BUSINESS ESSENTIALS

Creativity, Problem Solving

and Design Thinking
CREATIVITY, PROBLEM SOLVING AND DESIGN THINKING

Contents
03 Why Cambridge
Advance Online?
04 Welcome to
Creativity, Problem Solving
and Design Thinking
05 What you will learn 
on the course?
08 The learning journey 
09 Learning breakdown 
10 Course modules 
12 Meet your course lead 
13 Technical requirements 
13 Course certification

advanceonline.cam.ac.uk
Why Cambridge
Advance Online?
We are delighted to offer this exciting programme of short online courses for
03

BUSINESS ESSENTIALS
professionals, giving you the opportunity to harness the latest research, innovation and
thinking that the University of Cambridge has to offer.

Cambridge Advance Online brings together the academic strength of the University, and
the publishing and assessment strengths of Cambridge University Press and Cambridge
Assessment, allowing you to develop your skills and specialise in emerging areas that
address global challenges.

Our certificated courses will reflect the Cambridge experience and values, with low
student to tutor ratios and academically rigorous standards. They will allow you to engage
directly with academics at Cambridge and are centred on rich interaction between
students and subject experts. Each course will offer you the opportunity to join live
sessions with academics and interact in collaborative exercises with learners worldwide.

The University of Cambridge is committed to supporting lifelong learning and, through

Cambridge Advance Online, has invested in the latest education technology to provide
professionals with the very best experience wherever they are in the world and at any
stage of their career.

We look forward to welcoming you onto one of our courses and to our global
community of learners.

Professor Andy Neely OBE

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations
 CREATIVITY, PROBLEM SOLVING AND DESIGN THINKING

Welcome to
Creativity, Problem Solving
and Design Thinking
04
Although creativity has traditionally been associated with the arts, it
is now widely understood that everyone is required to develop and
demonstrate their creative abilities.
We all need to be able to generate new and useful ideas, to solve difficult problems and
to design and test interventions to improve the way things are done. Such abilities are
central to the work of all professions in all sectors, including those working as managers,
scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, policy makers, marketers, and so on.

To undertake creative work, we need to identify novel problems, explore those problems
from different perspectives and then develop a variety of solution ideas for development,
communication and implementation. The good news is that these aren’t innate skills that
just some people are born with, instead they are all skills that can be actively developed,
practised and supported in others.

This course leverages decades of research into creativity, problem solving and design
thinking to provide learners with the knowledge, processes and tools they need to
succeed in bringing about change. We focus on the challenges that make creative work
difficult and the approaches that are most effective in overcoming those challenges. These
approaches are applied individually and in group work, to problems that are set in the
course and to problems that are individually tailored to learners’ work contexts.

Nathan Crilly
Professor of Design

advanceonline.cam.ac.uk
Course summary
Timetable:
September | January | April | June
Subject area:
Business Essentials
Format and length:
6 weeks | 8 hours per week*
Creative problem solving is increasingly
recognised as the most sought-after skill in
business. This is true across a wide range
of industries, and across both private and
public sectors. Entrepreneurs, employees,
managers, and leaders are all required to find
valuable opportunities, generate and develop
new ideas and then trial and implement
innovative solutions. These processes can
be modelled on design activities, where key
stakeholders are identified and designed for
through processes of research, ideation and
prototyping. This is all equally applicable to the
development of strategies, products, processes
and a variety of socio-technical systems.
*Times are estimated and may be influenced by individual learner circumstances.
05
BUSINESS ESSENTIALS
This course will help you to learn about
the role of creativity in problem solving,
and the application of design thinking to
different business tasks. You will discover
the characteristics of difficult problems,
the thinking skills that are used to address
them and the various biases that need to be
overcome. Through the course content and
activities, you will recognise and develop your
creative skills, gaining confidence in them and
in your capacity to develop them further. This
applies not just to individual work, but also to
group work, where diverse perspectives and
skills can be leveraged.
The course offers an excellent opportunity
for professional development, whether you
are looking to advance in your current role
or change roles or sectors. Through the
course, you will apply a structured process
to identifying problems and generating wide-
ranging solution ideas before selecting and
developing one (or more) for communication
and implementation. You will have the
opportunity to practice these skills in various
course-specific scenarios, and also to a project
that is relevant to your own professional context.
The course is highly interactive, and you will be
encouraged, through individual and collaborative
work, to apply and manage a selection of
evidence-based creative approaches.
 CREATIVITY, PROBLEM SOLVING AND DESIGN THINKING

What you will learn

on the course?

06
By the end of the course, you will have a
broad understanding of the application of
creative approaches, processes and tools,
including how to:
Who is this
– Articulate the components of creative work,
course for?
and the skills (and biases) that are involved.

