Sheridan Course Outlines

Land Acknowledgement

First Nations peoples have lived on this part of Turtle Island for millennia, stewarding the land, the water and all that contributes to life in this region. Today, the culture and presence of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples enrich the lands and people of this territory.

Over two centuries ago, the Mississauga people welcomed settlers to this territory, providing sustenance and engaging in trade and commerce. Between 1781 to 1820, eight treaties were signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation who opened their territory to settlement. Today, Sheridan campuses are located on Treaty 14, also known as the Head of the Lake Purchase of 1806 and Treaty 22 and 23 of 1820.

Treaty history is foundational, and it is our collective responsibility to honour the land, as we honour and respect those who have gone before us, those who are here and those who have yet to come. We are grateful for the opportunity to be learning, working and thriving on this land, and we commit to learn the truth and be active in the process of reconciliation.

Section I: Administrative Information

Total hours: 42.0
Credit Value: 3.0
Credit Value Notes: N/A
Effective: Winter 2026
Prerequisites: N/A
Corequisites: N/A
Equivalents: N/A
Pre/Co/Equiv Notes: N/A

Program(s): Advertising and Marketing Comm, Advertising/Marketing CommMgmt, General Education
Program Coordinator(s): Jessica Merolli, Natasha Millar
Course Leader or Contact: Jennifer Phenix
Version: 20260105_01
Status: Approved (APPR)

Section I Notes: This is a hybrid course, meaning that some sessions are conducted in a classroom while others are completely online, as determined by the course design.

Section II: Course Details

Detailed Description
Students explore creativity as a discipline of study, cultural myths about creativity, and the psychological conditions conducive to creative thinking. Through interactive lectures and discussions, they develop an understanding of the context, history, and major theories of the discipline. By engaging in experiential techniques, students expand their competence and confidence to think creatively. Students examine their own creative mind through reflective practice, and they demonstrate their learning through exercises, a mid-term and final assessment, and the development of a portfolio.

Program Context

Advertising and Marketing Comm	Program Coordinator(s): Natasha Millar
This is a required course in the Advertising and Marketing Communication program that provides knowledge to support other courses in the program.
Advertising/Marketing CommMgmt	Program Coordinator(s): Natasha Millar
This is a required course in the Advertising and Marketing Communication Management program that provides knowledge to support other courses in the program.
General Education	Program Coordinator(s): Jessica Merolli
This course is part of the General Education curriculum which is designed to contribute to the development of the students' consciousness of the diversity, complexity, and richness of the human experience; their ability to establish meaning through this consciousness; and, as a result, their ability to contribute thoughtfully, creatively, and positively to the society in which they live and work. General Education courses strengthen students' generic skills, such as critical analysis, problem solving, and communication, in the context of an exploration of topics with broad-based personal and/or societal importance.

Course Critical Performance and Learning Outcomes

	Critical Performance:
	By the end of this course, students will have demonstrated a creative mindset by applying creative thinking theories, skills and principles to academic tasks and their own lived experiences.

Learning Outcomes:

To achieve the critical performance, students will have demonstrated the ability to:

Identify the context, history, and major theories of creativity
Describe creativity theory in terms of societal context and psychological models
Exercise methods to develop personal creative capacity
Recognize enablers of and barriers to creativity and creative thinking
Reflect on principles and practices that foster a creative mindset
Explore traits of the creative personality
Apply creative thinking processes, tools, and techniques to develop and strengthen a creative mindset
Examine how theoretical frameworks inform creative thinking, choices, and strategies

Evaluation Plan
Students demonstrate their learning in the following ways:

Evaluation Plan: IN-CLASS & ONLINE INSTRUCTION

	Creativity Assignment	25.0%
	Mid-Term Assessment	25.0%
	Creativity Portfolio	25.0%
	Final Test	25.0%
	Total	100.0%

Evaluation Notes and Academic Missed Work Procedure:

