IL005-15 Applied Imagination: Theory and Practice
Introductory description
What is 'imagination'? Can we measure it? When and how do you use your imagination? Do different disciplines
engage and treat imagination differently? Is imagination important in academic studies, the working world, or wider
life? What would it be like to not have an imagination? How could you get others to manifest their imaginative and
creative thinking? This interdisciplinary module is grounded in critical pedagogy and designed to enable you to make
connections between the 'imaginative' thinking and practice deployed within your own and other disciplines and to
autonomously explore and develop your own theory of applied imagination by exploring the relationship between
theories of creativity and creative practice. Our sessions will be interactive and co-created as we seek to better
understand the role of imagination in our own lives, in knowledge and its creation, in wider society and in making
change.
Module aims
The intention of this module is to encourage the following by engaging with theories and practices of imagination within academia and the wider world, to encourage you to:
- Develop an understanding of key current theories and applications surrounding imagination and creativity
- Engage with ideas of how imagination can be applied to develop a unique approach to learning and knowledge
- Explore ways disseminate and communicate your work relating to applied imagination in both form and content
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
- Unit 1: Your Imagination and Theories of Creativity (Introduce module resources)
- Unit 1: Your Imagination and Creative Practice (Introduce learning journals)
- Unit 2: Developing Imagination: Voices from Philosophy and Psychology (Guest speaker 1 & 2)
- Unit 2: Developing Imagination: Sociological perspectives (Guest speaker 3)
- Unit 2: Developing Imagination: Time and space to think and re-imagine (Learning journals)
- Unit 2: Developing Imagination: Voices from Education and the Arts (Guest speaker 5 & 6)
- Unit 3: Imaginative Stimulus: Devising in groups with a guest artist (TBC)
- Unit 3: Imaginative Stimulus: Sharing feedback from devising (Introduce SDAs)
- Unit 3: Student-devised assessments & Revision from module (SDA preparation)
- Unit 3: Student-devised assessments & Revision from module (SDA preparation)
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Identify and analyse theories and practices of the imagination through its manifestations as creative expression
- Reflect on their own disciplines and interdisciplinary ideas to develop the study and application of the imagination
- Explore an area of imagination which interests you through practice or theory with appropriate critical reflection
- Examine theories of creativity and creative practices relating to the imagination in the production of their own project
- Integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives to develop and respond to questions and problems of creativity and the imagination
Indicative reading list
PRIMARY READING:
Bateson and Martin (2013) Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation https://go.exlibris.link/Rf6kjrvk
Csikszentmihalyi. M (2014) The Systems Model of Creativity https://go.exlibris.link/KLHTjKf1
Hughes, T (1997) Tales from Ovid https://go.exlibris.link/4l5v8Qg7
Kind, A. (2020) ‘Philosophical Perspectives on Imagination in the Western Tradition’, in A. Abraham (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination. Cambridge University Press, pp. 64–79.0.
Klein, J. T. (1996) Crossing Boundaries: Knowledge, Disciplinarities and Interdisciplinarities. University Press of Virginia.
Lehrer, J (2012) Imagine: How Creativity Works https://go.exlibris.link/9H4q1vpB
SECONDARY READING:
Abraham, A. (2018) ‘The Forest versus the Trees: Creativity, Cognition and Imagination’, in R.E. Jung and O. Vartanian (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of the Neuroscience of Creativity. Cambridge University Press, pp. 195–210.
Buckner, R. L. (2010). 'The role of the hippocampus in prediction and imagination'. Annual review of psychology, 61, 27-48.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014) Flow and the Foundations of Postive Psychology https://go.exlibris.link/nR1wN3T5
Coult and Kershaw (1983) Engineers of the Imagination https://go.exlibris.link/Sm1hnvdB
Damasio, A. (2018) The Strange Order of Things https://go.exlibris.link/WqYqb5fd
Fisher, Philip. 2003. Wonder, the Rainbow and the Aesthetics of Rare Experience, Harvard University Press.
Lakoff and Johnson (1981) Metaphors We Live By https://go.exlibris.link/R6xCNB4G
Hepburn, R.W. (1980) 'Wonder', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 54, pp.1-23S
Parsons, H. L. (1969) 'A Philosophy of Wonder', Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp.84-101
Sissa and Martelli (2023) Ovid's Metamorphosis and the Environmental Imagination https://go.exlibris.link/4l5v8Qg7
ONLINE RESOURCES:
Horizon, BBC (2013) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1gn21d
Ken Robinson, TED (2006) https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity
Landy, BBC (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EqVPZwiT5Q
Research element
Research is defined by BERA as the development of new knowledge. In this module you will have the opportunity to develop new knowledge in the classroom through your Reflective Learning Journal (formative assessment) and your Student Devised Assessment (summative assessment) which will be developed independently as an imaginative work.
Interdisciplinary
The module is an interdisciplinary module designed to enable students to make connections between their own discipline/s and the imaginative thinking and creative practice deployed within other disciplines. The module will help students develop an understanding of the current uses of imaginative thinking and creatives practices across a range of disciplines and the relationship of imagination to the abstract and complex concerns of those disciplines (multidisciplinary); to synthesize these into an imaginative approach to managing their own imaginative learning and research (interdisciplinary); your work may fall beyond the scope of a single discipline in practice (transdisciplinary).
International
The module addresses intercultural practices of the imagination and uses international examples of creative practice..
Subject specific skills
- Develop an understanding of key current theories and applications surrounding imagination and creativity
- Engage with ideas of how imagination can be applied to develop a unique approach to learning and knowledge
- Explore ways disseminate and communicate your work relating to applied imagination in both form and content
Transferable skills
- Independent learning
- Oral and written communication
- Interdisciplinary learning
- Collaborative team working skills
- Creative research skills
- Time management
- Critical thinking
- Enterprise and innovation skills
- Reflective learning journalling
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Seminars | 10 sessions of 2 hours (13%) |
| Private study | 30 hours (20%) |
| Assessment | 100 hours (67%) |
| Total | 150 hours |
Private study description
Research, development and preparation for Learning journal (formative assessment) and SDA (summative assessment)
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A7
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student-devised Assessment | 100% | 100 hours | Yes (extension) |
|
An imaginative form of assessment devised by the student with the support of the tutor might include creative writing, filmmaking, graphic illustration, musical composition or it might include an entrepreneurial project in cultural engagement or creative technologies. This project allows you to critically engage with applying theories and practices of imagination in the creation of your piece. You will need to communicate how and why you have arrived at the definition of imagination with which you are engaging, in reference to theories of creativity and/or creative practice. You will include a critical and reflective element of the process of learning throughout the module and in relation to the creation of the Student Devised Assessment. |
|||
Feedback on assessment
Detailed written and/or oral feedback will be provided by the tutor(s) to you for each element of the assessed work, with an emphasis on development and learning. Formative oral feedback will also be given at relevant points within seminars throughout the module and as you devise your own forms of assessment. The reflective learning journal is an additional vechicle for formative assessment and feeedback. You will also be encouraged to share your developing work with other students, and to offer supportive and critically engaged feedback on their work, towards at the end of the module.
Courses
This module is Optional for:
- Year 4 of UFIA-QW25 Undergraduate Film and Literature
This module is Option list G for:
- Year 3 of USX2-Y202 Undergraduate Social Studies [2 + 2]
This module is Unusual option for:
- Year 2 of UFRA-R101 Undergraduate French Studies