Graduate Class In Creativity Promotes Fresh Point Of View
10-18-2000
Malvern, Pa. -- As you enter the room, it's hard not to notice the soothing notes of Mozart's Symphony #40, or the animal-patterned mosaic table clothes on the tables, or the cookies, crackers and soft drinks that are available to anyone who has a hankering.

It's then that students begin to realize that Kathryn Jablokow's Creativity, Innovation and Change course at Penn State Great Valley graduate school is not going to be the typical graduate-level offering, replete with textbooks that include tried-and-true methods for arriving at fact.

Instead, the course is going to provide them with all the tools they need to break away from traditional thoughts, and the limitations that they can often impose on human beings. If that means allowing students to chow down on animal crackers or letting them leave the class for chunks of time to discuss their studies in a more comfortable setting on campus, then so be it.

"This course is about all the parts of your life that are multi-layered, that are not tangible, that are not defined," explained Jablokow, sporting a hat that reads, "Think," but with some of the letters turned backwards and upside down to illustrate that thought is multi-directional. "Frankly, that's most of your life."

There are two dozen students in the course -- an elective open to students in any of the campuses three divisions, engineering, management and education -- and every one of them has a camouflage green or khaki brown vest that says "Think Expedition" on it. Jablokow developed the course with guidelines from the Creative Education Foundation.

Part of the course is based around solving some type of problem that each student faces in their life, whether it is work-related, social, economic, or a combination of the three. The students write their problem in a "passport," and pass them around during class to gain feedback from peers on how to resolve it. They also keep a daily journal to document what they think they can do to solve their problem. Jablokow, a professor of mechanical engineering, said journal-keeping is key to keeping the creative juices flowing -- even when it doesn't seem to be working all that well.

"Sometimes after a couple of minutes you might feel stupid because you can't think of anything," Jablokow told her students. "Here's the key -- never take your pen off the paper, even if you have to write 'I don't have anything to write' over and over. If you are successful one time in bringing up fresh thoughts, you might realize that you often think more after you think you're done."

A few minutes later, Jablokow tells the students to pair up and go find a place on campus that they like, indoors or outdoors, and discuss the prior night's homework assignment, which was to ask three people in their lives how they define creativity. The students are on their own for 20 minutes, and return to class to discuss the concept of creativity.

Jablokow's class is far different from most, but the students had good things to say about it for that very reason. Clive Swatton, a systems engineering student from Downingtown, has had trouble writing a research paper, and he is hoping his classmates can help him come up with a good topic and get him kick-started.

"The class is extremely interesting. You're paying attention for the entire three hours. Everyone is involved and it really opens your mind," he said. "She (Jablokow) wants you to think about things you've never thought of before, and it's a fresh change from your regular classes. " Ralph Rostock, a software engineering student from Boothwyn, said he's trying to figure out how to juggle his job and free time more effectively.

"When you come here from work, you kind of have to totally change your mindset," said Bostock, noting that he does that in the car on the ride to campus.

Among other success stories, the course helped a former female student to successfully switch from a civil service career to a thriving career in healthcare consulting, and it sparked a former male student to create a new tool for use in the construction industry.

In addition to the graduate course, Jablokow has presented Creativity, Innovation and Change in a condensed, one-day continuing education format from time to time, and has even done seminars on-site for area companies.

For further information on Professor Jablokow's Creativity, Innovation and Change course at Penn State Great Valley, please call David Jwanier, manager of public information, at (610) 648-3276.