TEST AND ASSIGNMENT PROTOCOL

To encourage behaviours that will help students to be successful in the workplace and to ensure that students receive credit for their individual work, the following rules apply to every course offered within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

 Students are responsible for staying abreast of test dates and times, as well as due dates and any special instructions for submitting assignments and projects as supplied to the class by the professor.
 Students must write all tests at the specified times. Missed tests, in-class activities, assignments and presentations are awarded a mark of zero.  If an extension or make-up opportunity is approved by the professor as outlined below, the mark of zero may be revised by subsequent performance.  The penalty for late submission of written assignments is a loss of 10% per day for up to five business days (excluding weekends and statutory holidays), after which, a grade of zero is assigned. Business days include any day that the college is open for business, whether the student has scheduled classes that day or not.
 Students, who miss a test or in-class activity or assignment or fail to submit an assignment on time due to exceptional circumstances, are required to notify their professor in advance of the class whenever possible.  A make-up test may be supplied for students who provide an acceptable explanation of their absence and/or acceptable documentation explaining their absence (e.g., a medical certificate). All make-up tests are to be written at a time and place specified by the professor upon the student's return. Alternately, students may be given an opportunity to earn the associated marks by having a subsequent test count for the additional marks. Exceptional circumstances may result in a modification of due dates for assignments.
 Unless otherwise specified, assignments and projects must be submitted at the beginning of class.
 Students must complete every assignment as an individual effort unless, the professor specifies otherwise.
 Since there may be instances of grade appeal or questions regarding the timely completion of assignments and/or extent of individual effort, etc., students are strongly advised to keep, and make available to their professor, if requested, a copy of all assignments and working notes until the course grade has been finalized.
 There will be no resubmission of work unless this has been previously agreed to or suggested by the professor.
 Students must submit all assignments in courses with practical lab and field components in order to pass the course.

Provincial Context
The course meets the following Ministry of Colleges and Universities requirements:

Essential Employability Skills
Essential Employability Skills emphasized in the course:

Communication Skills - Communicate clearly, concisely and correctly in the written, spoken, visual form that fulfills the purpose and meets the needs of the audience.
Communication Skills - Respond to written, spoken, or visual messages in a manner that ensures effective communication.
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Apply a systematic approach to solve problems.
Information Management - Locate, select, organize and document information using appropriate technology and information systems.
Information Management Skills - Analyze, evaluate, and apply relevant information from a variety of sources.

General Education
This General Education course relates to the following themes as specified by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.

Personal Understanding

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition
PLAR Contact (if course is PLAR-eligible) - Office of the Registrar
Students may apply to receive credit by demonstrating achievement of the course learning outcomes through previous relevant work/life experience, service, self-study and training on the job. This course is eligible for challenge through the following method(s):

Challenge Exam
Notes: Notes: One or more component may be required contingent upon the student's prior learning experience.
Portfolio
Notes: Notes: One or more component may be required contingent upon the student's prior learning experience.

Section III: Topical Outline

Some details of this outline may change as a result of circumstances such as weather cancellations, College and student activities, and class timetabling.
Instruction Mode: In-class & Online Instruction
Professor: Multiple Professors
Resource(s):
Course material costs can be found through the Sheridan Bookstore

	Type	Description
Required	Textbook	Wired to create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind, Kaufman, S.B. and Gregoire, C., TarcherPerigee, ISBN 9780399175664, 2016
Optional	Textbook	Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, Csikssentmihalyi, Mihaly, Harper Collins, 1996
Optional	Textbook	Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas, De Bono, Edward, Harper Collins
Optional	Textbook	A Whole New Mind, Pink, Daniel, Riverhead Trade

Applicable student group(s): Cross College General Education
Course Details:

Some details of this outline may change as a result of circumstances
such as weather cancellations, College and student activities, and
class timetabling.

