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www.maricopa.edu
| Name | College | Department or Division |
| Peter Facciola | South Mountain Community College | Communication & Fine Arts |
| Employee ID | E-mail Address | Work Phone |
| xxxxxxxx | peter.facciola@smcmail.maricopa.edu | (602) 243-8085 |
| Project | ||
| Title | Location | |
| Developing Creative Thinking Using Software in Teaching and Faculty Work | Phoenix, AZ | |
| Group Application | ||
| This is not a group project | ||
| Project Dates and Amounts | ||
| Summer I view timeline details |
Summer II view timeline details |
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| Timeline Dates | May 17 - Jun 14, 2004 | (none) |
| Hours | 134 | 0 |
| Wages | $2,978.82 | $0.00 |
| Registration Fees | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Subtotals | $2,978.82 | $0.00 |
| Total Proposal Amount | $2,978.82 | |
| Details | |
| Abstract Write a concise overview with descriptive information about your project (location, time span, etc.) not to exceed 120 words. To take advantage of spelling and word count tools, you can compose this in a blank Word document, copy the text, and paste it in below (all formatting will be reset to normal text). | |
| Creative thinking is a boon in my teaching fields of communication, conflict management, and education. IdeaFisher is a software creativity tool. IdeaFisher helps users access and shape information in their heads to define problems, brainstorm creative ideas, generate solutions, organize information, and evaluate choices. The purpose of this project is for me to learn to use IdeaFisher in my teaching and faculty responsibilities. I will learn the operation of the software, complete several tutorials, apply the software to examples of my professional situations, and conduct additional reading on creative thinking in teaching. Thus, I will become a more creative and effective teacher and faculty member. I will conduct this project in Phoenix between May 17 and June 14, 2004. | |
| Purpose Explain your purpose in depth and include relevancy and components of the project. Include a statement of goals and objectives. This is what you want to do and why. | |
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IdeaFisher is a software brainstorming and creativity tool. Based on the principles of association, memory retrieval, and analogical and metaphorical reasoning, users interact with IdeaFisher to access and shape the information in their heads to define problems, brainstorm new and creative ideas, generate solutions, organize information, and evaluate choices. This powerful tool has myriad uses related to my professional assignment of teaching communication and education courses, administering a conflict mediation program, and serving on several college committees. The purpose of this project is for me to learn to use IdeaFisher brainstorming, problem solving, and writing software to apply in my teaching, committee work, conflict management, and other faculty responsibilities. My goals are to 1) read and understand the manual and extensive introductory textbook that came with the software, 2) complete the tutorials from the manual, and 3) practice using the software modules on tasks related to professional development in my job. Specifically, my objectives are to: 1) Read the IdeaFisher manual and introductory textbook. 2) Answer the questions at the end of each chapter. 3) Explore and familiarize myself with all of the menu commands and their functions. 4) Complete additional readings from the extensive bibliography provided with the software on topics related to my professional responsibilities including a) education theory, b) cognitive science, c) creativity and the creative process, d) problem solving, e) decision making, f) conflict management, g) computers in education, h) innovation in business and education, i) developing new ideas, and j) persuasion, social influence, and marketing. 5) Complete the tutorials a) generating ideas with IdeaBank, b) brainstorming with the alphabetic index, c) using compare topical categories to generate ideas, d) using IdeaFisher with any writing task, e) using QBank questions, f) generating ideas for a promotional campaign, g) generating ideas for a story, script or speech, h) generating ideas for a special event, i) generating ideas for promotion and public relations, j) generating solutions to a managerial problem, k) generating solutions to a behavioral problem, l)using IdeaFisher to supplement to add power to your word processor, m) preparing for a meeting, n) using QBank to enhance the potential of any idea, o) use the Evaluate Questions to effectively evaluate ideas, p) generating new ideas for products and services, and q) use IdeaFisher to identify key concepts in any text file. 6) Practice IdeaFisher by applying its concepts to examples of problems and situations in the areas of my professional responsibility, including a) preparing for a meeting or class discussion, b) creating metaphors for speeches, c) brainstorming speech topics, d) developing themes for speeches and public presentations, e) preparing for small group problem solving discussions, f) preparing questions for conducting interviews, g) developing a persuasive campaign, h) preparing answers for an interview, panel discussion, or debate, i) developing new ideas for classes or class activities, j) developing promotional ideas for programs, k) preparing for a conflict mediation session, and l) developing ideas for managing classroom behavioral issues. Each of these objectives, therefore, applies directly to my teaching, faculty administrative, and committee responsibilities. To complete this project my steps simply will be to address each of the learning objectives, in turn. First, I will learn the basic operation of the software. Second, I will practice using the software by completing the tutorials. Third, I will apply my knowledge by using the software to address actual situations I face in my professional assignment. Fourth, I will conduct additional reading and study from the extensive professional bibliography provided with the software to develop my knowledge and explore new ways to use this powerful thinking tool. The outcomes of this project that I expect are: 1) I will develop more creative thinking skills because of my experience with this software, 2) I will be able to apply these creative thinking skills to situations related to my teaching assignment and other professional responsibilities, and 3) through additional reading and study I will learn more about the nature, value, and function of creative thinking as it related to my teaching and professional assignment. Therefore, the value of this project is that I will become a more creative and more effective teacher, program administrator, and committee member. | |
| Professional Growth Your own professional growth is a large part of your project. Your professional growth is important to you, your students, and possibly other colleagues. How will this project affect you professionally? What skills will you learn? What environment will you be working in, and how will it influence your teaching or other responsibilities? | |
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My professional growth through this project is that I will learn a software tool that will help me be more creative teaching communication, conducting conflict mediation and administering the program, problem-solving in my academic and administrative committee assignments, and managing behavioral problems. Also, the research evidence suggests that working with this creativity tool helps the user think more creatively away from the tool as well. As a result, I should grow by being a more creative thinker and problem solver after completing this project. The objectives, listed above in the purpose section detail the specific skills I will acquire, including more creative thinking in metaphor building and language usage, developing speech themes, individual and group problem solving, brainstorming techniques, communication campaigning, conflict management, managing “difficult” people, interviewing, and debating, just to name a few. Clearly, being a more creative thinker in these areas is directly relevant to my professional assignment of teaching communication, conflict management, and education. This growth is important to me because it helps me develop the artistic/creative side of my skill base and my discipline which will help balance my current scientific/logico-empirical background and emphasis. This will make me a more rounded teacher and faculty member. | |
| Benefits | |
| Select the primary area of benefit: | Benefits for students |
| What benefit is this project to the group checked above? What new information, ideas, attitudes, skills, appreciation, etc. will you bring back? | |
| The main way I will share the work of this project is by teaching the skills I learn to students in my classes. Specifically, I can introduce the software itself, and the general creative thinking skills I learn, to help students grow as creative thinkers, speakers, and problem solvers. Thus, the skills I learn can translate into concrete skills for students such as developing speech themes, building metaphors and vivid language, problem solving in small group discussion, developing persuasion strategies for speeches and communication campaigns and so on. Currently, each of these skills is addressed in one or more of the classes I teach. However, I have placed little emphasis on the creative/artistic aspects of these skills. Now, I will have concrete techniques to help students develop their creative thinking in these skills areas. Therefore, this project will improve students’ skills on specific learning objectives by adding a creative/artistic dimension to my current social science emphasis. | |
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