Module 2 – Idea Generation

February 18th – March 19th

During the coming four weeks focus is on Idea Generation. You will both read about theoretical aspects of creativity and practically generate new ideas (using a platform on the course page) to gain a comprehensive understanding about the area. We encourage you to start reading the three different articles that will be discussed at the Webinar (1th of March) and also to start discuss the idea challenge with with colleagues, friends and family in order to get new insights and ideas that you can bring into the course.

Literature Webinar

Friday, February 22 at 12.30-13.30 CET (check your time zone).

The webinar will consist of presentations from the course facilitator followed by questions and discussions regarding the literature in the module. In order to participate, simply click the following link and enter your name. You might be required to install the program Zoom: https://sunet.zoom.us/j/3392306203

Your first assignment is actively participate in the webinar (prepare by reading the assigned literature).

A recording of the webinar as well as the PowerPoint will be uploaded here (uploaded as soon as possible after the Webinar).

Tweetchat

Thursday, March 14 at 12.30 CET (check your time zone).

In order to share your experiences regarding idea generation we will use a Tweetchat with the course hashtag #im74 (to learn more about tweetchat see this page). Make sure to always include it in your tweets. During the Tweetchat, course coordinators and lecturers will actively engage with you in a discussion about Idea Generation.

Your second assignment is actively participate in the Tweetchat with the hashtag #im74 (prepare by submitting your ideas and blogpost).

The final assignment (mandatory) in module 2 consist of two parts (deadline before the Tweetchat on March 14th);

A:) Generate ideas
All participants are asked to generate at least one idea (or maximum three ideas) that could be used in the coming modules.
In your previous assignment, you were asked to reflect on: “We live in rapidly changing times, in your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing society within the next five years?” A number of interesting and relevant areas were suggested, based upon these we have chosen one specific area to be used as a frame or challenge for your idea generation.

The challenge is formulated as follows, “Generate ideas on how to improve peoples ability to think critically towards all information they instantly are exposed to (to know what information are fake and what are not)”. The challenge is linked to the ongoing debate about how e.g. social media, artificial intelligence and political discourse etc. might affect our ability to master the constant inflow of new opinions and thoughts we are facing on a daily basis.

Before posting ideas we recommend and encourage you to start discuss the challenge with colleagues, friends and family in order to get new insights and ideas that you can bring into the course.

A “How to guide” for posting your idea(s) is available on the following link.

B:) Write a blogpost on the course webpage)

Write a blogpost about your experiences from generating ideas. You can for example describe how you worked when you created your ideas for this module, or how your firm/organization work (e.g. did/do you use a specific method? where did/do you find inspiration for the ideas? etc.).

In the blogpost we also want you to reflect upon how the theme chosen for the idea generation affected your idea generation process. How for example was the idea generation affected by your experience and background and how did the “specified” challenge affect your creativity?

The post should be uploaded before the Tweetchat 14th March (12.30 CET) and contain a maximum 500 words.

Bear in mind that this is a open course and all material is open for anyone to read. Thus, it is perfectly fine to write about your own organisation/firm without mentioning the name of it.

Literature

Additional reading (for interested)

The first to suggestions below are for those interested in how Frontline employees can participate in the innovation process. The two following articles discuss a) how ordinary users generate more “radical ideas” compared to experts and b) the potential flaws when engaging people using brainstorming sessions.