Last updated: 1/8/2000
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Assignment Schedule (three credit version)

Naming your homework files

In this course, you will turn your homework in as word-processing files attached to email messages, or using a web upload page, or on a floppy diskette (this last is a temporary arrangement if you need more time to work out an email account). If two people use the same file name, then the file that is turned in second will replace the file that is turned in first. Also, as the Instructor, I want the file name to tell me about the person and the assignment. Therefore, make up the names for your homework files with the following parts, in order:

• Your three initials. If you do not have a middle initial, use the underline or understroke character _, <shift>hyphen on the keyboard.
• One-letter assignment code as follows:
  • "a" for Essay A
  • "b" for Essay B
  • "c" for Essay C
• "cw0" to indicate Creativity, Winter 2000
• Normal extension for your word processor. (Note: Macs do not use file extensions, so Mac files would not have extensions.)

So for example, since my middle initial is "R" and I use Microsoft Word, the file name for my Essay A would be drbacw0.doc

When I grade the assignments, I will add a "g" to the end of the filename and return it as an email attachment. So I would return my graded Essay with the file name drbacw0g.doc

Also, as backup file ID, include the following header lines at the beginning of each file:

1. Your name (not just initials)
2. Course (ISP 5500) and course name (Creativity)
3. Semester (Winter 2000)
4. Assignment (not just the code, write it out, e.g. "Essay A"
5. Word processor and version number (this is in case I have trouble reading it).
   (In Windows, to find the name and version number of any program, including a word processor, open the program, click on its "Help" menu item, and then on the "About" item on the drop-down menu list.)

For example, for my Essay A I would include the following lines at the beginning of the file:

David Bowen
ISP 5500, Creativity
Winter 2000
Essay A
Microsoft Word 7.0

The essay title and text would start after this header.

Overview of Assignments for ISP 5500, four-credit version

• Read Creating Minds, Creativity, Corporate Creativity, and a fourth book on creativity of your choice, subject to Instructor's approval
• Read everything on the course web site and in the computer conference
• Two essays using the assigned readings, topics to be posted on course web site
• Term paper with topic, outline and draft turned in earlier
• Thirty postings on computer conference
  • Includes topics listed below, and additional reading questions during the semester
• Weekly course reports

Assignment Schedule. Please note: if there are differences between this table and listings elsewhere on this web site, this table is the final authority.

NOTE: I will allow you to redo assignments and turn in missing work after the course is over. Such work will not appear in your regular grade, but it will be taken into account later in a Change of Grade, and it will eventually appear on your official transcript. The University will allow me to file a Change of Grade up to one calendar year after the end of the semester in which you took the course. For this course, that is through the end of the Winter 2001 semester. I will not accept major assignments or a large amount of work during the last month of this period. If you are redoing an assignment, the original assignment with my comments and grades must be turned in along with the redone assignment.

Computer Conference assignments

• For ISP 5500, contribute a minimum of five lines, on the average of twice a week. Total for semester: 30. These contributions must be substantive, concerning the readings or other points from the conference. For example, "Gee, I thought that was right on" is not substantive -- it does not make a contribution. As an alternative, you can agree with another comment, and then explain it further, extend or go beyond it, or apply it in a new way. The following special postings are included within the 30 total:
  • A description of what about the topic of Creativity is most interesting to you. That posting must be under the appropriate topic.
  • "Creative people we know," a description of someone whom you think is creative (this person can certainly be you). Describe the person, describe how they relate to other people, and describe what they do that is creative. That posting must be under the appropriate topic
  • Post a minimum of six times by the date in the table above
  • By the date given in the table above, go back and read your "Creative people we know" description, and say how you would change it as a result of your work in the course
  • Periodically, the Instructor will post reading questions. You must post a response to each of these questions.  These postings must be under the appropriate topic.

NOTE 1: This does NOT mean that you have to log on to the computer conference twice a week. You can make multiple postings during a single session.

NOTE 2: "Under the appropriate topic" means that you must be able to find an existing message on the left-hand (yellow) side, pull up the message, and respond to it, either as "Reply" or "Reply/Quote"

NOTE 3: Postings for the Creativity class will not be counted if they are under another conference such as "The General Conference" or "Nissani 2030 Chat Room".

NOTE 4: Postings should make use of the following techniques for helping your readers establish a context:

• If you are responding to an earlier posting, editing the title to indicate that this is a response and not the original positing
• If you are responding to an earlier posting, using "Reply/Quote" but editing out parts of the original posting that you are not responding to

Course information form

Fill out the Course Information Form on the course web site by Wednesday January 19. If last semester is any guide, this may be the only information I get about your registration for the course, so accuracy in important. If you say that you are registered for the three credit version, when in fact you are registered for the four credit version, or vice versa, that will create problems for you and me at the end of the semester. The telephone numbers should be current and valid. The email address you give should be for an account that you check regularly. If you do not yet have an email account, put "none" for the address, and email me when you do have an account set up.

