My Decsc Experience and Advice
When I was deciding what course I wanted to take, I was only sure about 2 things: I wanted a business degree and I wanted to take a “creative” course. Business and Creativity: The two most important aspects of a course for me. Then, I found ComTech — I felt like it was a perfect match. Fast forward to the start of this quarter. When I first read about the class “Decsc 25”, I was beyond excited! The class was of the main reasons I chose ComTech in general. In this short essay, I will be talking about the things I learned in Creative Thinking and Innovation Management, how it changed my idea of Creativity and some helpful advice on how to mentally prepare before taking the course.
Something I learned and want people to know before taking the class is that creativity is for EVERYONE. Even if you don’t think you’re “artistic” or a “creative person” per se, this course could still help you. So first piece of advice, be open to learning. Keep an open and accepting mind. Allow yourself to not only new things but also to changing the way you already think. Before joining the class, one thing our professor would tell us was to be ready to both learn and unlearn things we already know. As confusing or contradicting as that sounds, It’s true.
The second piece of advice would be to throw out any preconceived ideas, notions, and judgments you have about art and creativity. Keeping and sticking to these may even hinder you from fully understanding anything and may hinder your potential of learning anything interesting. In a way, it’s like giving up before you even started. This class is not what you limit it to be. It’s not all about creating pretty posters and making a product; it’s way deeper than that.
The third piece of advice and one of my favorite things I learned in this class is that “Creativity does not stop at coming up with out-of-this-world ideas. That’s only the start. Creativity and innovation is a process that you learn. You have to remember that its not a skill that everyone is born with but it can be developed! Its not an overnight thing you can think of and then you’re done. It’s a whole process one has to go through, INCLUDING the first part where you deeply understand and fully analyze a problem before seeking for a solution. Understanding a problem is just as important as coming up with a solution. You cannot propose an accurate solution without being conscious of the real root cause. If not, you will end up coming up with a shallow and ineffective product and way to help. Its important to note that this class will also develop your creative thinking skills, problem-solving skills, innovative skills, and more. It does not stop at the ideation stage, it makes use of all these skills and goes through what is called the “Creative process” to effectively do creative and innovative things.
I used to link creativity to arts. I actually only considered people who like creating art as “creative”. Now, I can confidently say I was very wrong. Yes, These artists, designers, and generally people who are interested in the arts are remarkably imaginative and creative — But, They are not (and should not) be the only people considered as such. As mentioned throughout the course multiple times, Creativity is about both thinking outside the box and also completely disregarding the box in general. For me, It can also mean using the said box as an innovation: using it as a stool or a stand for a for. Because, that’s exactly what creativity is: thinking and seeing things not everyone does (and more importantly, acting on it). As I mentioned in the previous paragraphs, creativity doesn’t stop at ideation. Creativity is about actively taking steps to fill in the gaps of life and our needs as people. Its more of acting upon innovative ideas despite constraints.
Lastly, as cliche as it sounds, Have fun with it! There are so many activities and discussion boards that were extremely fun to do. Not only were they fun but they taught me a lot. For example, one of the assessments we had the option of submitting was a “Photography exercise” where we learned the importance and beauty of perspectives and point of view. Although it was challenging to do so, I had a really fun time doing it. It’s like, I really learned through doing and not just through reading. This was just one of the many times Decsc gave me a chance to put my learning in the context of the real world.
In this sense, The things you will learn in decsc, are things you will be able to use in your everyday life. Make use of them! Cherish your time here and be sure to apply what you learn out into the real world. Be perceptive, empathetic, innovative, and creative.
