Remember the Premiere the Film Genres class did in the Spring? (Check out the article that came out, if you haven’t done so already).

Well, we’re doing it again—in the Spring of 2021. Plus, our very own Film Festival!!!

Want to get involved? Write to Rosário Durão, Nicholas Kelly, and Janet Kieffer at collaboratory@npe.nmt.edu

Want to keep up-to-date? Sign up for the COLLABORATORY updates.

Organizing Committee

Coordinators. Rosário Durão, Nicholas Kelly, and Janet Kieffer

Three years ago, the World Economic Forum predicted creativity would be the third most important skill in 2020 (Future of Jobs Report, 2016). In 2020, Paul Petrone, LinkedIn’s Head of Academic and Government Marketing, wrote that “creativity is the second-most in-demand skill in the world” (LinkedIn).

That is why we at New Mexico Tech developed the Minor in Creative Thinking and Practice.

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Want to know more about the minor?
Write to collaboratory@npe.nmt.edu

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Minor in Creative Thinking and Practice

Creating the future one idea at a time.

The minor in Creative Thinking and Practice allows students the opportunity to develop their creative skills and employ their technical knowledge to develop inventive, multidisciplinary designs, technologies, and products.  Students from diverse backgrounds and disciplines learn how to understand different viewpoints, collaborate in interdisciplinary contexts, and address new and complex problems. Graduates will be agile, transdisciplinary thinkers ready for challenging careers in any field, including science, technology, film, and software industries.

Competencies

The minor in Creative Thinking and Practice develops these core competencies:

1. 1. Combine the mindset, tools, and methods of creativity, ingenuity, and playfulness with technical know-how.
   2. Ability to identify problems, come up with new perspectives and ideas, adapt to ever-changing challenges and environments, and to find original solutions to complex, multidisciplinary, and “wicked” (1) problems.
   3. Embrace the creative value of discipline and constraints.
   4. Understand the interrelationships between art, design, ethics, science, technology, and society.
   5. Identify and develop creative solutions for new and complex problems in collaborative interdisciplinary environments.

(1) Rittel, H. W., & Webber, M. M. (1973). “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning.” Policy sciences, 4(2), 155-169.

Courses

To earn the minor in Creative Thinking and Practice, students must complete these 18 credit hours:

• • Core course (3 cr.)
  • Elective courses (14 cr.)
  • Capstone: “HUMA xxx, Special Topics” on  Creativity and Creative Practice (1 cr.) 

Core course (3 credits) 

“HUMA 2xx, Creative Thinking and Practice”  (3 cr.)

In this course, students learn how cultivating their creativity can enhance their ability to imagine new applications of scientific principles and technologies, design new experiences and products, develop innovative solutions to complex multidisciplinary problems, or engage in exciting work in industries such as film or software development. 

Students study examples of how creative ideas and designs have transformed society and industries. Students familiarize themselves with principles of creativity and creative practice, learning how to apply these principles to their training in their majors. Lastly, students learn brainstorming techniques and strategies to spark their creative, outside-the-box thinking, maximizing their capability to imagine innovative solutions to wicked problems and unexpected applications of emerging media and technologies. 

Elective courses (14 credits)  

14 credit hours from:

• • Courses in Area 6: Fine and Creative Arts.
  • Courses in Area 4: Social Sciences and in Area 5: Humanities in which the student completes a creative project. 
  • Courses in Fine Arts and Music Performance (limit of 2 cr. hr.).

Creative assignments from courses in Area 4: Social Sciences and Area 5: Humanities must be verified by the course instructors.

All elective courses must be approved by the student’s minor advisor.

Capstone (1 credit)

“HUMA xxx, Special Topics” on  Creativity and Creative Practice (1 cr.)

The Special Topics (Creativity and Creative Practice) capstone course challenges students to synthesize their creative thinking and practice in one of these two options: 

(a) an interdisciplinary collaborative project that solves a complex, even a wicked artistic, cultural, and/or STEM problem,

(b) an online portfolio of individual creative works that demonstrates the student’s transferable skills as interdisciplinary and/or multidisciplinary creative thinkers and applied creativity practitioners.

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Want to know more about the minor? Write to collaboratory@npe.nmt.edu

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Want to know more about the COLLABORATORY? Sign up for the COLLABORATORY updates.

 

Tech Creator’s Association (TCA) is a student club at New Mexico Tech. The TCA is looking for new students to take it up again.

Advisor. Rosário Durão
Fall 2020 President. Benjamin Mastripolito
Fall 2020 Oficers. Jeremy Tarr & Marianne Lara

Fall 2020 Meetings. We meet (at least) weekly at 6 pm in The Writing and Communication Lab (Fitch Hall, Room 002). 

Email. To volunteer for the TCA, write to rosario.durao@nmt.edu

TCA Constitution

The Tech Creator’s Association (TCA) is a club that exists to encourage NMT students to explore creative endeavors together. We provide a platform for students that enjoy sharing their creative work. This includes traditional art, digital media, creative science/engineering, and any other product of creation. We will schedule regular student presentations on any topic relating to creative work. We will also encourage students to hold workshops in which they share a creative process or tools and teach others how to use them.

Not only will we encourage active creators to join the club, but also those interested in learning about others’ creative projects. We will provide what we feel is much needed time and space for creative-minded individuals studying and living in an environment where creativity is undervalued in their daily lives in education. We also want to encourage those who do not think of themselves as being creative to recognize their abilities and try new things. By giving students this platform, we hope to bring creativity closer to NMT’s focus on STEM.

We will meet (at least) weekly in the Writing and Communication Lab, in Fitch Hall, Room 002. Our meeting times will be decided by the members at the beginning of the semester. We will elect our officials initially by choice, and eventually by vote, once our members are more involved. We will resolve conflicts during meetings with as many members involved as possible.

In general, we will try to give every member a fair chance at sharing their work or interests. However, we do want to keep the quality of our student/staff talks and workshops at a reasonably high standard. We also believe that everybody should get a chance to speak and collaborate, and that they should not feel limited in any way by their abilities apothekefurmanner.de. This means our workshops should require little foreknowledge on the part of the participants.

TCA Budget

The Tech Creator’s Association will use its funding primarily for food. During this coming semester, we will hold weekly meetings and try to provide food every meeting. If there are other things we need to purchase, they will be related to displaying student creative works in our meeting room (Writing and Communication Lab, Fitch Hall, Room 002). This might include small things like command strips or other methods of fixture. Any supplies we need will be kept in the Writing and Communication Lab.