LT3: care, curiosity & creativity
modalities
Welcome to an introduction to LT3, a 12 session program for students and tutors to engage with the three critical nodes of creative learning and teaching: COGNITIVE DILIGENCE,SOCIAL INTEGRATION & EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE
The course is an introduction to the facilitation of learning – whether for oneself or for others – by regulating emotions, sustaining imagination and inculcating the discipline of reflection.
The theoretical premise of this course is the paradox that as teachers we are always learning and to learn better one needs to also teach.
Through references, exercises in text, graphics, collage & theater and volumes of conversations, the course will help participants create and collaborate.
Emphasis will be on employing visual concept maps, drafting briefs and maintaining reflective journals.
The intent, however, is not to provide any template, but to offer processes to develop individuality and unique methods to become effective facilitators of care, curiosity & creativity.
Registration: Sign Up or head to the i:m:a questionnaire
theoretical framework
PROCESS is about managing EXPECTATIONS: what does one intend or expect to explore, find or create through an engagement – materials & components or the organisation & configuration or the making & construction or is it the eventual experience and so on. OBJECTIVES are clearer only later during the process and the expectations and the creative trajectory need to be regularly realigned throughout the course.
The grouping & sequencing of tasks & ideas is the STRUCTURE which needs to be accommodative, bare & robust to allow surprising discoveries and avoid straight-jacketing of processes.
Multiple TIMEFRAMES – the clock, social & institutional schedules and natural rhythms – need to be reconciled to project, run & deliver a task.
This is the dimension of COGNITIVE DILIGENCE – the development of necessary intellectual rigour; perhaps the most conspicuous part of the creative process. However, it demands due consideration that each of the nodes is dynamic and not immovable.
The essentially social nature of our being inevitably brings us in contact with PEOPLE, whether intended or not and irrespective of the scale or duration of the task.
We naturally acquire TOLERANCE in varying degrees to others, different approaches and distinct ideas. This skill is necessary to get things done.
However, to get things done well and in the interest of our comprehensive growth, we need to develop EMPATHY – the ability to not only understand but also feel the other.
Whether or not we are able to meet the tall order of collaboration, working with others is indispensible and this social condition is necessary because we seek DIVERSITY, which is perhaps the only guarantee for survival in the face of unprecedented adversity. Thisis the dimension of SOCIAL INTEGRATION – intrinsic to the creative process – which most of us have no choice but to deal with.
What is rarely paid attention to, particularly as the task grows in complexity & scale, is the SELF. Our collective foci seem to blur beyond areas of mental acumen and social etiquette; the emotional upheavals seldom get the light in time.
We are wired to be afraid of the unknown for it may kill us. Learning anything involves confronting the unknown. COURAGE – which is notaboutnot having fear, instead is about moving in spite of fear – is an essential quality we need to build to open ourselves to learning.
The creative process is full of anxieties – am I capable? Will it be good? Will it happen? How long will it take? Doubts galore… PATIENCE is an invaluable skill to have & to develop.
While courage & patience may still find mention in better training processes, it is CATHARSIS which needs to be brought into conversations to see what has been released, lost & gained within during the course of learning. This is the dimension of EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE which carries an individuals’ uniqueness, a trait perhaps most crucial for creativity.
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