Design Thinking Process

Design Thinking for Educators

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Here is an introduction to the Design Thinking process as a platform for innovation for teachers and students. Design Thinking is a proven, five-step rapid iteration process that will help you quickly develop and test innovative ideas for your classroom. The extensive resources will provide a comprehensive understanding of how to use the Design Thinking process to create human centered solutions, which will help foster 21st Century Learning Skills in your classroom. This is a summary of a graduate education elective (EDU 650) and professional development course I created for educators with all the same resources.

The Five Stages of the Design Thinking Process:

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/5-stages-in-the-design-thinking-process

Recommended Reading:

Brown, T. (2019). Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN: 978-0062856623

Kelly, T. (2013). Creative Confidence Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All. Currency. ISBN: 978-0385349369

Recommended Websites:

https://designthinking.ideo.com/

https://www.codesigningschools.com/toolkit-appendix

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking

https://www.ashoka.org/en-us

Recommended Videos:

Stanford Design Thinking Webinar:

https://youtu.be/vSuK2C89yjA

What is Design Thinking?:

Empathize step of the Design Thinking Process

Building empathy is the crucial first step of the process. Without a true understanding of the person’s experience and needs, a solution cannot be efficiently or effectively created. Following are some excellent resources and tools for learning to build empathy:

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/empathize

https://new-ideo-com.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/files/pdfs/news/Empathy_on_the_Edge.pdf

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/empathic-design-is-empathy-the-ux-holy-grail

https://www.wired.com/2015/06/can-typography-help-us-empathize-others/

https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/focus/empathy-and-young-changemaking

Downloadable Empathy Toolkit for Schools

Define step of the Design Thinking Process

Sources of Inspiration: A Language of Design: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142694X00000223

Ideate step of the Design Thinking Process

IDEO The Rules of Brainstorming:

Downloadable Poster

Brainstorming and other Ideation techniques videos:

What is Brainstorming?

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/brainstorming

The “How Might We” Method:

https://medium.com/knowsi/hmw-how-might-we-c04423a4437d

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-might-we-questions/

10 Brainstorming warm up activities:

https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/10-activities-to-generate-better-ideas

Prototype step of the Design Thinking Process

Some amazing designs and prototypes created by young students all over the world! I highly recommend hosting a Designathon:

https://www.designathonworks.com/impact-reports

Excellent Ted Talk for students on rapid prototyping:

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/rapid-prototyping-google-glass-tom-chi

A guide to prototyping:

https://hbr.org/2014/03/the-future-of-prototyping-is-now-live#

Test step of the Design Thinking Process

User testing guides:

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/03/guide-user-testing/

https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/user-testing/top-7-usability-testing-methods/

Education Specific Resources:

Timm Krohn, Christoph Meinel, (2022) Design Thinking in Education Innovation Can Be Learned 978-3-030-89112-1

Thinking and Acting Like A Designer: How design thinking supports innovation in K-12 education.

Downloadable PDF

Design Thinking for Educators:

Downloadable PDF

Co-Designing Schools Toolkit:

https://www.codesigningschools.com/

Designathon Works:

https://www.designathonworks.com/

Design Thinking Rubric:

Downloadable PDF

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