When associate professor and former Department of Dance chair Jennifer Salk learned about this grant, she leapt at the opportunity. She teaches a creative process course within the Dance Department and welcomed the chance to collaborate with faculty members in other disciplines. They included Jeffrey Fracé, associate professor of drama; and Afroditi Psarra, assistant professor of digital arts and experimental media (DXARTS). Together, the three served as instructors of the pilot course in Autumn2020. They also invited Trisha Davis, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry, to be a guest instructor for the duration of the course. Creativity as Research may continue as a regular class, depending on funding and success of the course, Salk says.
“One of the key parts in developing Creativity as Research was that faculty in other fields could be part of the course,” Salk says. “They teach a unit in their specialty, with creativity embedded. It has been a phenomenal team.”
Held primarily asynchronously through the Canvas platform, the class welcomed all students, no matter what year or major. Though it was capped at 40 students, and targeted toward first and second-year undergraduates, graduate students were able to sign up as well. Each instructor created a unit on Canvas, in which they spoke about a research process—either something they are involved with themselves or one they feel is valuable to students. Students also were tasked with completing readings and having discussions with their peers; watching videos of guest researchers, instructors, and creative experts; and completing individual projects to tap into their own creativity. Students were also required to complete weekly, offline “Artist’s Dates” with themselves: Reading a book, sitting in front of a work of art, or going for a solo stroll. They also attended several three-hour meetings on Zoom where they got to know one another.
The pandemic obviously altered the course’s structure. For example, Psarra’s work engages with the idea of the human body as an interface and uses digital media and technology to develop electronic textiles and wearables. Because COVID-19 made working side-by-side to develop wearables impossible, Psarra instead encouraged students to use the body to perceive the world in new ways. She also had students step away from the computer and go for walks on their own and see what they could find in on those walks that might inspire creativity. She encouraged them to walk to various works of art around the city, and even to walk on grass as a way of grounding and centering.
“Taking a walk is beneficial for mind and body,” she says. “Walking in the city without a set route or purpose leaves you open to experiencing the city.”
Fracé taught the students about writing from a character’s perspective, in search of empathy and imagination. He encouraged students to get inside the head of a fictional character or someone in their lives—feel what they feel, see what they see, and hear what they hear. Rather than just think about what the character might do, to use their senses to feel it fully.
During Davis’ unit, she provided images of cells and asked the students to organize them in a way they believe made sense. Some of the students really got into it, she says; one even developed a video explaining why he organized them the way he did. Thinking creatively and critically about the process is why Davis insists that you can’t be a good scientist and not be creative: The two work together. They’re supposed to.
“You don’t just sit down and decide to have a brilliant idea,” Davis says. “You have to educate yourself and think and experiment. You do this in science, dance, and in the arts. You evaluate and then educate and make something and think about it and then you do more research. It’s an iterative process. And yet when you learn to tap into your ability to see things in a different light or let the other side of your brain start thinking about the problem, that’s when you have real insight.”
