Minor Innovation and Creativity

The “Innovation and creativity” course aims to develop the creative competencies of the participants through a series of exercises and activities in which individual and collaborative approaches will be developed and analyzed, combining both a practical and research-based perspective.
Students embark on a journey of both self-introspection and collective effort with their peers. They are invited to leave their comfort-zone and to push their boundaries. The final outcome for every student is to understand the difference between innovation and creativity, and to learn how creativity can lead to actual innovation.
Generative AI is used as a cognitive partner to support the writing process, as well as idea generation and reflective creative thinking processes.
This course is a 100% online course based on learning paths.
One task consists of recording an English-language video. 

The minor consists of 5 chapters:

• Innovation and creativity, a walk through creativity literature.
• Enhance your creative abilities.
• The cognitive process of visualization for learning.
• Project writing in times of AI (including the use of generative AI for drafting, structuring, revising, and idea development)
• Generate better ideas with the help of your peers.

• Cindy De Smet, Associate Professor in Education Sciences

Assessment of the course is based on two activities. The total out of 50 of these marks is converted to a final mark out of 20.

• Guided self reflection task - Mark out of 20
• Collaborative creativity task (two components) - Mark out of 30

• Csikszentmihályi, M. (1990). The domain of creativity. In M. A. Runco & R. S. Albert (Eds.), Sage focus editions, Vol. 115. Theories of creativity (p. 190–212). Sage Publications, Inc.
• Gelb, M. J. (2009). How to think like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven steps to genius every day. Random House Publishing Group.
• Henriksen, D., Mishra, P., & Fisser, P. (2016). Infusing Creativity and Technology in 21st Century Education: A Systemic View for Change. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 19(3). https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/jeductechsoci.19.3.27
• Holzner, N., Maier, S., & Feuerriegel, S. (2025). Generative AI and creativity: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2505.17241
• Lewis, C. (2016). Too Fast to Think: How to Reclaim Your Creativity in a Hyper-connected Work Culture. Kogan Page Publishers.
• Mercier, M., & Lubart, T. (2026). Are Individual-Level Factors Necessary for Creativity in the Workplace? A Necessary Condition Analysis. Creativity Research Journal, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2026.2626866
• Novak, J. D. & Cañas, A. J. (2006). The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How To Construct and Use Them, Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, 2008.
• Novak, J. D. & A. J. Cañas, The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them, Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 01-2008, Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, 2008, available at: http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf
• Smith, G. F. (1998). Idea‐generation techniques: A formulary of active ingredients. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 32(2), 107-134. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1998.tb00810.x
• Sweller, J. (2009). Cognitive bases of human creativity. Educational Psychology Review, 21(1), 11-19.
• Zafar, M. B., Ali, H., & Yasin, T. (2025). Reimagining Human Creativity and Learning in the Age of Generative AI: A Multi-Method Meta-Thematic Synthesis. Next Research, 100802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nexres.2025.100802

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