How to judge the answers given for open question

According to Anatoly and Mark during the School for CreativeThinker Level 1 Workshop, there are three core criteria for judging the quality of answers given for any open question, i.e. applicability, originality and speed. These criteria echo the answers given by Tony Buzan to me when I asked him “how to evaluate creativity”. Tony mentioned four criteria, i.e. novelty, quantity, practicality and aesthetics. Here, I attempt to combine these two sets of criteria for judging the answers given by learners for open question.

Originality

Originality means the answer is novel or new. If the idea or answer is something that I never heard of, i.e. the learner generates the idea out of nothing, that is considered as creative. If the answer is something similar to what I knew but the learner alters or changes some of the features or attributes of the one that I knew, that is innovative. However, the concept of originality is rather relative and temporal dependent. In R&D for example, a proven original result or outcome might lost its originality if someone in this world was discovered to have created the same or similar outcome earlier. Therefore, originality is time or temporal dependent.

Applicability

Applicability, practicality and usefulness are synonymous concepts that define the quality of an answer. The degree of applicability is resource-dependent. The result of applying an answer can be calculated using a formula given by Anatoly (see fig 1). According to Anatoly, some people become smarter because they know the methods and they have the necessary tools. Personal capability and knowledge alone are not sufficient to solve complex problems, but these are the fundamental resources needed to make an answer useful.

Speed

How to make good decisions fast is the key concern when judging the quality of answers for open question. Learners are encouraged or even forced to generate as many ideas as time permits. This idea of speed is similar to Tony Buzan’s idea of quantity, i.e. how many ideas one can generate in a predefined time.

Aesthetics

When the answers fulfil the above mentioned three criteria, aethetics or the beauty of the idea could be taken into consideration when judging the quality of answers to open questions. Four principle of aesthetic design proposed by Prof Paul Hekkert (2006) can be used as the guide in making the aesthetic judgment, i.e.:

• Maximum effects for minimum means
• Unity in variety
• Most advanced, yet acceptable
• Optimal match

Grooming UPSI graduates to become successful Edupreneur

I am attending the MTDC Technology Commercialization Conference now. One key idea I gained is grooming UPSI graduates to become successful education entrepreneur, a.k.a. Edupreneur.

Students in UPSI are generally talented in matters they're interested in, whether those matters are related to their study or not. If these talents are well channeled and groomed, the students could become successful edupreneurs, i.e. by integrating their talents with pedagogical knowledge and skills to produce sellable educational creative contents. The talents that I have identified include singing, drawing, animating, playing musical instruments, shooting/editing photos or videos, programming, storytelling, storyboarding, advertising, and writing.

Over the lunch, I happened to meet Mr. Ronald Li, who introduced himself as a futurist. Ronald sent me an email last week, intending to working with me on the project that won a Gold Medal in PECIPTA recently. He possesses experience working in Australia, and now trying to assist individuals in Malaysia to commercialize R&D outputs. I shared the idea of grooming "edupreneurs" in UPSI. He seemed like interested in the idea, so there might be rooms for collaboration.

In practice, TNCPI suggests to jump start the spin off company, probably by placing containers in Sultan Azlan Shah campus. This suggestion echoes what I proposed to my Animation students recently, i.e. replicating what UPM had done. I begin to think about the features of those containers. They would be called "Creative Edu-Containers @ UPSI". There will be power supply, ideally solar power or rain-related energy. Each of the containers will be equipped with high speed WiFi, basic or even repurposed furniture, and computer with freeware.

Perhaps, UERL can work with Students Affairs Department to organize the 1st UPSI Edupreneurs Competition. Top three of the contestants will be working with UERL to establish creative education design and development companies.

I believe this is something we all in UPSI can work out together. Of course, with the students.

Written by,
Dr. Tan Wee Hoe
UERL Deputy Director I

Lost in Translation

The instructor and the translator of the School for Creative Thinker Level 1Workshop were Mr Anatoly Guin and Dr. Barkan Mark. Anatoly is the Vice President on School Education of the International TRIZ Association. He is the founder and Chief Scientist of "Education for a New Era". As Anatoly is not well-versed in English, Dr. Barkan Mark, the President of "Education for a New Era" became his translator (Russian-English) and interpreter during the workshop.

I wish I could understand Russian so that I would not feel like missing something from what Mr. Anatoly said. As Dr. Mark Barkan is playing dual roles--as an instructor and the translator for Anatoly, I was confused whether what had been said by Dr. Mark Barkan was his own idea or translated idea. Also, if I could understand, I should be able to learn more from Mr. Anatoly because after comparing the workshop materials with the actual presentation slides he delivered, there are quite a lot of the materials left for self-exploration.

Of course, if Anatoly could conduct the workshop in English or if the participants could under Russian well enough to comprehend the contents, the interactivity and authenticity of learning would be greatly enhanced.

How to design something that you have not seen before: A systematic innovation approach

In the School for Creative Thinker Level 1 Workshop, I was given the task to design an extra-terrestrial (E.T.). Mr. Anatoly suggested the use of a design tool that consists of several possible attributes of E.T. (e.g. size, mass, level of intellectual, method of communication, senses, mobility, emotion). By thinking through the features of the E.T., we could imagine the look-and-feel of the E.T. systematically.

In fact, I have been using similar approach when I teach Character Design courses. In my course, I would ask student to fill in the Character Profile form that consists of a long list of W questions that my students must answer before visualization how their character would look like. I learned how to use this tool in 2002, when I was an undergraduate student at Multimedia University.