Oxford TRIZ Blog

Learning for Lockdown

Written by Sophie Langer | 14 Apr 2020

I’ve read a lot of posts recently about how the world will never be the same after the Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic. How, at least for sure in the first world, people have been forced to work from home, which has shown that it is much more possible than many would have had you believe. Even with one-year old twins hanging off your arms…

I have been fortunate in my career that marketing is pretty adaptable; you can do it from pretty much anywhere, at any time - with so many online tools to help you communicate, plan, schedule and analyse - and from any device, as long as you have an internet connection - and sometimes even without one.

Whilst many industries that rely on in-person interaction have suffered – and some have adapted (I had an amazing Sunday roast delivered into the boot of my car by our local pub over the bank holiday weekend), education has already been gradually heading in this direction over the last decade or so with institutions like the Open University, platforms like Udemy and blended learning options at many major Universities, for example, but now we have definitely been given a strong shove. In-person teaching has been ruled out entirely for now, so what do we do?

Parents have turned to the internet for inspiration on how to keep their children engaged in learning (and possibly also to keep them busy for ten minutes so they can have a cup of tea?) Ideas and videos and interactive lessons and tools are popping up all over the place. In addition, with more time at home, without commutes - or unable to do their jobs online, many adults (as is evident through the rose-tinted window of social media) are also turning to self-improvement and so universities and training centres are responding.

At Oxford Creativity, we are no exception. To date most of our courses have been taught in person (Oxford is such a lovely location for people to come). However, the team have also been working on an online course for some time, with the plan to launch a ‘learn in your own time’ style course later this year. In the short term, however, we have put this on the back-burner in order to bring you something we think is rather exciting!

Oxford TRIZ Live is our new online course series, where you can learn Fundamental Problem Solving with Oxford TRIZ (launching 20 April). A fast-paced LIVE online course allowing you to benefit from the expertise of our TRIZ teachers through interactive workshops, complete assignments, attend webinar lectures and collaborate with your fellow students through our online members forum - all from the comfort of your own desk. In TRIZ terms we are using Principle 15 – Dynamism, changing the environment to suit the learning needs (online) and Principle 40 – Composite Structures (using different delivery methods in teaching.)

It is taught in one-hour sessions - twice a day, for five days. This is made up of a webinar lecture, solo assignment work, and an interactive workshop for feedback. You could say this is Principle 19 – Periodic Action, allowing you to learn in short pulses.

Accessibility of the courses has always been the mission of Oxford Creativity and this is the next step in our journey. Will you join us?

Oxford TRIZ Live >