University Course: Reflection on Creativity, Innovation & Design

This report provides a comprehensive reflection on a student's experience in a 'Creativity, Innovation & Design' course. It begins by outlining the student's initial expectations before attending the course, which primarily involved a general overview of the subject matter and a perceived lack of engagement. As the course progressed, the student's perceptions underwent a significant transformation, driven by interactive sessions, self-study, and exposure to various articles and videos. The report details the impact of the course on the student's understanding of innovation, creativity, and design thinking, highlighting the acquisition of analytical and communication skills. Furthermore, it illustrates how the student applied the learned concepts to solve a real-world problem in their professional life, leading to positive outcomes. The reflection concludes by emphasizing the profound impact of the course on the student's knowledge and a commitment to attend similar sessions in the future.

Reflection on Creativity, Innovation, and Design
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Initial expectations:..........................................................................................................................2
Impact of the course on the expectations and reason:.....................................................................2
Impact of the influence on me:........................................................................................................4
Identification of skills and knowledge:............................................................................................5
How I applied the learning to creatively solve a problem:..............................................................5
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................7

Introduction:
Educational courses and seminars have positive impacts on the learning experiences of
management trainees. They enable development of profound the knowledge specific area around
which they revolve around. They have significant impacts on the perception of the learners about
the area. Learners usually have certain perceptions about specific aspects of management prior
to attending the course which eventually undergo changes as they gain knowledge. I would
reflect upon my personal experience of participation in a course named ‘Creativity, Innovation &
Design’. It continued for several weeks and increasingly boosted my knowledge regarding
creativity and innovation. It has influenced my perceptions about the area namely, innovation
and creativity. I had certain initial expectations from the course which has changed as the course
commenced.
Initial expectations:
The initial expectations which I had from the course prior to attending the sessions which
constituted it would that it would be only a general session. I can reflect on my initial
expectations regarding the course to point out that I was actually reluctant to attend it because I
did not expect it to knowledgeable. I expected that the lecturer would come and deliver lectures
at every session regardless of the interests of the audience. However, my expectations underwent
a total change as the sessions progressed with each week.
Impact of the course on the expectations and reason:
I can analysis upon the experience I have gained while attending the course that it has
impacted the expectations prior to attending the course. This is because I can point out that I

have a total different perception about the educational courses which actually attending the
session has changed totally. I can reflect upon my initial perceptions regarding management
courses to point out two things. First, I held the perception that these courses were not useful. I
can point out upon reflection that the second wrong idea I had was regarding the very concept of
innovations and creativity. I thought that innovation was all about expressing ideas in an
organized way. However, my attending the course changed the whole perception.
The first factor which changed the perception of mine about the session was the very way
it started. It started with the introductory session in which the members of the audience
introduced themselves. The members of the audience also expressed their initial expectations
regarding the lecture. Thus, upon analysis on the process has impacted my initial perceptions that
sessions involve a general delivery of lecture irrespective of the interests of the audience. I can
reason this out from that fact the lecturer first encouraged us, the participants to introduce
ourselves. This introduction enabled us to ‘break the ice’ or remove the initial lack of
communication due to lack of acquaintances. I can analyse upon the introductory session to point
that as the participants go to know each other and the initial communication was established
amongst them, they felt more inclined to participate in the session. The lecturer then introduced
us to the course learning outcomes which we would expect to learn at the end of the course. So I
can analyses upon the progression to point out that sessions are in reality extremely systematic
ways to deliver knowledge. I can also analyse on the session to point out that the very first step
of a session is the introductory session which results in establishment of the communication, so
important to gain participation of the members of the audience.

