Creativity is an “engagement with the unfamiliar and a willingness to approach the familiar in unfamiliar ways.” 

(Glăveanu & Beghetto, 2020)  

Cultivating creativity involves a willingness to take productive risks and fail. When we become more willing to fail (and when we are allowed to), we can harness the type of vulnerability that helps us take chances. Through failure, we can identify and iterate possibilities.

Easing Fear of Failure Through Practice 

Failure is often seen as something negative. In societies that value productivity, many of us come to fear failure, stifling our ability for the kind of thinking that can effect change in the complex world we live in. C&I supports faculty, staff, and students to ease fear of failure by providing opportunities to take micro-risks in all our programs, including Possibility Books. This daily practice of mark-making and dialogue creates a safe, shared space in which students feel allowed to take risks and become more likely to offer ideas in class even if they might be wrong (Taber & Stanec, 2025).  

“I made many unexpected connections about my readings, and I became more willing to fail in explaining those connections.” 

(CC 100 student)  

Recently published research by Mike Taber, Professor of Education, and Kris Stanec, Director of C&I, shows that Possibility Books develop what is known as Creative Critical Inquiry, a method of inquiry that prioritizes embodied knowledge before logic, by deepening interplay between intuition and insight (2025). Creative Critical Inquiry: Mark-Making to Explore the Interplay between Insight and Intuition will be presented at the International Conference of Education, Research, and Innovation in November.   

For Faculty and Staff 

Thursday, Nov. 6: Block 3 Workshop: Assessing Creative Assignments 

We will share and discuss examples of assignments in various disciplines that highlight creative processes and present some options for assessment. If you have an assignment or assessment method you would like to share, we would love to include it as well. 

Friday, Jan. 16, 2026: Possibility Books for New Users 

The brief, daily Possibility Books (PB) pedagogy has been used in 150 courses and with 2,500 students. It can be adapted to align with any course across disciplines. We invite you to experience PB for yourself and see how to adapt prompts to suit your spring semester course(s). Faculty using PB will receive all the materials needed from C&I. 

For Students 

Come play with ideas through creativity sprints: short, messy, and fun ways to build creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Every second Friday of each block from 2-3:30 p.m., students in all disciplines can be part of the Creative Courage Community. Come to one or all of them. Good snacks included. Sign up to reserve your spot (limited to 22). 

Friday, Dec. 5: Block 4 Sign Up  

For Everyone (faculty, staff, and students)

Drop-ins take place on the second Monday of each block from 3-4 p.m. Come by the C&I building on the northwest corner of Cache and Weber at any point during this time to explore a creative process or technique.  

By taking a tour and signing a participation waiver, you get Gold Card access to the C&I building where C-Space is located and can come anytime you like. Tours happen every Monday from 4-4:30 p.m. If you cannot make it on Monday afternoons, email Evelina and she will arrange a tour at a time that works for you. 

Contact:

efisher2024@coloradocollege.edu“>Evelina Fisher, Program Coordinator

kstanec@coloradocollege.edu“>Kris Stanec, Director

14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903