCrTh 602 Creative Thinking

• This course explores approaches to "How might we proceed when confronted by problems, situations too ambiguous, complex, or messy or impossible to be addressed directly through logical strategies?" It seeks to increase the participants' understanding of creativity, to improve their creative problem-solving skills and to enhance their ability to promote these skills in others, in a variety of educational settings. Students participate in activities designed to help develop their own creativity, and discuss the creative process from various theoretical perspectives. Readings are on such topics as creative individuals, environments that tend to enhance creative functioning, and related educational issues. Discussions with artists, scientists and others particularly involved in the creative process focus on their techniques, and on ways in which creativity can be nurtured.

CrCrTh 630 Criticism and Creativity In Literature and Art

• Expression and evaluation, freedom and discipline, creative production and the critical response to it -- how do these dualities relate to visual and verbal imagination as they are demonstrated in literature and the arts? Specific strategies for eliciting imaginative work in these areas will be demonstrated, as will specific strategies for evaluating imaginative works. Finally, this course will focus on ways to help others (including children) develop critical and creative skills and on ways to effectively use strategies for eliciting and evaluating imaginative work.

POINTERS about the preparation assumed for this course (in lieu of formal prerequisites):
CrCrTh 602 is appropriate for any student with a strong interest in Creative Thinking and a desire to make a commitment to the personal development of themselves and others.
Ditto for CrCrTh 630, but with a special emphasis on the role of literature and stories in expressing and fostering creative thinking.
For both courses you will find it helpful to be familiar with the university’s library and research services.

OVERVIEW:
As conveyed in the Preamble, the format of the course will center on 4-week "collaborative explorations" (CEs), a variant of project-based learning (PBL) that begin from a scenario or case in which the issues are real but the problems are not well defined, which leads participants to shape their own directions of inquiry and develop their skills as investigators and teachers (in the broadest sense of the word). The CE component of each class session will be 60-90 minutes. The rest of each course session will involve activities or discussion of a shared reading.
The combined 602/630 course will
a) include intensive reading in the area of creative thinking, which students in CRCRTH 602 would expect;
b) allow a focus on literature/arts and on story-telling for students in CRCRTH 630; and
c) allow everyone to shape a path and final products for each CE that link closely with their personal interests.

As also conveyed in the Preamble, this is an experiment and, as such, has the virtue of drawing you more into the mode of "how would I teach (or guide) others" than a standard course.

Students in CrCrTh 602 should, whenever the readings and their interests allow, emphasize creativity as applied to problem-solving in complex, real-world situations, which is what the course means by "creative thinking."
Students in CrCrTh 630 should, whenever there is a choice, focus on readings and inquiry that is related to literature and/or the arts.

Collaborative explorations are designed with a view to participants re-engaging with themselves as avid learners and inquirers. What makes this re-engagement possible is a combination of:

• the tools and processes used for inquiry, dialogue, reflection, and collaboration;
• the connections we make among the diverse participants who bring diverse interests, skills, knowledge, experience, and aspirations to the course; and
• our contributions to the topics laid out in the scenarios from which each CE case begins.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: By the end of the semester, you will have:

• (602) a set of tools, experiences, and knowledge of publications, and an enhanced disposition to self-directed lifelong inquiry around creative thinking, i.e., creative problem solving in complex, real world situations;
• (630) a set of tools, experiences, and knowledge of publications, and an enhanced disposition to self-directed lifelong inquiry around creativity in literature and/or the arts;
• a set of tools, experiences, and knowledge of publications, and an enhanced disposition to self-directed lifelong inquiry for what is needed to teach or guide others re: the above in ways that might depart markedly from your previous schooling and experience.
• a critical understanding of collaborative explorations and allied approaches to project-based learning in relation to participants re-engaging with themselves as avid learners and inquirers.

ACCOMMODATIONS: Sections 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offer guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center (287-7430). The student must present these recommendations to each professor within a reasonable period, preferably by the end of the Drop/Add period.

Students are advised to retain a copy of this syllabus in personal files for use when applying for certification, licensure, or transfer credit.
This syllabus is subject to change, but workload expectations will not be increased after the semester starts. (Version 2 Sep. 2013; changes after the start of the semester are marked in blue)

TEXTS and MATERIALS

Kaufman, J. C., R. Sternberg (2010) The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity. (Requested as eBook holding for UMB library -- stay tuned if you want to save the cost of purchasing the book)
Fleischman, P. (2004) Seedfolks, New York: HarperTrophy.
Paley, V. (1997) The Girl with the Brown Crayon, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Taylor, M. (1976) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, New York : Bantam Books OR Cunningham, L. (1989) Sleeping Arrangements, New York : Knopf.

Other readings for the course consist primarily of

• a) work read as part of CEs, which, with planning, can be borrowed from libraries and
• b) student-chosen selections from articles and book chapters assigned for most weeks, most of which can be downloaded from password-protected page).

