Introduction Help

The future is going to be different.

What we know now will not be enough to address future changes and challenges. How you will solve
those problems will involve a lot more than by having just more information; you will need to be
creative.

You will need to be creative, in what information you use, find, combine, and synthesize; creative in
what information you find and in what information you ignore; and you will need to be creative in what
tools, resources and skills you apply to the problem; And finally, you will have to be creative in who you
work with, who you don't work with, and in how you collaborate and work with others.

We are going to live and work in a Knowledge Economy; information may be the currency of that
economy, but shaping and directing the use of information depends on our own creativity.

How we generate new ideas is a critical skill in any field. The necessity for creativity, for human
ingenuity is without doubt. Businesses around the world recognize this skill as important and seek out
the most creative workers for their enterprises. A recent poll by IBM of over 1500 business executives
from around the world listed creativity as the most desirable competancy for leaders in business.

Countries around the world have changed their school curricula to improve the creativity of their
students. For example, the United Kingdom has reorganized its secondary school curriculum to
encourage the ability for students to develop new ideas. China is changing its educational direction to
develop more than cognitive intelligence and to encourage more creativity. And similar efforts are
underway in Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and Denmark. This is a need of national and world
importance.

Creativity is a skill that can be employed on a small task or on a large project and in every day life;
creativity is important in any field from business to mathematics, from engineering to the arts. The
ability to develop ideas that are new and applicable, is critical in any discipline. This is a course that
helps you develop your creativity. This is personally important as research has shown that creativity is
three times as strong and indicator of lifetime acheivement than is intelligence. It's not enough to be
just smart; you really have to be creative!

Happily, your level of creativity is not fixed, and it can be developed and improved. There are a
number of well understood techniques and sources that are valuable for teaching and development of
creative problem solving. This course presents some of those techniques through student activities
and chalenges, projects, and exams.

Througout this course you will be given a number of challenges that are designed to increase your
own creativity; you will do things you have never done and do things you have only wished you could
do. The great value of this course is that the work is yours, and your work will be much of what we
discuss and talk about. You will have fun and engage others in your family and community as well as
other students. In the end, your creativity will have increased and you will know more about creativity
as a skill.

In business, at work, in life, and as one enters the University, one skill will be the most important to
your success. It is your ability to be creative.

Created Sun 20 Oct 2013 8:15 AM PHT

Last Modified Sat 22 Feb 2014 7:29 AM PHT