In the first week, we focus on the basic principles of creativity and highlight its importance in tackling global challenges. A framework called the Creativity Diamond is introduced that will be used throughout the course to help identify which approach to use for creativity and when.

Creativity exists on many levels. There are examples of creativity that influence and transform society. There are also instances in our everyday lives when we come up with an idea to address a challenge or opportunity. This week we will explore some of the definitions and types of creativity, along with an introduction to assessing creativity.

This week we will look at an introduction to the brain, the mind, thoughts and memory, thinking and cognition. Consideration of thinking is important as ideas encapsulate a fundamental outcome in creativity. Some approaches to thinking have been identified as helpful in augmenting creativity, and some of these tools and the associated principles are introduced.

In this week, we will look at how we can augment our creativity using different methods of brainstorming, a creativity approach that aids the generation of ideas in solving a stated problem. We particularly focus on the application of brainstorming tools, with the aim of enabling you to understand, evaluate and apply different types of brainstorming techniques in your own context.

There are a wide range of types of brainstorming. All are based on the principles of quantity breeds quality and suspending judgement of ideas. This week we will introduce two distinctive forms of brainstorming, grid and alphabet. In grid ideas are developed building from an initial concept. In alphabet brainstorming each letter of the alphabet is used as a prompt to illicit several ideas.

This week we will consider additional views on creativity and the importance of the person, physiological aspects, process, the environment and the application in creativity. We will explore the divergent and convergent phases common to many creative processes whereby many ideas are explored in a divergent phase, prior to their refinement and filtering in a convergent phase. We will then draw this course to a close with consideration of some general guidance on creativity and illustrating how your learning so far can be applied within the creativity diamond framework.