WE BELIEVE MANY UNIVERSITIES COULD AND SHOULD DO MORE TO NURTURE AND DEVELOP THE CREATIVE ABILITIES AND INNOVATION SKILLS OF THEIR PEOPLE...
Overview of this paper We will first give a few brief case studies of projects undertaken at the three universities, then an overview of the approach shared – and link this with findings from neuroscience which we believe helps participants to get lasting benefits from their learnings. We will close with suggestions for universities, government and businesses on ways to both benefit from, and enhance such initiatives.
A case study of sowing seeds at Stellenbosch In recent years, SynNovation has enjoyed the opportunity of facilitating about 20 events at Stellenbosch University (SU) to ‘sow seeds’ to promote collaborative innovation, by sharing ground rules and techniques of the SynNovation / Synectics process with students and staff. (Please see note at end of paper). We will briefly describe three cases, and list a few others.
MAD² – Making A Difference in student activities Probably the most exciting was helping SU in September 2011 to facilitate a major change from the traditional ‘Rag’ (‘Jool’) to a more sustainable, community-minded ‘MAD²’. (MAD² means ‘Make A Decision 2 Make A
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Difference). Over 450 student leaders, with 15 facilitators, used creative thinking skills to both generate and develop novel ways to welcome new students (in residences and private accommodation), and to involve students in meaningful community activities. Many of these ideas were used in the 2012 ‘MAD²’activities.
The students were divided into five groups
of 90 each that met in different residences, each group with three facilitators. Working in groups of 10 around 9 tables with each facilitator helping three tables, the students were first given the ‘wish-thinking’ tool to generate many possible ideas, then guided to select unusual ideas, and then led to use the Constructive Evaluation tool to develop novel ideas into possible practical actions. There was a great buzz of excitement, as hundreds of ideas were generated. At the same time, the students learned-by-doing practical tools and ground rules they can use to generate new ideas when facing other tasks or opportunities, in their studies, future careers or private lives, and to work creatively with others.
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Enhancing innovation skills of BCom students – and measuring skills retention Two lecturers in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management (Scheepers & Coetzee, 2010) wanted students to improve their creativity skills by attending SynNovation workshops, and designed a research project in which three groups of 15 final year BCom students volunteered to attend a one-day Toolbox for Brainwaves. An extract from this report:
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‘Before taking part in the ‘Toolbox for Brainwaves,’ students were asked to rate themselves on various aspects such as their knowledge of innovation and creativity
O1 O2 Time 80 Management Today | September 2012 O3 before O3 after
Figure 2 (left): Box plot of the change in creative ability before and after the workshop
The Innovation Journal
Creative ability
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