Creativity Core

Curriculum

• Program Inspiration

• Program Goals

• Program Description

• Plan of Study

Presentation Overview

Maribeth Kradel-WeitzelAssistant Provost for Academic Affairs

Health Communication Design, DIRECTOR

Maribeth.Kradel-Weitzel@jefferson.edu

215-951-2104

Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel is an assistant provost, associate professor

and founding director of Jefferson’s Creativity Core Curriculum.

“As a professional university, we know that the professions will

change, sometimes dramatically, during the careers of our

students. We want to arm them with the optimism to see

change as a creative challenge, and remember their days at

Jefferson as the time they learned to see around corners, face

obstacles with courage, and overcome uncertainty in the next

phase of their careers.”

—Dr. Stephen K. Klasko, President, Thomas Jefferson University

PROGRAM INSPIRATION

PROGRAM INSPIRATION

All exceptional endeavors and every

academic discipline requires human

creativity. The Jefferson Creativity Core

Curriculum will help you to expand your

creative capacity so that you are

equipped to work on the world’s most

complex problems in whatever discipline

you choose.

The mission of Jefferson’s Creativity

Core Curriculum is to cultivate a

confident and flexible student mindset

through learning opportunities that

explore individual and collaborative

creative aptitude and equip students to

yield novel and valuable results.

PROGRAM GOALS

Create value by producing novel output relevant to professional and

real world endeavors. 1

PROGRAM GOALS

Embrace complexity and risk with a flexible and open mindset.2

PROGRAM GOALS

Formulate new insights through unexpected connections across

disciplines, perspectives, and contexts.3

PROGRAM GOALS

Activate creative aptitude through personal reflection and

examination of biases about creativity.4

PROGRAM GOALS

Devise effective strategies for individual and/or collaborative

creative production.5

PROGRAM GOALS

Engage empathetic and critical thinking skills when framing

opportunities and solving problems. 6

PROGRAM GOALS

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Create value by producing novel output

relevant to professional and real world

endeavors.

• Embrace complexity and risk with a

flexible and open mindset.

• Formulate new insights through

unexpected connections across disciplines,

perspectives, and contexts.

• Activate creative aptitude through

personal reflection and examination of

biases about creativity.

• Devise effective strategies for individual

and/or collaborative creative

production.

• Engage empathetic and critical thinking

skills when framing opportunities and

solving problems.

CREATIVITY

INTENSIVE

COURSE

DESIGNATIONS

REVISED

HALLMARKS

CAPSTONE

COURSE

CREATIVE

MAKING

WORKSHOPS

COURSE EXPERIENCE

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Plan for East Falls Campus Undergraduates

PLAN OF STUDY

Creative Making Workshops will provide students with the

opportunity, materials, guidance and time to experiment

in a risk-free environment in absence of expectations and

deadlines. Workshop experiences require no prior topic

knowledge. Upon completion of a workshop, students will

reflect on their experience, having made a unique

artifact—whether tangible, digital, performative or

conceptual.

Workshops touch on subject matter that draws inspiration

from a very wide range of disciplines to reinforce the

value of creativity across all Jefferson colleges.

Experience: Creative Making Workshops

PLAN OF STUDY

Each undergraduate discipline has identified a minimum

of one course that is designated “creativity intensive.”

At Jefferson, creativity is inherent in all disciplines. In

order to highlight the possibility and variety of creativity

throughout the disciplines, creativity skills and processes

are taught in an integrative manner alongside disciplinary

knowledge for application in the profession through

individual and collaborative projects/assignments.

Course: Creativity Intensive Course

PLAN OF STUDY

The Hallmarks Capstone is a required course for all East

Falls undergraduates. Here, students use design thinking,

reflective writing and prototyping strategies to help

envision and plan for meaningful lives after graduation.

Students produce creative projects in a variety of relevant

media in which they communicate their life plans.

Course: Hallmarks Capstone

Creativity is the third most important

future workplace skill for 2020 according

to the World Economic Forum.

PROGRAM INSPIRATION