Course

ONLINE: Certificate in Innovation and Critical Thinking

  • Instructor: Online Learning
    Online Learning
    Phone: 800-367-6447Fax: 703-736-9644
    Online, self paced learning, anytime, anywhere you want. Be sure to check out all the ONLINE offerings we have! Recommendations? Comments? Please send us an email at the address listed above. We'd love to hear from you!
  • Level: Advanced Practitioner
  • Format: On Demand
  • Contact Hours: 22
  • CEUs: 2.2

Because organizations must innovate to stay alive in today's highly competitive marketplace, organizations need employees who can channel their creativity and innovation toward organizational challenges and goals.

This suite of courses will first help you become re-acquainted with your own stores of creativity and innovation. Next, you are given a set of tools that allow you to leverage your creativity to identify and solve organizational problems. One activity asks you how you might look at a problem from a different angle to produce a more creative result; others walk you through the process of using analogies or replacement techniques to invent creative solutions to problems.

Each 3 to 5 hour, self-paced course offers an assortment of interactive exercises, videos, selected readings, case studies, and self-assessments that will engage you and help you apply your newly discovered creativity in the workplace.

Pricing:
PriceCostBeginsEnds
ONLINE: Certificate in Innovation and Critical Thinking - Member Rate$224.00  
ONLINE: Certificate in Innovation and Critical Thinking - Non Member Rate$274.00  
ONLINE: Certificate in Innovation and Critical Thinking - Member Rate $224.00
ONLINE: Certificate in Innovation and Critical Thinking - Non Member Rate $274.00

Objectives

  • See objectives for each individual course below.
  • Download a printable certificate of completion for this online course suite

Intended Audience

This offering is targeted to individuals who meet or exceed the following professional demographics:  

  • Mid-level public procurement and central warehouse professionals who serve as senior buyers, managers, directors, or equivalent functions within their respective entities.   

  • Non-procurement managers and supervisors who either provide procurement functions that support entity programs under delegated authority, or who already have a good understanding of basic procurement principles but wish to get more in-depth, hands-on training.   

  • Professionals who are employed by local governing entities and special authorities (such as K-12 and higher education, publicly owned utilities, transportation providers, and other publicly funded or created entities) who either serve within or manage the procurement function.  

  • Supplier managers and supervisors seeking to understand the public procurement function from a more in-depth holistic level, including the policies, standards, and procedures by which public entities must function.  


Completion Requirements

  • Students must complete the course within 90 days
  • Learners must achieve an average test score of at least 70% to meet the minimum successful completion requirement
  • Learners will have three attempts at all graded assessments.
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Miscellaneous

Courses included in this Suite

Creativity in Teams and Organizations

This course looks at spurring creativity and innovation in teams and organizations. Drawing on the latest academic thinking, it outlines the key factors for creative teams.

Further, the course focuses on tools and techniques designed to yield more productive thinking in collective settings. Participants learn about a number of targeted tools (including brainstorming, Discussion 66, Provocation, and others) to generate fresh thinking in smaller group settings and in their organizations.

After completing this course, the student should be able to:

  • Explain the connection between creativity and innovation
  • Outline the five factors for creative teams
  • Use team creative tools such as brainstorming, Discussion 66, anonymous idea generation, and visioning
  • Explain the importance of diversity in team creativity
  • Describe techniques for prototyping new ideas
  • Explain how to overcome creative barriers for teams and organizations
  • Describe ways to make teams and organizations more open to creativity and innovation

Innovation in Teams and Organizations

This course looks at innovation in corporations and the public sector. It reviews the latest academic thinking on innovation, including Clay Christensen's seminal thinking on disruptive technology and the proper response.

Further, it explores some of the internal responses to the need for creativity, including idea champions, idea incubators, new venture teams and skunk works, and the process of moving from innovation to commercialization.

Finally, the course focuses on some of the more successful corporate innovators as a way of illustrating the principles of effective innovation in large organizations, and also explores the role of innovation in the public sector.

After completing this course, the student should be able to:

  • Outline the key factors for an innovative organization
  • Discuss the barriers to innovation
  • Explain the differences between incremental, semi-radical, and radical innovation
  • Describe internal innovation tools such as idea champions, idea incubators, new venture teams and skunk works
  • Explain the process of moving from idea to commercialization
  • Discuss the issues surrounding innovation in the public sector

Introduction to Critical Thinking

This course is an introduction to the importance of critical thinking in the business world. Critical thinking is an intellectual model for reasoning through issues to reach well-founded conclusions about them. Asking questions is at the heart of critical thinking.

This program is designed to help learners define and identify critical thinking and reasoning skills and develop those skills.

After completing this course, the student should be able to:

  • Define critical thinking, reasoning, and logic
  • Ask appropriate questions for critical thinking
  • Understand the process of systemic problem-solving
  • Identify and overcome barriers to critical thinking
  • Articulate common reasoning fallacies
  • Understand critical thinking as it pertains to the workplace

Personal Creativity

This course addresses Personal Creativity. Through tools and exercises drawn from Adrian Brown's book, Creativity & Innovation, it seeks to help unlock the creativity within individuals.

By stimulating creativity through various techniques (mind-mapping, DO-IT, SCAMPER, right and left brain thinking) participants learn to tap into their personal creativity and apply it to organizational challenges.

After completing this course, the student should be able to:

  • Describe the basis of personal creativity
  • Explain the uses of creative tools
  • Distinguish between vertical and lateral thinking
  • Employ creative tools like SCAMPER, random input, mind mapping, and DO IT
  • Describe the key characteristics of personal creativity
  • Assess the issues surrounding measuring creativity

Time Value of Money and Risk

This course covers time value of money (TVM) principles and risk and return. You will review the basic TVM techniques used in evaluating all financial decisions and their cash flow implications. For Risk and Return, you will learn how risk influences investment decisions, and how to calculate risk and rates of return. Further, you will explore the benefits of diversification and the use of the portfolio concept in investing.

After completing this course, the student should be able to:

  • Distinguish between points in time and periods of time as shown by a time line
  • Define compounding and discounting
  • Compute future value or present value for single payment amounts
  • Distinguish between single payments and streams of payments and between uneven streams and annuities
  • Solve for the interest rate or time period for simple present value and future value problems
  • Define risk
  • Describe how risk influences investment decisions
  • Calculate risk and rates of return
  • Describe how diversification can limit risk
  • Explain how diversifiable risk can be lowered using a portfolio approach

Length

  • On-Demand. Learn on your schedule. On-demand training is for professionals who prefer to develop the skills they need on their time and at their pace. Learners can start, stop and rewind the lessons at your convenience.

System Requirements

Operating System:

  • Windows Vista SP2 or newer
  • Mac OS 10.5 or higher
  • Linux/Unix (any recent version)

Hardware:

  • Video Card
  • Sound card and headphones or speakers (some assignments have audio components)

Software:

Web Browser:

  • The last three versions of the major browsers: Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer
  • Other web browsers may work, but may not render all features of the courses
  • Cookies must be enabled
  • JavaScript must be enabled

Internet:

  • Reliable internet connection. Broadband cable or highspeed DSL is recommended for optimal experience.
  • E-mail account (to be able to register and to receive e-mail from the course system regarding registration, course status, etc.)
  • Linux/Unix (any recent version)

Payment Information

  • Register online with credit card
  • Register online and upload a Purchase Order
  • Register by fax and download the print & fax form

*FORM OF PAYMENT MUST ACCOMPANY REGISTRATION FORM FOR ORDER TO BE PROCESSED

Methods of Payment Accepted: Check (make checks payable to NIGP), Purchase Orders (via print and fax form or online), and Credit Cards (Master Card, Visa, and American Express).

If paying by check, please make check payable to NIGP and send payment to:
NIGP, Attn: Seminar Registration
2411 Dulles Corner Park, Suite 350
Herndon, VA 20171

Cancellation Policy

There are no refunds, all sales are final.

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ONLINE: Certificate in Innovation and Critical Thinking