Fueling Creativity Through Play and Humor
Course Outline
Course Fee: $270
Course Numbers: EED x701, SED x701
Standard Course Time: 45 hours
Semester Credits: Three (3) academic credits at the post-baccalaureate level (available for an additional fee)
Credit Issued by: Cal Poly Humboldt (refer to our Graduate Credit page for credit pricing and details)
Subject Area: Special Topics
This course has been developed and optimized for online delivery using the licensed title Sparking Creativity - How Play and Humor Fuel Innovation and Design, published by Routledge and authored by Barry Kudrowitz.
Introduction/Course Description:
Blending popular culture and design theory, framed by a decade of scholarly research, this course highlights how play and humor fuel innovation. Now, more than ever, we are in need of creative solutions to global problems, but creative skills and abilities decline over time without intervention and practice. Fueling Creativity provides empirically supported methods for embracing the often-trivialized domains of play and humor to increase our creativity. It shows that topical examples, such as Seinfeld’s humor, the Apples to Apples board game, and the Adventure Time cartoon series, are more closely related to innovation than you might first think.
The course is organized into five main modules, each containing short, engaging subsections and informative, playful, and colorful illustrations to demonstrate concepts. Written in a humorous and accessible style, this course is aimed toward creative-minded entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, industry leaders, parents, educators, and students. It encourages a playful approach throughout a design process to produce truly innovative solutions.
Course Objectives/Program Outline
Module One: Creativity, Play and Humor
Students will:
- Identify the Four Requisites of a Creative Person
- Describe Divergent Thinking, Convergent thinking and Verbal Creativity
- Discuss Fluency, Originality, Flexibility and Elaboration
- Connect Inspiration to Creativity
- Link Diffusing Focus and Creative Thinking
Project 1: Elementary, Dear Watson
Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.
Module Two: Innovation, Play and Humor
Students will:
- Identify Three Requisites of Innovation
- Examine the "Silly" Realm of Questionable Value and Feasibility
- Summarize Why People Prefer Incremental Innovation
- Identify Why People are Afraid of Radical Innovation
- Explore Questioning the Status Quo
- Recognize Hindsight, Science Fiction and the Adjacent Possible
Project 2: Flavors of Awesomeness
Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.
Module Three: Play, Creativity and Innovation
Students will:
- Define Play
- Examine the Four Types of Play
- Define the Criteria for Play
- Describe Work as it Relates to Play
- Illustrate Play-Creativity Connections
- Explore Steve Jobs vs. Mary Poppins
- List Examples of Adding Play Value
Project 3: I Wanna Play!
Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.
Module Four: Humor, Creativity and Innovation
Students will:
- Define the Release and Superiority Theories of Humor
- Explore The Incongruity Theory of humor
- Examine Remoteness of Association
- Describe Metaphorical Thinking
- Review Four Methods of Connecting Information across Different Domains
- Explain The Humor of Discovery
- Learn How Comedy Makes Change
- Define Improvisation
Project 4: All About Connections
Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.
Module Five: A Playful and Humorous Design Process
Students will:
- Describe Design Thinking
- Explain Design Research
- Define how We Define our Prompts
- Construct an Improv Warm-Up Progression for Team-Based Idea Generation
- Explore Ideas for Idea Generation
- Experiment with Models of Testing and Testing of Models
Project 5: How Might We...?
Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.
Final Exam
Multiple choice questions taken from each module
Final Learning Statement
Learning statements should be in a narrative format as opposed to an outline format. Depending on individual writing styles Learning statements should be 2-3 pages. The learning statement can vary according to individual style. Your learning statement should answer the broad question of "what did you learn?". To help get you thinking, here are some suggested questions:
- What are the major concepts of the course that you have learned?
- What new professional language have you acquired relating to the topic?
- What teaching techniques for implementing new strategies in the classroom did you come away with?
- Thinking back to your project reflections, were you surprised at the outcomes?
- What new resources did you find in the study of the content?
- As an educator, what new concepts will you now integrate into your teaching?
- Are there any ideas that presented themselves as enlightening and useful?
--- Sample Course Project ---
Project #3 Overview: I Wanna Play!
In module 3, we examined the many aspects of PLAY. We learned that:
- Play is about freedom of movement within a given set of constraints.
- Play is a natural phenomenon that occurs in a variety of species.
- Play is a safe means of learning social, emotional, and cognitive developmental skills.
- Play is a state of mind and not the activity itself.
- Play is possible to transform something that is typically viewed as work into something viewed as play (and vice versa)
For this project, take a moment to explore your newfound knowledge of play by answering these questions:
- Of the five aspects of play above, which resonate with you most and why?
- After reading the section about a dog's playful bow, in playing with your students, your own children or furry friends, how do you engage them to demonstrate you are wanting to play? What does it look like? What does it sound like? What signs are you seeing, hearing and interpreting?
- Do you consider Tom Sawyer a genius or con-man? Share your thoughts?
For Your Written Project Reflection Submission
After taking some time to answer the questions outlined above for this project, reflect on your process:
- What are some of your favorite memories of play as a child or adult? Were you with family, friends or on your own? What were the feelings you experienced? Are you able to generate those same feelings today?
- Is the concept of "Play is a state of mind, not an activity" familiar to you? If it is or not, share your thoughts around this statement. Is it freeing or confusing?
- Taking an inventory on the "play time" in your life today, is it enough, balanced or absent? What steps will you take to develop your opportunities for play?
Visit the Module Projects section located within the Course Dashboard, and take a moment to share your findings by submitting your written project reflection.
Cal Poly Humboldt Credit Specifics
- Academic Credit through Cal Poly Humboldt is offered after successful completion of each course.
- The 700 series semester credit is post-baccalaureate level appropriate for credentialed teachers which do not require admission to a graduate program.
- Courses are letter graded on official transcripts from Cal Poly Humboldt.
- Humboldt is the northernmost and westernmost institution in the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system.
- Humboldt is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), a regional accrediting agency serving a diverse membership of public and private higher education institutions.
Summer Option
If you are not currently teaching (ie. Summer break, you are a substitute teacher, etc.), each class offers you the ability to complete coursework independent of a classroom assignment.
