Techniques for creative teaching
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Creative teaching
In order to teach creativity, one must teach creatively; that is, it will take a great deal of creative effort to bring out the most creative thinking in your classes. Of course, creativity is not the only required element for creative instructors. They must also know their fields and know how to create an appropriate learning environment. When will it be most important for you to offer direct instruction? When is discovery most important? What are your expectations and how can you best communicate them?
Because answers to these questions are so diverse — even for individual instructors teaching different courses or at various times of the semester — no one technique will fit all needs. Here are several approaches or techniques for teaching creatively, both general and specific to certain fields. More examples of field-specific approaches or techniques appear in the Creative teachers section.
General Techniques
These creative thinking techniques were culled from the Internet and summarized by Yao Lu, a graduate student in AESHM (Apparel, Educational Studies, and hospitality Management). Some of the techniques listed below are used in business training or in K-12 settings but can easily be adapted for college students.
Assumption Busting
What: An assumption is an unquestioned, assumed truth. Assumption busting is particularly effective when one is stuck in current thinking paradigms or has run out of ideas.
Benefits: Everyone makes assumptions about how the world around us, which in creative situations, can prevent seeing or generating possibilities. Deliberately seeking out and addressing previously