Summer Courses in Critical and Creative Thinking
May 30-July 30, 2004
Graduate Program in Critical and Creative Thinking
University of Massachusetts, Boston
- Attend courses and workshops led by innovative and inspiring teachers on
- Critical Thinking
- Science in its Social Context
- Workplace and Organizational Change
- Learn with other educators, professionals, and concerned citizens
- Gain Graduate credit or PDPs
- Work towards a Graduate Certificate [**] or MA degree, or participate for the pleasure of thinking and reflecting with others.
Summer students can enrol through Continuing Education (http://www.ccde.umb.edu, 617-287-7916) for any of the May-July CCT courses listed in the summer bulletin:
- CRCRTH 601 "Critical Thinking" (CANCELLED due to underenrollment)
- CRCRTH 619 "Biomedical ethics" (CANCELLED due to underenrollment)
- CRCRTH 618 "Creative Thinking, Collaboration and Organizational Change" (FrSa July 15-30, 9-4.15pm)
consisting of three two-day workshops*:
* For information on non-credit and single workshop options, contact the Summer Institute Co-ordinator by email (peter.taylor@umb.edu).
** The 15 credit Graduate Certificate can be completed by taking additional CCT courses in the fall or spring semesters. Certificate students must meet the same admissions criteria as students entering the Master's program (except that a shorter statement and one letter of recommendation fewer are required) and should apply to Graduate Admissions by Aug. 15th.
Course Descriptions
CRCRTH 601
Critical Thinking
Janet Farrell Smith
Room TBA
Sched. No. TBA
This course explores issues about the nature and techniques of critical thought, viewed as a way to establish a reliable basis for our claims, beliefs, and attitudes about the world. We explore multiple perspectives, placing established facts, theories, and practices in tension with alternatives to see how things could be otherwise. Views about observation and interpretation, reasoning and inference, valuing and judging, and the production of knowledge in its social context are considered. Special attention is given to translating what is learned into strategies, materials, and interventions for use in students' own educational and professional settings.
CrCrTh 619
Biomedical ethics
Janet Farrell Smith
Room TBA
Sched. No. TBA
Critical thinking about dilemmas in medicine and health care policy: Allocation of scarce resources in organ transplants and managed care, informed consent, experimentation on human subjects, AIDS research, the ethics of genetic screening, and finally, euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.
CrCrTh 618
Creative Thinking, Collaboration and Organizational Change
Room TBA
Sched. No. TBA
Through interactive, experiential sessions and structured assignments students learn critical and creative approaches to working in organizations. Skills addressed include: communication and team-building; facilitation of participation and collaboration in groups; promotion of learning from a diversity of perspectives; problem-finding and solving; and reflective practice. Students apply these skills to situations that arise in business, schools, social change groups, and other organizations with a view to taking initiative and generating constructive change. This course is presented in 3 two-day workshops: 1. Diversity Awareness; 2. Effective Teambuilding; and 3. Facilitating Participation and Collaboration in Groups
Schedule numbers for for-credit single workshop options: 709646
Schedule numbers for not-for-credit single workshop options: TBA
Workshop Descriptions
Diversity Awareness
Greg Turpin
Participants in this workshop experience and learn approaches aimed at enabling groups and organizations to: become more diverse; address tensions arising from lack of awareness of differences and inequalities; and undertake coalition work that dismantle traditional barriers. Dimensions of diversity addressed include race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Effective Teambuilding
Allyn Bradford, Critical & Creative Thinking Program, U. Mass
Boston
This workshop introduces creative communication strategies for teamwork that really addresses workplace problems and issues. Through simulations of typical organizational situations you develop skills in giving and getting feedback, presenting your ideas and opinions, and ensuring shorter and more productive meetings. The course takes the form of a two day interactive, experiential workshop, which will make you more aware of your communication style, its effect on others, and options for improvement.
Facilitating Participation and Collaboration in Groups
Abby Yanow, Boston Facilitators' Roundtable
This workshop introduces students to a number of different techniques of group participation, such as working in small groups and stakeholder groups, and World Cafe or Open Space. The topics of discussion within each technique will be chosen in an effort to make the learning experience as close as possible to real-life situations, within our workplaces and our communities. We will focus on the art of careful listening and the crafting of effective questions. You will experience the generativity of the participatory process, in which the wisdom comes from the group. You will be encouraged to consider ways of implementing these techniques into your practice, with your colleagues and in your communities.