3 On Creativity: The Workshop

This 60 minute workshop was collaboratively designed and facilitated by the Pathways to Teaching Excellence team at North Seattle College (NSC) for faculty. It draws on concepts from Cheung On Tam’s article (2023). Though it was initially designed for “live” delivery, in keeping with the idea that “flexibility” is a creative attribute, we ultimately transformed it into an online workshop. There’s a lot of room for variation in terms of concepts, tools and platforms, as well as prompts. Furthermore, a follow-up workshop as we’d initially conceptualized, might focus specifically on using the ideas generated from the first workshop for assignment or activity revision.

Opening

Define “creativity” together. If participants need a nudge, provide a preliminary definition to discuss or offer the idea that creativity is not always random and unpredictable, but often a very intentional act/concept/practice that can be nurtured in a range of contexts (educational, social, etc).

As the ideas roll in, feel welcome to suggest a few concepts from Tam’s article, ask about the impact limiting or expanding time may have on creativity, or raise questions about design and format shifting as it relates to creativity. Once a full definition has been created, facilitator(s) could ask: “Why is creativity important for our personal and professional lives?”

Next Steps

Live or Online

Ask participants to rotate around the room to three different stations with a white board and butcher paper to write on—they’ll consider one concept per station.

Ask participants to rotate Zoom rooms and provide a Google doc, enable Zoom’s whiteboard, or offer a Padlet link as a community space for their thoughts on each topic.

Three Concepts: One per Station or Room

• Limitations
• Connections
• Resisting Closure

Prompts

At each station or, if online, in each Zoom room, take 5-7 minutes to prompt participants into a short discussion about the three creativity concepts:

• How do you promote __________ (insert your assigned concept) in your classroom?
• How can you generate or spark __________ for yourself (and/or your students), inside and outside the classroom?

Ask everyone to write/type their answers, talk through them, or give people the choice of either, depending on their comfort level.

Penultimately

Encourage everyone to gather together in the “live” workspace or to return to the main Zoom room to self-reflect. Reflection questions could include:

• What new ideas were generated for you in this workshop?
• How will you practice creativity (personal or professional life)?
• How can you model the creative process for your students?
• How could you give yourself and your students more opportunities to be creative?

Optional

If folks are talked out or just want some quiet reflection time, consider doing the reflection live or online as 5-minute silent writing activity. Provide the option to share out for those who’d like to talk.

Finally

If it hasn’t already come up in the reflection portion of the workshop, discuss the ways that parts, pieces, and the workshop as a whole offers opportunities for students to create and generate in the class—talking, writing, defining, refining, moving to different stations or rooms, connecting with others, etc.

If there’s time and interest, ask the group how they’d like to play the reflections forward to the next workshop: creatively remaking or revising a course assignment or activity.