I live in Brazil and work for a large company where many employees are former civil servants. In the new economy, they must change, must be more creative, faster-thinking, faster decision-making, etc. For that, I need (a) how to find an university course in the USA on creativity; this must be distance learning and (b) what would constitute the content of a course on creativity. Moreover, I need as much practical material on creativity as possible. Thank you.

-- Tai Silveira (silveag@nlink.com.br), July 17, 2001

Answers

Tai,

Sorry, but what you are asking for doesn't exist. Distance learning is poor medium for teaching creativity. The Disney Institute teaches an excellent course on creativity. Unfortunately, it is in Florida, USA. They will come to you, also. Boa Sorte.

Chris

-- Chris Mortell (chris_mortell@brunbowl.com), August 09, 2001.

Tai: Creativity is inherent within each individual. You don't have to go anywhere or take a college course to tap into it. All you have to do is tap into it, and go with the flow. Knowing how to tap into it seems to be one of the great secrets of life, but if you research some of the most creative people of all time, most likely you'll discover they used a form of mediation that aided them in acquiring their great breakthrough ideas. Perhaps you've heard of meditation! I've used it for decades in my writing and lifestyle. Meditation is not a religious experience or spiritual fade; it is a mental technique that takes one into the source of creativity. Meditation has 1000's of benefits, and if you take the time to research it, you'll discover this to be true. Some of the great benefits of meditation are increase in creativity, intelligence, learning ability, memory, alertness, energy, happiness, self-confidence, self- actualization. All these qualities contribute to a healthy on-going creative life. You'll also discover that if your co-workers use regular meditation for 10-15 minutes per day (to begin with), they will be able to think faster, and process faster for decision making. I'd also recommend you take a close look at your co-workers diet and eating habits. Health is wealth in this case when you're considering enhancing your creativity. Same goes for a healthy lifestyle. Health, diet, lifestyle and increased creative activity are vastly related. The more perfectly in sync they are with each other, the better the creative results. Start where you are. Start meditating. Do it now! If you don't know how, the web has a lot of free information on how to meditate. I'm sure there exists teachers of meditation in Brazil. Check them out! Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

-- Dennis Shipman (dbshipman@hotmail.com), February 20, 2002.

I approach creativity as a problem solving process and have taught creative thinking/problem solving to approximately 1500 civil service managers in Singapore as well as at the university level since 1981 and have written a number of books on the topic (see www.allstarminds.com). It is relativley easy to make an argument for or against the ability to train creative problem solving and it depends a lot on what your objectives are. There have been research studies that show improvement in quantity and quality of ideas when using relatively structured (a paradox) idea generation methods.

Arthur VanGundy

-- Arhur VanGundy (avangundy@aol.com), April 01, 2002.