This work by the National Information Security and Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC), and except where
otherwise noted, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authoring Organization:
Written by:
Bellevue College
Debi Griggs
Copyright: © National Information Security, Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC)
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College of Massachusetts, Del Mar College of Texas, Moraine Valley Community College of Illinois, Rio Salado College of
Arizona, and Salt Lake Community College of Utah.
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ISIT105AC - Syllabus
Course Title: Problem Solving for the IT Professional:
Course Number (If applicable): ISIT105AC
Creative, Lateral & Divergent Thinking, Decision Support
through Technology, and Final Project
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course is the third of a series of three courses that presents a wide variety of strategies to build a person's problem
solving skills towards situations in IT. Students will apply problem solving techniques, and practice creative/lateral thinking
techniques and communication skills to approach technical and non-technical problems. The students will also complete a
final project encompassing the learning outcomes of the series of three courses.
Note: There is a “Final Project” to assess student learning across the three courses (ISIT105AA Problem Solving for the IT
Professional: Introduction, Individual Behavior, and Teams & Groups, ISIT105AB Problem Solving for the IT Professional:
Problem Solving, the Decision Process, and Scientific Techniques, and ISIT105AC Problem Solving for the IT Professional:
Creative, Lateral & Divergent Thinking, Decision Support through Technology, and Final Project) which occurs at the end of
the series of courses which makes up Lesson 4 in ISIT105AC.
PREREQUISITES: Pre-college English with a C- or better, and Pre-college Math with a C- or better AND ISIT105AA AND
ISIT105AB
REQUIRED MATERIALS: Microsoft Office Excel 2010 or greater (or equivalent software)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (if applicable): Internet access, blog account.
LEARNING OUTCOMES/COMPETENCIES:
1.
Differentiate between lateral and vertical thinking.
2.
Plan a course of action to arrive at a solution.
3.
Practice a variety of techniques of creative thinking.
4.
Given a problem and having arrived at a solution, analyze the process.
5.
Use written communication to concisely communicate the problem and solution to an appropriate client.
6.
Apply problem solving strategies to solve a technical problem in an area unfamiliar to the student.
7.
Use technology tools to support decision making.
8. Define and apply "system thinking" to problems.
This work by the National Information Security and Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC), and except where otherwise noted, is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authoring Organization: Bellevue College
Written by: Debi Griggs
Copyright: © National Information Security, Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC)
COURSE ASSESSMENT:
Grading Scale
Assignments
Points
Lesson 1 Assignments
60
Lesson 2 Assignments
75
Lesson 3 Assignments
30
Lesson 4 Final Project
100
Total
265
Percentage
Grade
92%
A
80%
B
70%
C
60%
D
Below 60%
F
SCHEDULE:
Lessons
1. Creative, Lateral, Divergent Thinking (Part 1)
Week 1
2. Creative, Lateral, Divergent Thinking (Part 2)
Week 2
3. Decision Support through Technology
Week 3
4. Final Project
Week 4
This work by the National Information Security and Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC), and except where otherwise noted, is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authoring Organization: Bellevue College
Written by: Debi Griggs
Copyright: © National Information Security, Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC)
COURSE MODULES & ASSIGNMENTS:
Note: There is a “Final Project” to assess student learning across the three courses (ISIT105AA, ISIT105AB, ISIT105AC)
occurs at the end of the series of courses which makes up Lesson 4 in ISIT105AC.
Module/
Module/Lesson Title &
Lesson
description (if
Learning Outcomes
Assignments
applicable)
1
Creative, Lateral,
Divergent Thinking
(Part 1)
1. Differentiate creative (lateral) thinking from
logical (vertical) thinking.
2. Describe the brainstorming process.
3. Explain how visualization works.
4. Explain how incubation enhances problem
solving.
5. Develop a script for a problem solving role
play.
Assignment 1: Incubation (15
points)
Assignment 2: Role Play (15
points)
Assignment 3: Provocation (15
points)
Assignment 4: Mind Mapping (15
points)
6. Use provocation to develop valuable
problem solving ideas.
7. Explain the process of mind mapping
2
Creative, Lateral,
Divergent Thinking
(Part 2)
1. Explain how experience and study can
lead to creativity.
2. Use random word technique to inspire new
solutions to a problem.
3. Explain how synthesizing can lead to new
solutions.
4. Analyze a problem from another’s
perspective.
5. Determine how key values contribute to or
Assignment 1: Updated Flash (10
points)
Assignment 2: Random Word
Technique (10 points)
Assignment 3: Synthesizing (10
points)
Assignment 4: OPV – Other
People's Views (15 points)
Assignment 5: KVI – Key Values
This work by the National Information Security and Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC), and except where otherwise noted, is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authoring Organization: Bellevue College
Written by: Debi Griggs
Copyright: © National Information Security, Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC)
impede problem solving.
6. Use mind mapping to summarize
concepts.
3
Decision Support
through Technology
1. Describe crowdsourcing.
2. Explain how crowdsourcing is used in
problem solving.
3. Create a plan to crowdsource a problem.
Involved (15 points)
Assignment 6: Mind Mapping
Revisited (15 points)
Assignment 1: Crowdsourcing (15
points)
Assignment 2: What-If Analysis (15
points)
4. Describe decision support software.
5. Explain how decision support software is
used in business decision making.
6. Create and analyze a What-If analysis in
Microsoft Excel.
4
Final Project
1. Select, plan, create and present an original
project related to a topic in problem solving
Problem Solving Project
Part 1:
Project Plan (30 points)
Part 2:
Final Project (40 points)
Part 3: Presentation of Project
(30 points)
This work by the National Information Security and Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC), and except where otherwise noted, is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authoring Organization: Bellevue College
Written by: Debi Griggs
Copyright: © National Information Security, Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC)