Amanda Lohiser Ph.D. – Creativity Goes Virtual in the College Classroom

Our twenty-third episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Amanda Lohiser, Ph.D.. Amanda has over twelve years of experience in higher education, teaching undergraduate and graduate students in the United States, Singapore, and Denmark. Her educational background includes a BA and Ph.D. in communication studies, an MS in public relations, an MS in Creativity and Change Leadership from the Center for Applied Imagination, SUNY Buffalo State, and facial action coding systems certifications. Her Ph.D. focus was on socio-emotional intelligence and how understanding your own emotions and the emotions of others can help you be a better communicator. Amanda uses Creative Problem Solving in the classroom at SUNY Fredonia by infusing her lessons with creativity and deliberately teaching workshops on the topic. She describes how she was faced with the challenge of moving her classes from in-person to virtual with only a few days' notice and used her training and a creativity mindset to incorporate techniques such as virtual whiteboards, resulting in a successful semester for her students. Amanda has collaborated with Dr. David Yates, to define best practices when leading a workshop or teaching a course online. She has collaborated with colleagues working on book chapters and sees benefits from incorporating virtual whiteboards in her in-person classes. The key is making learning a fun environment by incorporating interactive elements that are engaging for students. Learn about the crossover between communication and creativity as defining elements of the human experience. Amanda’s research combines emotional intelligence with Communication Studies to explore how our emotions help us communicate more effectively. Don’t miss this positive discussion of using creative problem solving in higher education, communications, and remote learning.