Faculty Workshops
Presented in collaboration with the Mellon Humanities grant and the Crown Center for Teaching, the C&I blockly workshop series introduces a wide range of creativity exercises suitable for anyone teaching a course at the Colorado College. At each workshop, participants will practice the exercise, place it in a creativity framework, and discuss how it might be adapted for specific learning outcomes. The workshops take place on the third Thursday of the block in Honnen Arts, Classroom 101. Please RSVP for each workshop you wish to attend so we can provide dietary and accessibility accommodations.
AY 2025-26 Workshops
Block 1: Responding Creatively to Our Surroundings
Thursday Sept. 11 from 12:00—1:30 pm
Research suggests that creative thinkers pay closer attention to the people, places, and things that surround them, and that this attentiveness provides information to make more and more nuanced creative responses. In this workshop, we will practice elongating and deepening attention to our environments and each other through exercises that emphasize close looking, listening, improvisation, and nonverbal communication.
Thursday Oct. 9 from 12:00—1:30 pm
Uncertainty characterizes much in our academic and day-to-day lives. This workshop examines how we might use creativity theory to embrace ambiguity. In this workshop, we will find possible paths to navigate through uncertainty by exploring how creative methodologies can transform ambiguous situations from sources of anxiety into opportunities for innovation and discovery.
Block 3: Play Your Cards Right! Making Unexpected Connections with Cards
Thursday Nov. 6 from 12:00—1:30 pm
Creative thinking depends on the ability to make unexpected connections. This workshop will explore the possibilities offered by selected card decks (Multiple Narratives, Oblique Strategies, Pathways) that use words and image prompts to help students break through mental roadblocks and approach a topic from fresh, unexpected angles.
Block 4: Find spaciousness
Thursday Dec. 11 from 12:00—1:30 pm
Give yourself the gift of an hour that you don't fill with work. What kind of spaciousness can you create in this now unplanned hour? What possibilities can you explore that might put you in a positive "place"—physical or metaphorical? How can you stay open to whatever happens in that place? This is not a formal workshop; instead, we see this practice as a radical act of self-compassion, and we hope you take the hour to be creative in ways that bring you joy during this often busy time.
Thursday Feb. 5 from 2:00—3:30 pm
This problem-finding activity is designed to help us think through messy, ill-defined problems where the parameters aren't clearly specified, and the goal isn't clear. The Ten Questions exercise asks participants to practice using divergent and convergent thinking to generate multiple questions surrounding their problem, then choose the question that best fits what they want to explore.
Block 6: Creative Problem Solving with LEGO
Thursday Mar. 5 from 2:00—3:30 pm
Utilize aspects of the LEGO Serious Play (LSP) methodology as a pedagogical framework for enhancing creative problem solving. Grounded in constructivist learning theory, this workshop transforms abstract conceptual challenges into tangible, manipulable models that facilitate innovative thinking and collaborative solutions. This approach transfers across contexts, thus can be applied to many assignments across disciplines.
Block 7: Navigating the Messy Middle
Thursday April 9 from 2:00—3:30 pm
Creative problem solving (CPS) rarely follows linear trajectories. Between initial problem identification and final solution implementation lies the "messy middle." This phenomenon – characterized by ambiguity, multiple competing alternatives, and cognitive overload – can be found across any academic endeavors that involve problem solving. This interactive session examines CPS frameworks for navigating this critical yet underexplored phase of the creative process.