You will need an email account for this course. If you do not have one, you can go to any of the following world wide web locations and sign up for a free email account:

• www.hotmail.com
• www.yahoo.com
• http://home.netscape.com/

Comments on specific email and Internet Service Providers:

• www.juno.com provides free email. That is probably not suitable for this class, because the last I knew, it did not allow document attachments.
• America On Line (aol.com) is the most popular Internet Service Provider. It also provides email, that does handle attachments. The last I knew, it allows you attach a maximum of one file per message, and to receive a maximum of one file per message. That should be adequate for this course but you should be aware of the limitation.
• Wayne State University provides free Internet access and email accounts for all WSU students and staff. The Internet service is good -- it is what I use, and I am willing to pay money -- but some people say the service is slow. Activating your email account is a hassle, and attaching and receiving files is very difficult from a WSU computer lab (although you can use the mailman email program that is a link off of the course Welcome page.
• www.netzero.com will provide free Internet access.

You will also need world wide web access to take this course. This can be from a home computer, a WSU lab computer, a computer at your local library, or any other site with world wide web access.

Weekly Course Reports

Each week, you will send me a Course Report, describing your status and progress in this course. I will post a format and method for these reports on the course web site. These are the way that I will keep in touch with how you feel the course is working out for you, and whether or not we need to discuss how things are going. These reports will not be optional; filing one each week is part of your grade for the course. "There are many valid excuses for being late with an assignment, but there is no acceptable excuse for missing a weekly class report."

Creativity Essays

The essay assignments on creativity are to write five-page double-spaced essays on assigned topics. The essays should be written for a general reader, say a magazine reader or a newspaper reader. Specifically, the essay should not be written "to" the Instructor. A general reader will not be interested in whether or not the essay was written for a particular course, or to fill a particular assignment, so these aspects of the assignment should not be mentioned in the essay.

The essay should have the following parts, in this order:

• Header as described near the top of this page.
• A descriptive Title; that is, a title that describes the specific contents of the essay. "Creativity Essay" is not descriptive in this sense, because it is general and does not describe the specific content.
• An Introduction that describes what the reader should expect in the essay; a road map for the essay.
• A Body that contains the information in the essay and addresses the specific points above. The Body should contain detail to support the general points. References to readings can be made "in line", for example "as Howard Gardner states on Pg 37 of Creating Minds". Titles of books should be underlined; other sources, including conference postings, should be in quotation marks.
• A Conclusion that summarizes the main points of the essay as a whole. New material should not be introduced in the conclusion; the conclusion should be a summary of material presented earlier.
• A Bibliography (not counted within the five pages). I do not particularly care about the specific form of the bibliographic listings. Each entry should include author name, title, date of publication and pages referenced.

A cover page is not necessary, but the header is necessary.

Essays will be graded on the following basis:

• Content. 40%. Content includes the ideas, arguments, concepts, and references to the readings and the computer conference discussion.
• Form 40%. Form includes the presence of the parts Header, Title, Introduction, Body, Conclusion and Bibliography, and the organization of the essay in a logical and progressive manner. The essay should flow well or naturally from one topic and part to the next. The essay should have a consistent voice (first person, second person, etc.) and tense (past, present, future) throughout.
• Mechanics 20%. This includes grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other mechanical aspects of writing. It also includes having the header described above, and the correct file name.

NOTE: The essay form counts for a major part of the essay grade. You should read the description of the form carefully, and clear up any questions or doubts you may have about it, before starting to write an essay. The requirements for the Introduction and Conclusion mean that you should have written a draft or an outline or at least thought through your content before you begin to write the final version.

Essay A

A description and definition of what you think creativity is, as a result of your own experience and your work so far in this course. In the course of your essay, you should work in answers to the following (not necessarily in this order):

• A brief description or definition of creativity
• Is creativity limited to major contributions to the cultural, artistic and scientific arenas ("big C"), or does it include corporate creativity and innovation, and creativity in personal everyday lives ("little c")?
• What is important about creativity?
• Three examples of creativity, including the creative person, the creative product, and what was the nature of the creativity?
• One or more questions or open areas concerning creativity that interest you. These can be either areas that you think may or will come up later in the course, or that will remain as questions after the course is over.

As an alternative to the essay, you can write a creative work, such as a short story, that illustrates the points outlined above, without specifically answering them. If you are interested in this alternative, but are unsure of what would be acceptable, so am I! Use the computer conference or email to work this out. For this alternative, be assured that, if you let me know what you are thinking of, and if you make a good-faith effort, I will not penalize you.

A second alternative is a contribution to the web site for this course. Call or email me if you are interested in what you might do here.