Unit 1 - Introduction

- Introduction to the Course
- Learning Outcomes and Assignments/Assessments
- Definitions of Creativity, Creative Thinking, and Feeling
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 2 - The History of Creativity

- History of Creativity and the 4 Ps of Creativity
- Torrance Test for Creative Thinking (TTCT)
- Glaveanu & Creativity as Art, Invention, and Craft
- Creativity and Imagination

Reading: Wired to Create, Introduction and Chapter 1 ?Imaginative Play?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 3 - Individual Theories of Creativity

- Trait Theory & the Creative Personality
- Torrance?s Creative Manifesto
- Different Levels of Creativity
- Intrinsic Motivation.
- Glaveanu & the He and I Paradigm

Reading: Wired to Create, Chapter 2, ?Passion?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 4 - The Creative Brain

- Daydreaming, Mind Wandering and Creative Incubation
- A-ha Moments and Creative Insight
- The Creative Brain: the neural networks of creativity

Reading: Wired to Create, Chapter 3, ?Daydreaming?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 5 - Sociocultural Theories of Creativity

- Solitude and the Creative Process
- Sociocultural Theory of Creativity
- Glaveanu & the We Paradigm
- Paradoxes of the Creative Mind

Reading: Wired to Create, Chapter 4 ?Solitude?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 6 - Enablers for and Barriers to Creativity

- Intuition as a characteristic of the Creative Personality
- Insight
- The Mind-Gut Connection
- Enablers and Barriers of Creativity

Reading: Wired to Create, Chapter 5, ?Intuition?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 7- Mid-Term Assessment (25%)
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 8 - Creative Thinking and Plasticity

- Cognitive Engagement
- Creative Thinking and Plasticity
- Simone Ritter and Functional Fixedness
- J.P. Guilford?s The Alternative Uses Test
- Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Reading: Wired to Create, Chapter 6, ?Openness to Experience?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 9 - Positive Psychology and Creative Thinking

- Positive Psychology and Creative Thinking
- ?Everyday Mindfulness?
- Cognitive, Psychological, and Creative Benefits of Mindfulness
- Flow State

Reading: Wired to Create, Chapter 7, ?Mindfulness?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 10 - The Creative Personality

- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?s Characteristics of the Creative Personality
- Sensitivity, Personal Growth and Development, and the Creative Process
- Elaine Aron: The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)

Reading: Wired to Create, Chapter 8, ?Sensitivity?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 11 - Mental Health and Creativity

- Creative Press: External and Internal
- Mental Illness, Mental Health, and Creativity
- Post-Traumatic Growth and Creativity

Reading: Wired to Create, Chapter 9, ?Turning Adversity into Advantage?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 12 - How to think differently?

- The courage of creativity, creative thinking, and creative acts
- Sternberg?s ?Propulsion Theory?
- The bias against creativity
- How to think differently?
- Nature, Creative Thinking, and Creative Problem Solving
- Bruce Nussbaum?s Frames and Framing

Reading: Wired to Create, Chapter 10, ?Thinking Differently?
______________________________________________________________________

Unit 13 - Final Test (25%)

Sheridan Policies

It is recommended that students read the following policies in relation to course outlines:

Academic Integrity
Copyright
Intellectual Property
Respectful Behaviour
Accessible Learning

All Sheridan policies can be viewed on the Sheridan policy website.

Appropriate use of generative Artificial Intelligence tools: In alignment with Sheridan's Academic Integrity Policy, students should consult with their professors and/or refer to evaluation instructions regarding the appropriate use, or prohibition, of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for coursework. Turnitin AI detection software may be used by faculty members to screen assignment submissions or exams for unauthorized use of artificial intelligence. Students are encouraged to engage with generative AI in teaching and learning contexts thoughtfully. Please review the Guidelines for the Responsible Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence at Sheridan College.

Course Outline Changes: The information contained in this Course Outline including but not limited to faculty and program information and course description is subject to change without notice. Any changes to course curriculum and/or assessment shall adhere to approved Sheridan protocol. Nothing in this Course Outline should be viewed as a representation, offer and/or warranty. Students are responsible for reading the Important Notice and Disclaimer which applies to Programs and Courses.

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