Improve Instructional Design through Design Thinking

Session Time Slot(s): 
Institutional Level: 
Higher Ed
Streamed: 
Streamed
Abstract: 

Design thinking incorporates a creative, structured, and organized process for designing projects. In this presentation, we will define and share examples of how we applied design thinking to our instructional design practices.

Extended Abstract: 

Design thinking incorporates a creative, structured, and organized process for designing projects. Dam and Siang (2018) define design thinking as “a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems” (para 1). The individuals we serve at SUNY Empire State college come from diverse backgrounds and have various levels of experience. To better serve this population, we use design thinking to develop various projects related to instructional design. During the process, we found solutions to the problems that we did not even know existed.

The design thinking process includes five steps: empathise, define, ideate, prototype, and test. It incorporates a creative and iterative non-linear process for addressing large-scale projects. The process concentrates on taking the user perspective to define a meaningful and actionable problem statement which is a powerful way to begin brainstorming steps and develop possible solutions that can be prototyped and tested.

In our presentation, we will describe several examples of how we used the design thinking process at our institution. We will include interactive polls and ask questions that will help our audience to start thinking about how they can utilize this process at their institution or job.

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

  1. Define the design thinking process.

  2. Engage in dialogue related to the design thinking process.

  3. Reflect on design thinking and how it can be applied to a project.

Reference:

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

Conference Session: 
Concurrent Session 2
Conference Track: 
Innovations, Tools, and Technologies
Session Type: 
Education Session
Intended Audience: 
All Attendees