Recommended to help with writing: Daniel, D., C. Fauske, P. Galeno and D. Mael (2001). Take Charge of Your Writing: Discovering Writing Through Self-Assessment. Boston: Houghton Mifflin ("new" copies available well below list price on amazon.com)

Source for many of the course tools & processes: Taylor, P. and J. Szteiter (2012) Taking Yourself Seriously: Processes of Research and Engagement Arlington, MA: The Pumping Station (Available from online retailers or as pdf or paperback from http://thepumpingstation.org)

• Online guidesheets duplicate pages in the text, but, if you buy the printed or pdf text, you can refer to that instead of reading the guidesheets online and you have a reference work to consult after the course.

REQUIREMENTS

Guidelines for assignments will be supplied on the Notes wikipage and repeated on the google+ community as the course unfolds.
Your checklist wikipage (viewable as 2013/xx where xx =Yourlastname) is where you keep a log of assignments and participation items, even if some of these involve posts to the google+ community.
Take seriously the idea that the learning experience works best when you submit something on or before the due date. You keep track of due dates--do not expect class-time or meetings with instructors to be used to remind you. Similarly, if you get behind, you take the initiative to submit a plan to catch up or reassure the instructors that you have, in light of your other commitments, chosen to take the grading consequences of missing assignments or due dates.

Written assignments and work-in-progress presentations (2/3 of grade)

A. Work-in-progress presentations for each CE (well-prepared-- not informal or extemperaneous) (=4 assignments)

• due week 3 of the CE, except week 2 for the 4th CE

B. Product for each CE (1200 words): draft building on W-I-P presentation revised in response to plus-delta comments, then revised again in response to comments from an instructor and a peer and posted to the google+ community (=4 assignments)

• draft uploaded to peer share wikipage by week 4 of the CE, except week 3 for 4th CE; revised version due two weeks later.

C. Bibliography contributions with paragraph-length annotations, drawn from readings assigned or encountered during CEs; 2 during each CE cycle, posted to google+ community and revised, if requested, in response to comments (=8 half-assignments)

• due by last week of each CE, but preferably spaced out during the CE

[Suggestion for future years: D. Notes on inquiries pursued during the previous session, posted in weeks 2 and 3 of each CE to google+ community (=8 half-assignments)]

Participation and contribution to the class process (1/3 of grade)

a. Building learning community through i) attendance and participation at class meetings based on preparation between meetings and ii) inquiry and reading on the CE between sessions, with posting of annotated bibliography items (see C above) [and suggestion--see D above: notes on inquiries pursued] (=15 items).
b. Semester-long journaling/workbook based on a creative thinking guide chosen by the student and giving serious attention to a multi-week process of practicing and developing personal creative thinking through writing, reflecting, and experimenting (reviewed at office hour meetings and at end of semester [one week after last session] = 3 items)
c. End-of-semester reflection on your development through the semester and map of the future directions in which you plan to develop (include with journal/workbook) (=1 item)

• due one week after last session

d. Minimum of two in-office or phone conferences on your assignments and journal/workbook -- one before session 6; the other by session 10 (=2 items)
e. Peer commentary on a draft product from each CE within a week after uploading for peer sharing (=4 items)

Students should aim for 10 of 12 writing and presentation assignments submitted by the due date with revisions submitted for 6 writing assignments, as well as 20 participation items fulfilled.
If you reach or exceed this target for both parts of the course grade, you get 80 points (which gives you an automatic B+) and the following rubric is used to add further points.

• For each quality "fulfilled very well" you get 2 points or 1 point if you "did an OK job, but there was room for more development/attention." You get 0 points if "to be honest, this still needs serious attention."
• 1. A sequence of assignments paced more or less as in syllabus (and revisions timely),
• 2. often revised thoroughly and with new thinking in response to comments.
• 3. Projects innovative, well planned and carried out with considerable initiative, and
• 4. indicating that you will be able to move from learning to implementation/teaching in your specific situation.
• 5. Project products clear and well structured,
• 6. with supporting references and detail, and professionally presented.
• 7. Active contribution to and reflection on process of learning from CEs and session activities.
• 8. Active, prepared participation and building the learning community: in the live sessions,
• 9. and through comments & other between-session interactions.
• 10. Journal/workbook shows: Consistent work outside sessions,
• 11. and serious attention to practicing and developing personal creative thinking through writing, reflecting, and experimenting.
• 12. Deep final reflection on your development through the semester and map of the future directions in which you plan to develop.

If you don't reach the automatic B+ level, your points = 6 for each presentation or for written assignment that is revised in response to comments + 3 for each other written assignment submitted by the due date + 1.25 for each participation item fulfilled up to a maximum of 80.

Overall course points are converted to letter grades as follows: The minimum grade for A is 95 points, for A- is 87.5, for B+ is 80, for B is 72.5; for B- is 65; for C+ is 57.5; and for C is 50.
(In theory it is possible for a student to earn 104 points, but this would still be awarded an A.)

Plagiarism: Using another person's ideas or material you did not write without citing the source is plagiarism and is unacceptable (see library guide and Academic Honesty policies).