Impact of the influence on me:
I can analyse upon my experience of attending the session to point out that it has a
positive influence on me. The session has enabled me to develop a more in depth knowledge
about the concepts of innovation and creativity (Stiebale 2016). The self study session which the
participants including me went through, enabled me to gather my knowledge about innovation
and creativity. I went to several articles and books written by different authors on innovation and
creativity which expanded my knowledge in opposition to my initial perception. Geissdoerfer,
Savaget and Evans (2017) mention that, innovation enables in bringing about economic
development. I can analyse upon the knowledge I gained from the article to point out that
innovation enables in bringing about economic development. I, upon further reflection realised
that innovation is able to bring about economic development because it leads to development of
new products. Geissdoerfer, Vladimirova and Evans (2018) deepened my knowledge about
innovation by pointing out that innovation leads to attainment of sustainability. Zhan et al.
(2017) strengthened my knowledge by pointing out that innovation is important for bringing
about product innovation. Upon analysing these articles I realised that through the information
about innovation in the three articles are apparently exclusive, weaving them together brings out
that tremendous significance of innovation. Innovation enables the business organisations to
develop new products which are usually more inclined to the needs of the customers. These
products as a result generate higher revenue and firms are able to generate higher profits by
marketing products. The final values of these finished products contribute to the GDP, which is
one of the parameters used to measure economic develops of nations. I also learnt that one of the
most significant uses of innovation is in development of products which are more environment
friendly compared to their previous counterparts. Thus, innovation leads to sustainability. Upon

analysis I also realised that innovation, though of tremendous economic importance, requires
immense capital investments in technology and knowledge capital. The multinational companies
are able to amass the financial resources to acquire technology like big data and knowledge
capital, which smaller firms generally cannot. Thus, innovations in the market, in spite of being
tremendous value to all business organisations, largely remains confined to multinational
companies (Albertus 2019).
Identification of skills and knowledge:
I upon taking the session identified new sets of knowledge and skills. I can point out
upon analysis of my experience of the session that I developed analytical skills and gained
knowledge about innovation (Bélanger, Veilleux and Tremblay 2016). I also gained knowledge
about creativity and its importance in bringing about innovations by generation of ideas. These
ideas facilitate innovations in products in business organisations (Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A.
and Zhang, T.C., 2016). I can further reflect upon the session to point out that it has
strengthened my communication skills (Gunnarsson, A. and Holmström, K., 2017).
How I applied the learning to creatively solve a problem:
I can reflect upon my experience to point that I have actually used to knowledge of
creativity and innovation I have gained in solving a problem in my professional life. I have
suggested to the manager I report to that a new system of switching of electrical equipments in
the office like lights and computers when not in use should be introduced. The manager with
initial hesitation accepted the proposal and adopted it. The outcome was lower electricity bill the
following method. I was appreciated for the innovation idea I suggested and it has become a part
of the company’s modus operandi.

Conclusion:
I can finally point out that the session has benefitted me a great deal. I have developed
more profound knowledge about innovation and creativity. I can point out from the strong
experience I have gained from session that I would in future attend more sessions like this.

References:
Albertus, J.F., 2019. Does Foreign Tax Arbitrage Promote Innovation?. Available at SSRN
2691064.
Bélanger, S., Veilleux, S. and Tremblay, M., 2016. A conceptual framework on the role of
creativity in sustaining continuous innovation in new product development.
Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P. and Evans, S., 2017. The Cambridge business model innovation
process. Procedia Manufacturing, 8, pp.262-269.
Geissdoerfer, M., Vladimirova, D. and Evans, S., 2018. Sustainable business model innovation:
A review. Journal of cleaner production, 198, pp.401-416.
Gunnarsson, A. and Holmström, K., 2017. Country-of-origin in brand communication: A
multinational company perspective.
Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A. and Zhang, T.C., 2016. Developing a people-technology hybrids
model to unleash innovation and creativity: The new hospitality frontier. Journal of Hospitality
and Tourism Management, 29, pp.154-164.
Stiebale, J., 2016. Cross-border M&As and innovative activity of acquiring and target firms.
Journal of International Economics, 99, pp.1-15.
Zhan, Y., Tan, K.H., Ji, G., Chung, L. and Tseng, M., 2017. A big data framework for
facilitating product innovation processes. Business Process Management Journal.