– Apply creative processes and tools

– Those interested in improving
yourself.
how they think and act creatively,
moving past learned behaviour to
– Manage the application of creative
reach new and effective solutions.
processes and tools by others.
– Professionals working in business
– Develop confidence in your creative skills,
development, transformation,
and in your ability to improve those skills.
or strategy who are seeking
– Represent your own creative skills and a structured and innovative
experiences, and promote and elicit those approach to solving problems.
of others.
– Individuals facing novel problems
in the workplace, who need to
challenge conventions to develop
original solutions and pitch these
to stakeholders.

advanceonline.cam.ac.uk
 07

BUSINESS ESSENTIALS
Key learning
objectives

– Articulate the components of – Use design thinking to evaluate

creative work, and the skills (and the human components of a given
biases) that are involved situation

– Apply creative processes and – Rewrite your own job description

tools yourself to emphasise creativity

– Manage the application of creative – Evaluate your own creative

processes and tools by others knowledge and self-efficacy

– Develop confidence in your creative

skills, and in your ability to improve
those skills

– Represent your own creative skills

and experiences, and promote and
elicit those of others

– Understand the context for creativity

within the wider world
 CREATIVITY, PROBLEM SOLVING AND DESIGN THINKING

The learning
journey

08
Cambridge Advance Online courses are delivered over 6 to 8
consecutive weeks (dependent on the programme), with each week’s
content following a clear, deliverable path to help facilitate learning. 

Orientation Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

You will get access to
familiarise yourself with
our learning platform,
Canvas, start networking
with peers and hear from
your course leader.

Week 6 Week 5 Week 4

Week 7* Week 8* Join our

Alumni network

*The duration of the programme is dependent on the course.

Please check the course summary for information regarding course length.

advanceonline.cam.ac.uk
Learning
breakdown

09

BUSINESS ESSENTIALS
Our online courses combine several different elements to create a
balanced blend of learning. Participants will be able to learn at their
own pace during the week, viewing content, engaging in discussions
and completing any assignments. On average, our courses take
8 to 10 hours per week. 

2-3hrs 1-2hrs

Built content Discussion

(e.g. videos, animations,
quizzes, case studies,
worked experiments)

1-2hrs 1hr

Reading Live session

and research
(e.g. reading,
looking for info
online etc.)
 CREATIVITY, PROBLEM SOLVING AND DESIGN THINKING
Course modules
10
Module 1
Module 2
Creativity
Creative work is difficult
because of the many biases
and assumptions that constrain
our imagination. Learn how
to identify these biases and
apply the various tools that
can be used to challenge our
assumptions.
Module 3
Module 4
Problem definition
All too often people rush to
solve a problem without fully
understanding it, limiting the
effectiveness of the solutions they
develop. Practise identifying,
framing and defining problems
using the three general thinking
approaches and other tools.
advanceonline.cam.ac.uk
Thinking approaches
There are three general thinking
approaches that we can use
to make creative work more
effective: visual thinking, systems
thinking and design thinking.
Practise using these approaches
to investigate and communicate
about the contexts you want to
intervene in.
Idea generation
With the problem now well
understood, we can generate
a wide range of solution ideas.
Learn about the most effective
ideation tools and how these
can be used to benefit from the
unique contributions of
individuals and their interactions
in group work.

Module 5
Module 6
Solution development
New ideas typically need further
development before their
advantages can be recognised.
Apply techniques for selecting
the most promising ideas and
then developing them further
through idea manipulation and
various forms of prototyping.
11
BUSINESS ESSENTIALS
Creativity in context
Creative work takes place in
different organisational contexts,
with the behaviour of individuals,
teams and leaders all shaping
the creative culture. Learn how
to articulate your own creative
capabilities and how to identify
and support those of others.
 CREATIVITY, PROBLEM SOLVING AND DESIGN THINKING

Meet your course lead

12
Nathan Crilly
Professor of Design

Nathan Crilly is Professor of Design at the University of Cambridge. He

conducts research into how products, systems and services are designed
and developed, focussing on designers’ creativity and users’ experiences.
Nathan combines a variety of research approaches in his work, including experimental and
qualitative methods of empirical investigation, and scholarly methods for conceptual development.
This work is interdisciplinary in nature, connecting ideas, methods and findings from different
research traditions. In addition to his individual research, he has collaborated with researchers
specialising in engineering, product design, psychology, computer science, complexity science,
education, anthropology and philosophy.

Nathan is a Fellow of the Design Research Society, and serves on the Editorial Boards for Design
Studies and the International Journal of Design Creativity & Innovation. Before joining Cambridge
University, Nathan held technical roles in the aerospace, software and consulting industries.
He continues to consult on product development and user research issues for multi-national
organisations, SMEs and startups.

At Cambridge, Nathan has developed and delivered courses focussing on engineering design,
user-centred design, systems thinking, creativity, problem solving, sketching, visual representation,
and verbal communication. He is an external examiner for the ‘Innovation Design Engineering’
double Masters programme run jointly by Imperial College London and the Royal College of
Art. Nathan also delivers talks and training internationally on his research topics (e.g. creativity,
problem-solving), the research methods he uses (e.g. interview techniques, literature review) and
various aspects of research communication (e.g. writing, presenting).

advanceonline.cam.ac.uk

Technical
requirements
– Sufficient internet speed and
stability for video streaming
(2 Mbps up/down)
– Please see our recommendations
on web browsers:
https://bit.ly/2S4Qhh4
13
BUSINESS ESSENTIALS
Course
certification
You’ll be assessed using a range
of modalities that emphasize real-
world application of course material.
On completion of your Cambridge
Advance Online course, you will
be eligible for a Certificate of
Achievement and digital badge.
To get your Certificate you must
achieve a minimum grade of
70% on course activities and your
final tutor-marked project.
If you have any questions or would like more
information about our online courses, please
contact our Enrolment Advisors at
advanceonlinesales@cambridge.org