Storytelling for Leadership & Creative Expression. Explore leadership skills through reflection on life experiences, practice giving and receiving feedback, and deepen active listening skills!

Linds Roberts

Offered By

Storying the Self for Leadership and Creativity SpecializationUniversity of Colorado Boulder

What you will learn

Reflect on how our own life experiences and identities have shaped us as leaders and creators.
Analyze the nuanced contexts of race, gender, class, and how these impact our positions as leaders and creators towards equity and inclusion.
Engage active listening towards others’ life stories with empathy and curiosity.
Ask for and receive feedback on our work.

Skills you will gain

About this Specialization

If you're moving into a leadership position, interested in thinking deeply about identity, or exploring the role of creativity in your life, this specialization is for you! Stories are powerful catalysts for social change that can contribute to greater equity and inclusion across a range of diverse human experiences and identities. Stories can limit or define us, and they can also be reconstructed, questioned, tinkered with, and used to reconsider or expand possibilities for your life and communities. You will have an opportunity to craft the narratives of your own life experiences in ways that help you better understand your public and private identities. The courses in this specialization feature diverse media that share stories spanning nationality, race, gender, sexuality, social class, and time. You will practice giving and receiving constructive feedback as we explore creating through audio, video, social media, and more traditional forms of writing.

Applied Learning Project

Final course projects are peer review assignments where you will get to practice developing and polishing stories from your life experiences for creative expression and for leadership contexts. You'll get to ask for, receive, and give feedback on your work and the work of peers, a key skill in collaborative work environments.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Beginner Level

Approximately 3 months to complete

Suggested pace of 2 hours/week

English

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Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Beginner Level

Approximately 3 months to complete

Suggested pace of 2 hours/week

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

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How the Specialization Works

Take Courses

A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.

Hands-on Project

Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.

Earn a Certificate

When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.

There are 3 Courses in this Specialization

Course1

Course 1

Storying the Self: How Stories Shape our Identities

Explore how artists have come to understand their identities over time, through creative media and scholarly discussions. You will connect with your own sources of creative inspiration, and revisit a major moment in your life that has shaped who you are and how you understand yourself, with the invitation to engage with this story through literary analysis and creative expression. Discover how these themes and theories help leaders understand their own and others’ identities across the full range of human diversity, as they show up in workplaces and relationships.

Course2

Course 2

Storying the Self: (Re)Claiming our Voices

Engage with lived experiences and identities that have often been denied a public voice. Consider the nuanced contexts of race, gender, class, language, ability, and how these impact your position as a leader and creator. You’ll question what it means to reclaim your narrative of yourself and to engage with the strength of vulnerability as a leader and creator. In a creative exercise, you’ll engage with multiple perspectives on a past conflict and use this reflection to practice perspective-taking and listening that can generate creative work and deepen leadership skills for empathy, listening and engaging in multicultural workplaces.

Course3

Course 3

Storying the Self: Telling our Stories

Ask for and give constructive feedback on your work, and consider venues for sharing your stories as both a leader and creator. In leadership contexts, this translates to authentic purpose, vision, and values. You’ll engage with a creative assignment with the intention of creating and polishing a story from your life that can be shared, reflecting on how stories evolve over time, through different media, and through retellings for and with different audiences.

Instructor

Linds Roberts

Associate Professor

University Libraries

640 Learners

3 Courses

Offered by

University of Colorado Boulder

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the refund policy?
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
Can I just enroll in a single course?
Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
Can I take the course for free?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply for financial aid.
Is this course really 100% online? Do I need to attend any classes in person?
This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.
Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?
This Specialization doesn't carry university credit, but some universities may choose to accept Specialization Certificates for credit. Check with your institution to learn more.

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Storying the Self for Leadership and Creativity Specialization

What you will learn

Skills you will gain

About this Specialization

Applied Learning Project