DCI-03 Opportunity & Focus – Module Overview

Deliberate Creativity and Innovation begins with a clarity on what you want to think about, and focusing in such as way as to reveal different, divergent ways of starting.  Focus is possibly the most important aspect of good thinking.

In this eModule we begin by discussing Areas of Opportunity or things you want or need to think about.  This may be a challenge facing you or just something you wish you could do.  From there we see how any issue can be looked at in a number of ways, and that some ways are sometimes more useful than others. Once you have refined your thinking you can set and select you Focus Statements and refine your Red Car (creative hit) List.

This gives you the focus to make the power of your Deliberate Creative Thinking truly awesome.  Take your time with this module and your thinking and creativity will achieve real results.

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Learning Outcomes

  • Be able to focus your creative energy when and where needed
  • Learn how to see problems in different more useful ways
  • See opportunities where others are missing them

Content

  • 4 videos totalling 41 mins
  • Finding areas of opportunity
  • Open and target Focus, multiple definitions and focus statements
  • The Red Car List for directing thinking

Mind Maps

Mind Map overview of this eModule.

Worksheets

eModule program notes. Use these in conjunction with the Course Outline as you watch the videos.

Links

Here are some valuable links.

Exercises

There is a wide variety of material available to read in the broad area of creativity, creative thinking, and innovation and during this program our aim will be to expose you to as much as possible.  For students taking this program, you will be doing the assignments, and you may be able to access articles and more via the university’s system.  But anyone looking for more information can find lots of great stuff via Google and Google Scholar.  I will also reference or give you some specific articles to read and comment on in a few of the eLessons.

The books I recommend are by Edward de Bono and Tony Buzan are generally available in bookstores or Amazon.  I recommend at a minimum de Bono’s Serious Creativity or Think Before It’s Too Late, as well as Six Thinking Hats.

For a Buzan book on Mind Mapping – my favourite is still The Mind Map Book but The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps is fantastic as well.  For those who figure they will be Mind Mapping using software, I suggest trying iMindMap, Xmind, and MindGenius.