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

4.4
stars
2,373 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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551 - 575 of 732 Reviews for Creative Problem Solving

By LOKESH K

Mar 7, 2022

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By GAURAV V

May 31, 2020

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By Ahood A

Jul 29, 2023

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By M A R

Apr 26, 2022

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By Thùy T N

Apr 27, 2020

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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.

By Fransiska N

May 17, 2020

The Creative Problem Solving course really helps me to think and act in a more creative way, as for now I recognize how creativity is really important nowadays, especially in the 4.0 Industry. I understand few technics on how to improve the creative thinking such as mind mapping, brainstorming, and building internal motivation. There's few keywords we could learn from here, but since the course is in the beginner level, we only learn few in just 4 weeks. Also, the main projects, DSDs for each week is a little bit repetitive in my opinion. Otherwise, it is a good course to start brainstorming for more creative thinking.

By Renato P

Nov 1, 2020

I really enjoyed the course. But I think there shoud be more exercises "outside the box" and interviews with creative people (to show us how they have new ideas). Also, these aditional links on week 4 should be included throughout the course and used to show how we can improve our enviroments, on our jobs and lives. Oh, and the creativity test should be in the beggining of the course, so we could improve the skills we need during the course.

By Saroj K

May 23, 2020

This course was enlightening and super fun. It helped to think confidently and out of the box. Initially I found the tasks very challenging but after some tries it made me come out of my comfort zone. It opened venues for process new and different ideas, that I believe we really need in our daily lives but we forget to practice it somehow. I really learned a lot and managed to upgrade my skills!

By Lizeth S

Mar 8, 2016

I enjoyed this course a lot, it makes you expand your horizons and challenge yourself in order to be more creative, i liked going through the different assignments and forcing myself to think outside the box; however i wish there had been more material and emphasis in actual problem solving which was the reason why i wanted to take the course in first place.

By Thang P

May 11, 2020

The course help me to get an basic understanding about Creative Problem Solving, I got some insight about divergence and convergence thinking that gave me direction to continue explore the ideas in the future. On the other hand, I think the course is too short, If it could dig deeper in the detail then student will understand better. Thanks coursera team.

By Mary P M

May 10, 2022

An interesting step by step approach, with quality videos with captions, transcripts, exercises and external reading materials.

The course is staggered across 4 weeks in an easy to manage timeframe. Above all it is fun with loads of creative opportunities built into the modules.

Thank you to our two wonderful Course Instructors. Mary

By Nikhil A

Apr 4, 2020

Focuses a bit more on theory. The videos can be improved. The images and slides keep on running while the speaker is speaking sometimes making it difficult to focus on the verbal part. A bit basic but if someone goes through the supplemental readings makes it exhaustive. Do try all exercises and readings that are optional as well.

By Dmitry A

Aug 6, 2017

What makes the course great is its simplisity and insights. Originally, I was not sure if the course's content will be relevant to business environment, but it proved to be more that applicable.

Great content, great excercises and highly valuable concepts!

P.s. sometimes oversimplified, so minus one star :)

By Leisa R

Feb 17, 2017

This is a fun and engaging class. I was challenged by the assignments on so many levels while taking this class. They have encouraged me to try new things even if it seems ridiculous to others. I especially liked the feedback, the constructive critiques all helped me through this course.

By Anastasiia H

Feb 19, 2017

It was fun. But I think that would be great to add more various tasks and do something with the quality of the video, because sometimes it was hard to concentrate on the content.

Nevertheless, it is good start to develop your creativity and open some useful tools for yourself.

By Najla N

Jan 17, 2016

This course is an easy, entertaining, and beneficial course. It is encourages you to enhance your creativity in everyday lives. The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is that I would've preferred to include more theoretical knowledge in addition to the practical.

By Nada T

Sep 28, 2020

It's a fantastic course and, I have learned a lot from the teachers. I'm really appreciate all the efforts that they have been done and without their effort , the course will not benefit us like that.

Thank you a lot for your effort .

By Ardi W

Apr 30, 2020

It’s a fun course to stimulate our creativity. The most fun parts is the first 2 weeks or before we finish the DSD. My tips is take time with your DSD because thats the most fun parts and i think it’s the real essence of this course

By ΑΙΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΗ Μ

Jan 25, 2021

Σίγουρα ωραίο μάθημα αλλά λίγο μπερδεμενο για το μυαλό μου. Πρέπει να χει κανεις διευρυμένη οπτική για το θέμα.

Οστοσο είχε πολλα παραδείγματα με λεπτομέρειες κ τεστακια που το έκανε όσο το δυνατόν κατανοητό και προσβάσιμο.

By yogendra s

Jul 14, 2020

Overall was a very good course. however one small suggestion would be that since this course requires high attentivity to what is being told, image flashing of people's creative adventures between talks is a bit distracting.

By VISHWA S

Apr 29, 2020

A short and a creative course. It was fun studying this. Especially all the assignments were splendid. I just loved submitting all three of the assignments. Thank you University of Minnesota and Coursera.