TGS course Creative and Design Thinking
By Jairo da Costa Junior & Lara Siering
The course will be a combination of preparation by the participants (recorded lectures and homework) and a workshop of a full day and writing a short reflection.
Preparation
- Read the following articles on creativity and design thinking:
Nigel Cross on Design Thinking: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142694X23000285 - Think about an actual organisation or communication problem in your PhD project. The problem should not be related to the content of your PhD but to the process. For example, you might have problems writing a paper in collaboration with others or with organising different activities. Write down in a few sentences what the problem is and how you have tried to solve it in the past. Now, formulate a question that you would like to find the answer(s) to with the group. Selected problems will be the subject of the creativity exercises.
Please reflect on a real organizational or communication issue in your PhD project that is not related to the content of your research but to the process. For instance, you might face difficulties working on a paper in a team or managing different tasks. Briefly describe the problem and the steps you've taken to address it previously. Then, formulate a question you would like to explore with the group to find solutions. The selected issues will be the focus of the creativity exercises.
Activities of the Workshop
Starts at 09:00 on Campus
Introductions and getting to know
- Introduce problems, form groups, and discussions.
- Warm-up exercises.
Creativity techniques
- Round 1 of working with creativity techniques – Reverse Brainstorming (with prompting cards) and discussions.
- Round 2 of working with creativity techniques – Brainstorming, brainwriting and discussions
- Round 3 of working with creativity techniques – Collective Prototyping.
- Round 4 of working with creativity techniques – Six Thinking Hats
Wrap-up and Feedback
There will be lunch and coffee breaks in between the rounds.
After the workshop, you will write a reflection on how Creativity Techniques have helped generate new ideas OR a plan to integrate Creative and Design Thinking in your project in the future. Details will follow.