Practical creativity: lateral thinking techniques applied to television production education

• Autores: John Rosenbaum
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 17, no. Extra 1, 2001 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Learning Styles), págs. 17-23
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article suggests methods for teaching creative television production techniques while simulta-neously providing technical training in equipment operation and standard production practices. Thesuggested methods are four lateral thinking techniquesÐthe random word, simple focus, stratalsand the filament technique. In a case study, these techniques were applied in two assignments givento students in an intermediate television production course. Twelve group productions, 42 editingassignments and 42 papers on television aesthetics were completed. Responses to self-assessmentitems on anonymous questionnaires distributed at the end of the course indicated that most students(between 61% and 100%) felt competent in 13 of 14 equipment operation skills covered in thecourse. Most students (84%) rated their ability to operate complex video production equipmentbetween `adequate' and `strong'. Most of the students (92%) rated the group production assign-ment between `some value' and `extremely valuable'; most (85%) rated the individual editingassignment between `some value' and `extremely valuable'; and most (79%) rated writing the paperbetween `some value' and `extremely valuable'. Most students (71%) recommended repeating theexperimental assignments in subsequent semesters and almost two thirds (65%) preferred theexperimental or a mix of experimental and traditional assignments. The author concludes thatlateral thinking techniques can be used successfully to teach creative television production,technical equipment operation, and standard production practices. Lateral thinking can alsocontribute to education in other fields, such as engineering, which value technical training andcreative thinking. Although some students may resist nontraditional approaches, most students willappreciate and sometimes even prefer them