Brainstorming Tips

Brainstorming is an essential part of academic technology leadership. Whether it is coming up with ideas for a learning space or tackling and challenge presented by a faculty member, creativity is essential to success. Here are some quick brainstorming tips.

Play with Toys

Consider including physical objects in your brainstorming sessions. Sometimes fiddling with an object helps trigger creativity. LEGOs are often good things to play with.

Go for Sticky Notes

Capture those brainstorm ideas on sticky notes that can be organized, reorganized, and prioritized quickly and easily. AVOID the use of software tools in group brainstorming sessions — software can quickly over structure ideas. Sticky notes can be more organic and fluid.

Try a Dartboard

One brainstorming technique involves tossing ideas out as quickly as possible and capturing them in an unstructured manner on a whiteboard or flipchart, much like tossing darts at a dartboard. When you begin to lose creative steam, you can stop and see where ideas cluster and begin to organize items around larger concepts.

Maximize Time by Minimizing It

When brainstorming, keep the duration short — absolutely no more than 45 minutes, and focus on getting ideas out into the open without over-analysis or immediate criticism.

Use Pictures

Whenever you travel, take a digital camera and take pictures of things that inspire you. Look for little things, big things, mundane things, and amazing things. Keep the images on a computer or website where you can quickly reference them during a brainstorming session. As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”