Creative Problem Solving

Overview

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This beginner course teaches a structured creative problem-solving process. Learners define problems, generate and evaluate solutions, select an approach, and plan, adapt, and review its implementation.

Syllabus

Understand problems and the creative problem solving process
Identify types of information to gather and key questions to ask in problem solving
Identify the importance of defining a problem correctly
Identify and use four different problem definition tools
Write concrete problem statements
Use basic brainstorming tools to generate ideas for solutions
Use idea generating tools, such as affinity diagrams, word chaining, the box method, the six thinking hats, and the blink method
Evaluate potential solutions against criteria, including cost/benefit analysis and group voting
Perform a final analysis to select a solution
Understand the roles that fact and intuition play in selecting a solution
Understand the need to refine the shortlist and re-refine it
Understand how to identify the tasks and resources necessary to implement solutions
Evaluate and adapt solutions to reality
Follow up with solution implementation to celebrate successes and identify improvements