#cic Creativity Innovation Change
#mooc Massive Open Online Course
#cicmooc
One workday morning, I was flippin’ through the day’s morning newspaper at our office kitchen. I’ve made it a point to sit down and read for at least 15 mins. before 9am. Partly because I never keep up with current events these days, partly to look for writing ideas and partly to set my tone for the day.
I stumbled upon an article about the biggest online education provider out there. What got me was that the courses offered were all FREE and backed by reputable universities around the world! Free education? WOW. I gotta check that out. I think I will not have bothered to do this if i was not “ready”. My frame of mind that very morning was primed to “curiosity” and “learning”.
Later that night, i hanged out at www.coursera.org. I was gobsmacked at the rich rich RICH!!! course offerings. Twas anything from gardening to history of rock music to Calculus to the Big Bang Theory! I zoomed in to one course which again i was ready for. It was an 8-week course called “Creativity Innovation and Change“. If you have been following me in mGB since Jan 2013, I am all wired on those 3 concepts.
Creativity, Innovation and Change
My #CIC course started September First. For Week One, there were 3 videos I was supposed to watch, 1 of 3 exercises to do, and 1 test to pass. I did all of the above.
The last exercise was the best. We were told to take a piece of paper. Use our creativity, imagination, and innovation to build the tallest structure that we can make using just the paper. Try and fail as many times as necessary. The video Intelligent Fast Failure’s mantra was ~~~ “Failing is not about self-esteem. It is about practise and the process of learning”.
Experiment. Fail. Learn. Create. – Intelligent Fast Failure by Dr. Jack Matson
Build the tallest tower out of an A4 paper
I looked at the paper and thought like an engineer that I was. In order to build the highest structure, it is obvious I must use the long edge of the paper as many times on top of each other as possible.
1) Find a way to pile pieces of paper on top of the other.
2) Find a way to make the paper stand! And remain standing long enough for a picture.
3) Stop breathing while taking a photo.
I engaged my 13 year old son who was sitting right in front of me in the study. He enthusiastically built his own paper tower.
Hmm “Very good my darling”. Now I gotta top that! Gabo used creativity more than anything. I liked the way he sort of sliced the paper together.
I got an idea. My idea requires 3 things.
– Equal and precise tearing of the paper into 3 parts.
– Precise and neat neat NEAT! folding. {think origami as I am in a Japanese state of mind}
– Finally, I need to intertwine the edges just the right way to hold them together.
The paper must remain ramrod straight. Neat folding achieves that easily. The base was critical. I created the right “crease” as base foundation.
Take a deep breath. Build. And be amazed at my sheer engineering prowess. Now hold your breathe!
Tadah!
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