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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Creative Problem Solving by University of Minnesota

4.4
stars
2,327 ratings

About the Course

This course deals directly with your ability for creativity which is a critical skill in any field. It focuses on divergent thinking, the ability to develop multiple ideas and concepts to solve problems. Through a series of creativity building exercises, short lectures, and readings, learners develop both an understanding of creativity and increase their own ability. This course will help you understand the role of creativity and innovation in your own work and in other disciplines. It will challenge you to move outside of your existing comfort zone and to recognize the value of that exploration. This course will help you understand the importance of diverse ideas, and to convey that understanding to others. The principal learning activity in the course is a series of "differents" where you are challenged to identify and change your own cultural, habitual, and normal patterns of behavior. Beginning with a prompt, e.g. "eat something different", you will begin to recognize your own = limits and to overcome them. In addition, you are encouraged to understand that creativity is based on societal norms, and that by it's nature, it will differ from and be discouraged by society. In this course, the persistence of the creative person is developed through practice. At the same time, these exercises are constrained by concerns of safety, legality, and economics, which are addressed in their creative process....

Top reviews

EN

Jan 17, 2021

I really enjoyed this course, it was very informative and easy to follow. The videos were clear and the graded sections were great. The course as a whole was enjoyable and would recommend to others.

AF

Mar 1, 2016

SO INTERESTING AND FUN. Have you ever took a stranger'S secret and propose another stranger to take that secret in exchange of one of his? This course is an opportunity to do crazy stuff like that!

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526 - 550 of 719 Reviews for Creative Problem Solving

By Jainam J

Jul 27, 2020

good

By JAYESH S M

Jun 27, 2020

nice

By UMAMAHESWARI D

Jun 24, 2020

good

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Jun 20, 2020

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Jun 13, 2020

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By Nguyen T

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By DIna M

Apr 17, 2016

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By Joel E

Apr 7, 2023

The content of the course is excellent. It's consonant with what I've learned about creativity and problem solving elsewhere. The course was well constructed, with thought provoking exercises that are well designed to cultivate divergent thinking, which is an essential component of creative problem solving. The only complaint I have is that there were a huge number of garbage submissions when it came time for peer assignment evaluations. You're supposed to grade 4 other assignments, and this is great. However the majority of submissions that I saw were gibberish or obvious copy/paste nonsense. I'm not talking about poorly done but serious attempts at completing the assignments. But many were just people going qwepoirupqoweirp on the keyboard. This was frustrating since you're supposed to evaluate the work of 4 other students. I imagine that there just aren't a large number of people taking the class at any given moment, so when you've evaluated all the 1 or 2 real assignments that are current, you just get total garbage assignments to fill out your 4. I didn't want to seriously evaluate assignments that were not even real attempts, so I flagged most of those as "incomplete" or in some cases "plagiarized" if they included content obviously grabbed from the Internet, like stock photos instead of original work. In most cases, these obviously garbage posts didn't even try to pretend to be relevant to the assignment. But there were such a high percentage of junk submissions that I had to find a few of them to grade 'seriously', even if I gave them zero points, just in order that I could complete evaluating 4 other submissions. This is obviously not the fault of the designers of the class, so if you are interested in Creative Problem Solving content rather than just going a;sliejrpq98wu4poaijs on the keyboard, I wouldn't let that dissuade you from taking the class. Hopefully it will be less jarring for you if you know about it ahead of time. I spent at least 40 minutes flagging junk submissions. I hope that Coursera will actually remove them. But the class is worthwhile even with the junk submissions.

By Kelley J

Aug 27, 2020

I could see the change in me. I saw the differences in my perceptions and I 'experimented' with usual surroundings more than I do normally. Some material in this course is repetitive. It may be so to emphasise on some topics but there is still scope for more information on the theoretical aspects of creativity. I suggest that 2 'Do Something Different' (DSD) submissions be compulsory as you will be able to witness the difference in your own creative capacity. The peer evaluation works really well, however, the preset criteria for evaluation needs to be more elaborate and more points need to be added. The discussion forums need to be monitored as most discussions are about seeking peer evaluations.

All in all, the course is worth taking. It will not take much time to complete and it is worth whatever time it takes. The DSDs are more fun to do and I plan to take them forward too.

By Mayra T M

Mar 24, 2016

There is some good content on creativity in this course, thoug it barely addresses problem solving.

"Do something different" assingments were an interesting idea.

Some content material is missing, including the link to a text that is needed to answer a quizz which will influence your final grade.

Grading standards are weird: maximum grades are to be given to assignments performed in public, as if things done in private aren't creative; there are better ways to have someone get out of their comfort zone. Assingments request that you be photographed or filmed, and there is no disclaimer that your photos or your privacy will be protected. If you are an introvert or simply a person who values privacy, this is not the course for you.