Students enrolled in my Entrepreneurship Summer School Course at ZSEM learn several techniques for generating ideas in our creativity session. But mostly it is through independent reflection on challenges and issues presented in the form of an idea journal that forces them to search for new perspectives and opportunities.
An idea journal in our class is comprised of 10 quests which first draws on their initial associations with words or word combinations. For example, we can break down idea journals into our associations with "ideas" and separately with "journal" as follows:
Idea
Imagine,
create, realize, release, examine, explore, find, think, thought, dream,
vision, push, boundaries, expectations, concept, clear, light bulb, innovate,
invent, combine, define, deliver, prototype
Journal
Write,
think, reflect, research, sketch, diary, record, note, observations,
understanding, share, personalize, detail, point, doodle, connect, link, blog,
entry, date, log, decorate, track, compare, contrast, question, answer
Perhaps my set of associated words are different then yours which then means that I think about those things differently than you and therefore my ideas about idea journals may manifest in a completely unique way as to yours. I believe ideas can be too shallow and the exercise of completing 10 quests encourages lateral thinking and will in turn be seeds to better opportunities for the future business plan development assignments.
For past examples of Idea Journal Entries see Summer 2013 on this blog as well as visit Idea Journals on Facebook.
