Who is this course for?
The course is ideal for students with an interest in the history of ideas, philosophy, psychology, religion and/or sociology. Prior study at Certificate level (FHEQ Level 4) in any of these subjects is recommended. Whilst the course has an academic focus, the aim of the course is to utilise the learning for personal and professional enrichment. Increasingly, creative talent is increasingly in demand amongst employers. This course will help those seeking to identify or implement creative thinking in the workplace.
What will I be studying?
The Diploma is divided into three termly units taught via remote delivery.
Unit 1. In the Beginning: Creation, Myth-making, and Acts of God
This unit will introduce students to key themes, concepts, and terms of creativity theory. The origins and meaning of early notions of creativity as ‘creation’ (something arriving from nothing, ex-nihilo, as an act of ‘God’) will be explored by engaging with cross-cultural ancient, classical, and religious histories, philosophies, and literary texts, paintings and artefacts.
Unit 2. Creativity in the Age of the Enlightenment: Evolutions, Adaptations and Individual Acts
This unit explores changes in cultural ideas of ‘creativity’ in the 18th and 19th centuries, e.g. as a process of transformation of substances that already exist, through individual acts of genius and the ‘force’ of ‘inspiration’ (Pope, 2005). Creativity now comes from ‘inside’ the human imagination, idealised as a process only available to a few ‘chosen’ geniuses.
Unit 3. Creativity in the Twentieth Century: Complexities, Chaosmos and Constant Becomings
This unit assesses the more ‘modern’ idea that creativity is conceptualised as plural, dynamic, democratic (not the preserve of geniuses), participative, and constantly emerging (Pope, 2005). The unit will reflect these ideas by engaging with the scientific and cultural advances of the twentieth century, as well as examining this period’s great capacities for self-destruction (de-creation).
What can I go on to do?
Undergraduate Advanced Diploma in Research Theory and Practice
Students who have successfully completed an Undergraduate Diploma in Creativity Theory, History and Philosophy might be interested in progressing their Diploma studies by applying to join the Undergraduate Advanced Diploma in Research Theory and Practice (60 credits at FHEQ level 6). Students on this course will have the opportunity to work closely and collaboratively with qualified researchers in their field and will be introduced to a research community where they will begin to forge an identity as a researcher in their own right.
Credit awarded by the Institute can also be transferred into the degree programmes of other higher education providers. However, the amount of credit which can be transferred into degree programmes varies from institution to institution and is always at the discretion of the receiving institution.
