Paul Heilker
Honors College
Virginia Tech
UH 4004: Honors Tutorial
Spring 2021 Course Proposal
Creativity as a Transdiscipline
Course Description
Creativity – creative thinking and the processes that support such thinking – is critical to innovation in every field of endeavor. But contrary to popular belief, creativity is not something we are born with nor a gift that only some people possess. Rather, creativity is a worldview and set of accompanying practices, a discipline that anyone can acquire and employ.
In this course, students will first learn and employ the ideas and practices of creativity as they relate to some productive art form they are personally active in, including creative writing, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, web design, making music, dance, even cooking (students may propose additional possibilities). After developing their creative mindsets and habits of production in relation to their chosen art forms, students will then apply their disciplines of creativity to work in their majors and/or prospective workplaces, producing creative responses/innovations to questions, problems, or issues in these domains.
Syllabus
Topics to be addressed include --
- interrogating, emulating, and curating our influences
- daily practices -- making/finding the time, “chaining ourselves to the desk”
- keeping a journal
- the discipline (routines) of creativity
- building a productive workspace / disconnecting from the world
- slowing down / paying attention
- playing with ideas, perspectives, materials, processes
- embracing constraints and limitations
- working with what we have (both materials and current abilities)
- embracing uncertainty, mistakes, and failure
- perseverance and sustainability
- the life cycle of projects
- showing our work (on a daily basis)
- sharing our work online
- becoming visible / impostor syndrome
- sharing our tips and techniques
- documenting processes / reflecting
- building the narrative
- finding/building an audience/contributing to a creative community
- responding to criticism / dealing with trolls
Deliverables
Using free web services such as Wix and the like, students will develop personal websites to document, integrate, and display all work in the course, including drafts and final products of both their personal art work and their discipline-specific innovations. These portfolios will be publicly available.
Class Size / Modality
I propose running two sections of this course, each capped at 20 students, for a total of 40 students.
These sections would meet one day per week synchronously online (on a Monday or Wednesday, being careful not to conflict with or compete with other UH offerings), with the rest of the week’s work being done asynchronously online.
Guest Speakers
I hope to have regular guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds meet with the classes to discuss their respective creative mindsets and processes, problem-solving tips, and the more unusual contexts and ways in which they have utilized a disciplined approach to creativity.
Required Texts
Kleon, Austin. Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative. New York: Workman Publishing, 2012. 160 pages.
-----. Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered. New York: Workman Publishing, 2014. 224 pages.
-----. Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad. New York: Workman Publishing, 2019. 224 pages.
McLeod, Hugh. Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity. New York, 2009. 176 pages.