Discipline: Humanities Degree Credit  [X]
Non Credit  [ ]
Nondegree Credit  [ ]
Comm Service  [ ]
 

Riverside Community College District
Integrated Course Outline of Record

Humanities 3


COURSE DESCRIPTION
3 Creativity and Imagination Units: 3.00
 
Prerequisite(s): None.

Advisory: Qualification for English 1A
A study of creative and imaginative expression in a variety of disciplines with a focus on literature and fine arts. The course will examine the origins and structure of creative thought, traditional and modern definitions of creativity and imagination, the role of dreams and spirituality in the creative process, and methods of developing imagination, as well as motivation, inspiration, and barriers to creativity. Includes a study of the methods used by artists, inventors, and innovators in many fields to discover what one can do to build stronger channels to his/her own inner creative resources. 54 hours lecture. (C/NC, letter grade option)
 
SHORT DESCRIPTION FOR CLASS SCHEDULE
An interdisciplinary study of creativity and the imagination including methods of enhancing the creative process.
 
ADVISORY ENTRY SKILLS
Before entering the course, students will be able to:
  1. Critically discuss and analyze primary and secondary texts, recognizing key ideas and responding in both oral and written form;

  2. Analyze, synthesize, and evaluate concepts studied in primary and secondary texts using intermediate to advanced critical thinking skills;

  3. Compose developed, unified, stylistically competent writing assignments and adjust writing to the target audience with intermediate to advanced skill.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
 Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

Identify and explain a variety of interdisciplinary and historical approaches to creativity and the imagination.

Recognize how creativity is manifested in various disciplines including the sciences, business and industry, the social sciences, literature, and fine arts.

Analyze and evaluate the role of dreams and spirituality in the creative process.

Develop an appreciation of the peculiar challenges involved in the adoption and diffusion of innovation in society, including the role of social and cultural change in acceptance of innovation.

Understand and apply various methods of activating the creative impulse to achieve personal enrichment.

Develop an appreciation of the interactions between creativity, society, and culture.

Apply college-level methods of analysis and evaluation to discussing and writing about creativity and the imagination.
 
COURSE CONTENT
  TOPICS
 

Focus of class readings may be topical-thematic, disciplinary, and/or based on case studies. The class should cover at least six of the nine indicated topic areas.

  1. Cultural definitions of creativity and imagination
    1. General definitions:  creativity, imagination, the nature of the creative process; in what manner creativity is expressed
  2. Historical concepts of creativity
    1. Classical approaches to creativity:  Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Plotinus, Horace
    2. Eastern approaches to creativity:  Zen, Taoist viewpoints, Indian aesthetics
    3. Romantic approaches to creativity:  Kant, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Goethe, Schiller
  3. Creativity, dreams, and spirituality
    1. Metaphysical sources of creative achievement, interaction of dreams with creativity; the role of religion in inspiration
  4. Creativity and the fine arts
    1. Aesthetics and the imagination; the inspiration vs. “perspiration” debate
    2. Imagery of creativity in film and the visual arts
  5. Creativity and literature
    1. Romantic views of inspiration:  Wordsworth and the English Romantic poets
    2. Rhetoric and imagery in literature and creative writing
    3. Poetry, science fiction, the “epiphanic” moment as major outlets for the creative impulse in literature; other types of literature particularly conducive to the expression of the creative impulse
  6. Creativity and the social sciences
    1. Psychology and creativity:  personality traits conducive to creative expression; mental health, “madness,” and creativity; methods of inducing creativity; motivation and barriers to creativity
    2. Social conditions leading to innovation; socio-cultural change and creativity
    3. Analysis of highly creative individuals
  7. Creativity and the sciences
    1. The nature of the creative impulse; modern scientific attempts to assess, define, and measure creativity
    2. Environmental circumstances which enhance or impede creative expression
    3. Science, industry, and creativity
  8. Creativity and innovation in business and industry
    1. How mentors and established professionals in a field either resist or accept creative breakthroughs
    2. The role of skill and background knowledge/learning in the creative process
    3. The adoption and diffusion of innovation; market forces and the “tipping point”: creative breakthroughs in the arts, science and the economy
    4. Innovation, experimentation, and competition for new technologies and breakthroughs
  9. Activating Creativity
    1. Exercises to enhance personal creativity
    2. Meditation and concentration vs. the distractions of modern life
    3. How modern technology can enhance or impede the creative process
  10. Case studies of creative individuals and innovators may include, but not be limited to, the following: 
    1. Einstein
    2. Hawking
    3. Descartes
    4. Newton,
    5. Darwin
    6. Gates
    7. Plato
    8. Aristotle
    9. Aquinas
    10. Kant
    11. Nietzsche
    12. Freud
    13. Gautama
    14. Buddha
    15. Jesus
    16. Confucius
    17. Lao-Tze
    18. Muhammad
    19. Rumi
    20. Gandhi
    21. Homer
    22. Sophocles,
    23. Dante
    24. Cervantes,
    25. Goethe
    26. Shakespeare
    27. Keats
    28. Whitman
    29. Melville
    30. Dostoevsky
    31. Giotto
    32. Brunelleschi
    33. Michelangelo
    34. da Vinci,
    35. Monet
    36. Picasso
    37. Dali
    38. Wright
    39. Gehry
    40. Bach
    41. Mozart
    42. Beethoven
    43. Gershwin
    44. Debussy
    45. Stravinsky
    46. Verdi
    47. Wagner
    48. Graham
 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION
 Methods of instruction used to achieve student learning outcomes may include, but are not limited to:

