Minor in Creative Thinking and Practice

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. 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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