Creativity & Innovation

Possibility Books (also known in prior iterations as Visual Notebooks and ThinkBooks)

Possibility Books (PB) are a series of brief (10 minute) daily prompts which a class responds to through the process of individual mark making, allowing for nuanced embodied reflection.

Possibility Books have been used in 58 courses with over 750 students. Analysis from survey data shows extremely positive results. When Possibility Books are integrated into the course, the interactions foster a safe and collaborative learning environment. In addition, implementation of Possibility Books encourages students to establish connections with the content, thereby enhancing their learning. Over 82% of students surveyed said that PB should be used in other courses.

Read detailed information about the pedagogy here.

See DocuGuide for faculty wanting to learn more about using Possibility Books in the classroom.

Outcomes

The Possibility Book (PB) method serves outcomes related to:

Course content: by providing a safe space to process ideas and reflect on questions, students become reflexive learners. PBs allow students to iterate their understandings of course material by connecting the content to themselves, prior knowledge, and nuanced discernment of concepts. (ie: for CC100 classes, PB supports thinking about the nature of academic disciplines and the liberal arts).
Creativity & Innovation: PB explicitly prompts students to practice creativity mindsets including possibility thinking, openness, unexpected connections, tolerance of ambiguity, willingness to risk failure, and curiosity.
Institutional Antiracism Commitment: by introducing modes of learning that have been excluded from traditional, colonial-based academic inquiry, and providing space that centers various identity perspectives as assets.