  • Presentation of lectures and discussions on creative and imaginative expression, including critical methods and individual biographies, in order for students to understand the creative process as manifested in a variety of disciplines.
  • Guest writers/lecturers invited to class to discuss topics on creativity and the imagination.
  • Presentation, discussion, and detailed examination of case studies of creators and innovators throughout history.
  • Showing films, videos, slides, distributing handouts, and/or using electronic or computer-based media in order to reinforce understanding of concepts related to creative and imaginative expression in the arts and sciences.
  • Cooperative/collaborative learning tasks and activities designed to assist students in activating, stimulating, and acting upon the resources of creativity within themselves.
  • Individual conferences in order to evaluate and advise students on original writing or creative projects.
  • Computer-assisted and/or web-enhanced instruction which reinforces the course content.
 
METHODS OF EVALUATION
 Students will be evaluated for progress in and/or mastery of learning outcomes by methods of evaluation which may include, but are not limited to:

  • The writing of a minimum of 3000 words of formal interpretive/analytical prose. 
  • Individual and group assignments designed to demonstrate successful understanding and application of basic concepts and definitions of creativity and the imagination.
  • Questions on topics and content designed to evaluate students’ understanding of the key approaches to creativity and theories of the imaginative process.
  • Quizzes/examinations designed to assess students’ ability to recall, critically analyze and apply key concepts and course content.
  • Participation and regular attendance as required by instructor to ensure progress in mastering the course content and participation in collaborative learning projects.
  • Final examination designed to assess students’ mastery of the essential concepts explored in the course.
ASSIGNMENTS

Required Reading Assignments


Required Writing Assignments


Other Outside-of-Class Assignments
 
COURSE MATERIALS
 All materials used in this course will be periodically reviewed to ensure that they are appropriate for college level instruction. Possible texts include:

  • Boorstin, Daniel. The Creators: A History of Heroes and the Imagination. N.Y.: Random House, 1992.
  • Castaneda, Carlos. A Separate Reality. N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1971.
  • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. any: Harper, 1996.
  • De Chardin, Teilhard. The Phenomenon of Man. N.Y.: Harper, 1965.
  • Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class. N.Y.: Basic Books, 2002.
  • Gardner, Howard. Creating Minds. N.Y.: Basic Books, 1993.
  • none. Art, Mind & Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity. N.Y.: Basic, Books, 1982.
  • Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point. Boston: Little, Brown, 2000.
  • none. Blink. Boston: Little, Brown, 2003.
  • Rothenberg, A. . The Emerging Goddess: The Creative Process in Art, Science, and Other Fields. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1979.
  • Runco, M.A. . Problem Finding, Problem Solving, and Creativity. N.J.: Ablex Press, 1994.
  • Runco, M.A., and R.S. Albert. Theories of Creativity. any: Sage Publications, 1990.
  • Parnes, S.J. . Creative Behavior Guidebook. N.Y.: Scribners, 1967.
  • Sternberg, Robert J.. Handbook of Creativity. London: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
  • none. The Nature of Creativity. N.Y.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1988.
  • Grønhaug, Kjell and Geir Kaufmann, eds. Innovation: a Cross-disciplinary Perspective.
    Journal of Creative Behavior.
  • Creativity Research Journal
  • Ghiselin, Brewster, ed.. The Creative Process: Reflections on the Invention of Art.
  • May, Rollo. The Courage to Create, 1994. (1975)
  • Ulrich, David. The Widening Stream: The Seven Stages of Creativity. 2002.
  • Wordsworth, William. Preface to the "Lyrical Ballads." 1802
09/05
1199