Subject

Creativity and Innovation

  • code 10726
  • course 4
  • term Semester 2
  • type OB
  • credits 4

Main language of instruction: Catalan

Teaching staff

Head instructor

Lda. Carla GRÀCIA - cgracia@uic.es

Office hours

Carla Gracia Mercadé: cgracia@uic.es

Introduction

In today's world we no longer buy and sell products; we buy and sell stories. This course has a double objective. On the one hand, develop the creative competencies of the students. On the other, learn the tools of storytelling, to generate stories that capture the public.

Great writers have stood out as journalists and great journalists have become recognized writers. Creativity and skill in the use of words are, without doubt, the keys to this interrelation.

Through this course, students can deepen their journalistic knowledge and apply them in different areas and formats that open their possibilities in the labor market.

Pre-course requirements

No pre-course requirements are needed to enrol in this subject.

Objectives

  • Develop the creative capacity of students
  • Know the mechanisms of creativity
  • Acquire knowledge about the main narrative tools and understand their relevance
  • Experiment with different formats and exercises that help develop students' flexibility and expand their abilities and aptitudes
  • Improve the style of writing and understand the effect of certain stylistic and narrative decisions
  • Understand the risks and virtues of the line that separates fiction from reality
  • Being able to share their own texts
  • Learn to listen to criticism and extract what adds value
  • Learn to analyze texts in a constructive and argumentative way

Competences / Learning outcomes of the degree programme

  • 09 CG - The ability to innovate
  • 42 CE - The ability to integrate the contributions of the environment
  • 45 CE - The ability and capacity to give a creative form to a journalistic message
  • 48 CE - The ability of insight, ingenuity and creativity
  • 06 CG - The ability to read, analyze and synthesize
  • 12 CG - The ability to listen
  • 15 CE - Lingustic ability in Catalan, Spanish and English
  • 17 CE - The ability to produce spoken and written texts for journalistic projects
  • 18 CE - Ability to detect newsworthy events
  • 40 CE - Knowledge and mastery of the use of language
  • 03 CG - The ability to work in a group
  • 16 CE - The ability to make judgments and well-argued critical assessments

Learning outcomes of the subject

  • Learn to look at reality from a broader and more sensitive journalistic perspective
  • Acquire knowledge about the mechanisms of creativity and the main narrative tools
  • Ability to understand the influence of storytelling and the risks and virtues of their application
  • Experiment with other useful journalistic and narrative formats to open up to the labor market and to know the reality of the journalistic world
  • Develop their creative and innovation competence
  • Improve their own style of writing and understand the effect of certain stylistic and narrative decisions
  • Be able to share their texts, listen to criticism and extract what adds value
  • Analyze a narrative text in a argumentative and solid way 

Syllabus

Theme 1. Creativity

  • What is creativity?
  • Mechanisms of creativity
  • Creativity and writing (Gianni Rodari)
  • The creative process (Roger von Oech)

Topic 2. Benefits and use of storytelling

  • The benefits of storytelling
  • The use of storytelling in our lives
  • The use of storytelling in journalism
  • Virtues and risks of storytelling

Topic 3. Storytelling techniques

  • The key elements of storytelling
  • The tools to narrate
  • Character construction
  • The deep and superficial conflicts
  • Actions
  • The creation of the narrative voice
  • Details and descriptions
  • How to thrill: show versus say
  • Tension management: structure and repetitive elements
  • Good beginnings and endings of a story


Topic 4. Ethical considerations of storytelling

Teaching and learning activities

In person

TRAINING ACTIVITYECTS CREDITS
Coaching. Monitoring how students learn the content of the subject, either individually or in groups. In the coaching sessions, mistakes will be corrected, queries answered, and exercises and activities to achieve the established objectives will be suggested.
Meeting Point. Meetings will be organised with notable people from the professional and scientific fields or the international field, and students. These sessions will take the form of conferences, work sessions, discussions, or interviews, etc.
E-learning. Virtual learning based on ICT.
Lab. Working groups that combine theory and practice. The aim of these is not to undertake already known techniques, but instead to make progress that is both theoretical and technical. These Lab sessions will culminate in the creation of a professional or semi-professional product.
Lectures. In lectures, lecturers/professors not only transmit content or knowledge, but also, and above all else, attitudes, motivation, skills and values, etc. They also ensure that participants can express their opinions and arguments to the other students.
Peer learning. The aim of this activity is to ensure that students gain the ability to analyse and be critical. One way of achieving this is by correcting their peers' exercises and results, etc. Each student will be evaluated twice: as both a recipient and a transmitter of critical knowledge.

Evaluation systems and criteria

In person

Evaluation criteria

Class attendance is mandatory. Throughout the course, the student must attend a minimum of 80% of classes.

Writing correctly is fundamental in all subjects and, especially, in this one. Following the regulations of the Faculty, each spelling mistake will discount a point in the any work.

The evaluation is continuous and, in first call; there will be no final exam. The final grade will be the result of:

  • The result of the practices carried out throughout the course: 60%
  • The marks of the two final works: 30%
  • Participation and attitude in class: 10%


Other calls:

Second call: Students of 2nd call will have to make a written exam on the theoretical and practical aspects dealt with in the subject.

Third call: If the student suspends in the second call, he or she will have to register again for the whole subject and take it. The student will have to attend the classes, do the practices and pass them.

Fourth call: Students of 4th call will have to make a written exam on the theoretical and practical aspects dealt with in the subject.

Fifth call: If the student suspends the subject in fifth call, he/she will have to ask for the conditions established for the extraordinary calls

EVALUATION SYSTEMPERCENTAGE
Individual Work
75%
Groupal Work
25%

Bibliography and resources

  • Ayuso, Ana (ed.). El oficio de escritor. Ediciones y Talleres de Escritura Creativa
  • Fuentetaja. Madrid, 1997
  • Cabré, Jaume. El sentit de la ficció. Edicions Proa. Barcelona, 2010
  • Cañelles, Isabel. La construcción del personaje literario. Ediciones y Talleres de Escritura
  • Creativa Fuentetaja. Madrid, 1999
  • Cassany, Daniel. La cuina de l’escriptura. Empúries. Barcelona, 2002
  • Goldberg, Natalie. El gozo de escribir. La liebre de marzo. Madrid, 2004
  • Gottschall, J. The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human. Mariner Books. Wilmington, 2013
  • Milerson, Gerald. Realización y producción en televisión. IORTV. Madrid, 2009
  • Páez, Enrique. Manual de técnicas narrativas. Editorial SM. Madrid, 2006
  • Queneau, Raymond. Ejercicios de estilo. Cátedra. Madrid, 2006.
  • Rodari, G. Gramática de la fantasía: Introducción al arte de contar historias. Editoral del bronce. Madrid, 2002    
  • Salmon, Ch. Storytelling, la máquina de fabricar historias y formatear las mentes. Península. Barcelona, 2008 
  • Snow, S.; Lazauskas, J. The Storytelling Edge. Wiley. New Jersey, 2018 
  • Wood, James. Los mecanismos de la ficción. Gredos. Madrid, 2009.
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