For the 2020-2021 Academic Year this course is being taught remotely. This means there will be no face-to-face teaching and you will not need to be present in person in Cambridge. The course content will be delivered, and the learning outcomes met, through the use of video-based teaching platforms and a dedicated course Virtual Learning Environment. ”
To transition to remote delivery of the course our academic staff are updating the course structure and timetable. This will allow the course to be academically engaging and of the quality expected from the Institute. A course guide will be available containing this detailed information no later than the end of July. Details of the Unit start dates and assignment submission deadlines are under the Teaching & Assessment tab. For an overview of the course scroll down this page.
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. Students are expected to attend all of the scheduled teaching sessions throughout the year.
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 ?
The Institute plans to offer a second 60 credit FHEQ level 5 Diploma course that will complement the Undergraduate Diploma in Creativity Theory, History and Philosophy. The planned Diplomas will be taught in alternating years and can be studied independently of each other, and in any order.
Undergraduate Diploma in Applied Creativity (subject to approval)
The Undergraduate Diploma in Applied Creativity (subject to approval) is planned for future academic years, and will further develop students’ understanding of how creativity works in practice. As well as recognise creativity, students will undertake the challenge of thinking and acting more creatively. What will the next great creative moments look like? How can we engender a more creative society/workplace? How can creativity help to ensure our survival as a species?
Students who have successfully completed the Undergraduate Diploma in Creativity Theory, History and Philosophy worth 60 credits at FHEQ level 5 and the Undergraduate Diploma in Applied Creativity (subject to approval) worth 60 credits at FHEQ level 5 can apply to be awarded the Undergraduate Diploma of Higher Education in Creativity: Contexts and Applications (subject to approval) worth 120 credits at FHEQ level 5.
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.
