Connected Creativity

Explore the world of creativity with our minor in Connected Creativity, designed to dismantle the myth that creativity is only for the artistically inclined or the fortunate few. This program recognizes creativity as a critical skill demanded globally across all fields. It equips you with the ability to think innovatively, work transdisciplinary, and apply creative processes to real-world challenges, and solve complex problems, in your studies, in your project work or in your daily life. Skills essential for your current and future career.
By the end of this minor, you will better understand the concept of ‘creativity’. You will improve your creative abilities to generate new ideas, engage with diverse teams, challenge existing perspectives and solve compex problems. You will grow your creative confidence by engaging in a structured and reflective journey. And you will also grow your understanding of the societal, cultural, and technological dimensions that influence creativity today.
With Connected Creativity you will be equipped with essential creative skills and confidence. you will feel prepared to tackle real challenges from real clients. Sometimes these clients are external, like local municipalities or organizations. Sometimes, students are bringing in their own cases. The challenges range from social challenges to more technical or operational challenges. Some examples:

• How to make our residents wear helmets when riding their bikes?
• How to make peoples more aware of their water usage?
• How to measure the temperature of an ant with a conventional thermometer?

How to make my study-time more effective?
In Connected Creativity, “Connected” can be understood as:

• Connecting different disciplines (we always have a very diverse group of students)
• Connecting theory and practice
• Connecting individuals, teams and their context
• Connecting past, present and future
• Connecting the course content to topics that are relevant to you

About this last bullet: Connected Creativity expands on the notion that creativity cannot exist in a vacuum: it is always connected to a topic or a context. Therefore, students can always bring in their own subjects, challenges and cases to develop novel, useful and meaningful output.
The minor is built up in two parts:
The first quarter of 15 ECTS is block A —‘Ignite’; and is all about the basics of Creativity. The courses are:

• Deliberate Creativity (7.5 ECs): This is a practical course in which you will learn about how to deliberately apply creativity in individual- and group settings. In the group settings, the iCPS-approach (Integrated Creative Problem Solving) will be applied through real cases from different domains and topics. The focus of this course is building hands-on creativity skills and attitudes to solve open problems of any kind.
• CreativiTree (4.5 ECs): This is a knowledge-based course in which you will learn different theoretical perspectives of creativity, and relate creativity theory to your own creative practices.
• Creative Path (3 ECs): This is a course focused on reflection and on the development of your creative confidence, from the individual to the team level. We will do this by reflecting on your experiences and on creativity as a cognitive and social phenomenon.

The second quarter (also 15 ECTS) is block B—‘Electrified’; here we will dive deeper into the topic and can only be attended after participation in block A. The courses are:

• Practice of Creativity (6 ECs): In this course you will leverage the knowledge gained in Block A to explore the dynamics of creative capacity within organizational settings. Working in interdisciplinary teams of 3 or 4, you will engage with real cases and organizations.

• Recontextualising Creativity (7 ECs): This is a knowledge and research-based course, where you will be confronted with creativity theories/practices in social, political and technological contexts. Driven by your curiosity, you will investigate how creativity has interacted with(in) a variety of topics and fields.

• Creative Path (2 EC): This course is a continuation of CP in Q1. It will include the Personal End Project of the minor, which is about becoming a future ready creator.

By the end of Q1 ‘Ignite’, you will be able to:

• Evaluate best practices in relation to individual and team’s creative path.
• Research and compare different creativity theories.
• Apply creativity attitudes and skills, working both in teams and individually.
• Apply a deliberate creative process, methods and techniques, in all stages of the integrated creative problem-solving process in an interdisciplinary context.

By the end of Q2 ‘Electrified’, you will be able to:

• Apply a deliberate creative process in a real, interdisciplinary context, by connecting creativity and innovation in organisations.
• Indicate success factors and barriers of creativity in organizations.
• Investigate how creativity is situated in social, political and historical contexts.
• Take a critical stance on different scientific perspectives on creativity.

This minor is for those who are interested in applying deliberate creativity in an interdisciplinary context. The course asks for a certain level of curiosity and investment of on-campus time and energy which we expect all students to have. Prior knowledge on creative processes is not necessary.

As we aim for an interdisciplinary approach, we always welcome students from different disciplines and universities. From engineering to psychology. From German literature to astrophysics.

Part of this minor is developing skills and attitudes. This is something that can be done by practicing and experimenting a lot. In addition, we try to develop a creative climate in class. Therefore, we expect you to come to class to practice and to contribute to this creative climate. Therefore, take into account 3 on-campus days a week!

In addition, this minor is known for its fun, but intensive deepdives. These will take place the first week of Q1 and the first week of Q2. During these 2 weeks full of activities, your presence is strongly recommended and highly appreciated by your peers.
The minor is a full-time program, so it cannot be combined with other courses.
For additional information on this minor, visit theTU Delft minor page.

Student at Leiden University, TU Delft or Erasmus University Rotterdam?
Check the eligibility matrix to see if your bachelor’s degree programme offers access to this and other minors athttps://www.tudelft.nl/minor

Student at another educational institution?
External students cannot register via EduXchange. Interested in this minor, read the whole registration procedure athttps://www.tudelft.nl/minor

In this minor, you will embark on a journey towards deliberate creativity in everyday, interdisciplinary contexts. This means that we will support you to experiment and reflect upon your knowledge and disciplines, making you aware of your own assumptions and willing to approach problems from other perspectives. Learning activities include but are not limited to experiments, workshops, creative sessions, creative interventions, seminars and (guest) lectures.

Prepare for 3 days a week on-campus class. Since the learning curve is so steep due to the hands-on activities and learning experiences in class, we’ll expect you to come and join all classes in person.

Examinations include project reports, (oral) presentations, reflection assignments, teach-backs and research papers. Some courses have mainly group deliverables, while other courses focus more on individual assignments or a combination of the two.