Stepping on cracks

Natalie Clancy is in the first-year class of UTS’s new Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation. Associate Professor Louise McWhinnie is one of the course co-designers and Head of Department. They talk about exciting possibilities for engaging with complex challenges and untapped opportunities in an evolving, entrepreneurial world.

Natalie Clancy

I was initially attracted to the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation (BCII) because I thought the name looked really cool! I ended up choosing it because I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to study, and I have fairly diverse interests. I thought the BCII would be a broad and interesting course that covered a lot of areas. I’ve always enjoyed a challenge, creative thinking and working with other people, so the collaborative problem-solving aspect of the course appealed to me too.

My experience has been very positive so far. We’ve done a networking exercise that involved organising a dinner party for eight students from different faculties, and getting to know one another in a casual environment. Any assignment involving dinner and a party has got to be fun! There has also been a guest lecture by Gabrielle Benefield, who is an ‘agile thinker’. Yes, that’s a job! Her unique approach to problem-solving in her field of IT was engaging and inspiring.

I think the fact the BCII is the first course of its kind in Australia will give us a competitive edge when we enter the workforce, because there will only be a handful of us with these qualifications. The teamwork and networking skills that are central to the course will also be an advantage when we’re looking for employment. And representatives from industry will be heavily involved in running the summer and winter schools, giving us great opportunities for networking.

The fact you can study any one of 18 different core degrees with the BCII really appealed to me. The BCII can only be taken as part of a combined degree. I’m completing the course with a communication degree, and the interaction with students from so many disciplines takes teamwork to a whole new level. We’ll learn so much from each other, because every student brings a different skill-set to the table. I think the wide range of disciplines strengthens the course, because we’ll develop skills and interests in many areas, not just in the area of our core degree. Having students from a wide range of disciplines also facilitates problem-solving from multiple perspectives, which is a key feature of the BCII.

So far I’ve really enjoyed learning about unconventional and creative ways to solve problems. I think I’ll enjoy the challenges of the course, and the opportunity to meet students and industry representatives from various disciplines. I also like that there are no exams!

Louise McWhinnie

The most important characteristic our students require is intense curiosity. With the first subject having just concluded, it’s clear this is a highly active course, comprised of very active students who do not expect to sit back or have knowledge delivered. The first three years of BCII subjects are taught as two-week and three-week intensive summer and winter schools. They’re never taught by one faculty or just in one place. For example for part of the first subject, Problems to Possibilities, staff and students from across all seven faculties worked together in Kings Cross.

Innovation often happens at the overlap between the boundaries of disciplines. These ‘cracks in the pavement’ are where the various disciplines and their methodologies meet and potentially overlap. When students work within their disciplines, they don’t necessarily step on these cracks. But once we’re in the workplace, people with business degrees, for example, rarely just work with other business people; they work with lawyers and engineers and architects. So students need that ability to identify new possibilities by looking at things through different lenses.

The dinner party Natalie mentioned came about because we were conscious that students in the BCII needed to establish an immediate ease in working with each other across the 18 disciplines. So the first challenge we set them was to organise a themed dinner party in groups of eight, and utilise the social opportunity to establish new networks by finding out what they had in common – or maybe didn’t. This laid the groundwork for the collaboration between students, disciplines, faculties and the specialists – from UTS Designing Out Crime research centre to City of Sydney council – who integrated into the delivery of the first subject.

So many schools and industry leaders have made the same comment in recent months: ‘Only UTS could have conceived this course and actually made it happen.’ I think that’s true. It came about in response to what I feel is such a particular characteristic of UTS – being proactive, rather than reactive – and its belief in leading educational and disciplinary change through innovation. The BCII was driven from the top and has involved 18 months of intense work with a core team of staff from across all faculties. That interaction between the faculties is truly where the big BCII ideas have come from, but the integration of students is where this really came to life!

Students’ interest in the new degree was clear at the UTS Info Day, but we were unsure of how many students would apply. However, the combined BCII degree received nearly 2500 UAC preferences for approximately 160 places across the university. From that extraordinary reaction, we immediately had our thinking confirmed – the creation of this course resonates with students’ changing expectations and their desire for challenge in their education as well as their future careers. It’s exciting – for students and staff!