What comes to your mind when you hear/read Design Thinking?

Is it something related to fashion? Or is it a way of how to think about your design? Well, do let me know what you think about it, and also if you already knew what it is;

So, design thinking is not exclusive to fashion professionals or designers, it is used in every field, whether it is literature, science, engineering, music, films, and the list goes on. Design thinking is a technique that helps humans to decipher and resolve problems and attain appropriate answers. In simpler terms, it is a technique that you follow to find out what the problem is and how you can fix it by thinking creatively.

It is so popular that many renowned institutes like Harvard, Stanford, and many more have included this in their courses.

It helps you to look at the problem from a different angle, which you might oversee otherwise. The basic idea is that you come out with unique and creative ideas by brainstorming.

Design thinking has 3-7 stages or phases; however, all of them are quite akin and have no order to follow.

So in no particular order, the stages of Design Thinking are:

• Understand- you should understand with your user.

• Explain- what are the needs and problems of your user’s and what are your thoughts on it.

• Ideate- you have to question the questions, then question the assumptions and answers and come out with unique solutions to them.
• Model – you have to start coming up with creative solutions.
• Test- tests those solutions and see if they work or not.

 

How to use design thinking in the classroom

1.    The Complication

Just like how you experiment with psychology, you need to find out what is going on with your students, what complications and troubles they are facing, etc.

You may get an insight about it while having a one on one session with your students, and find out the problem and figure out how long you long will this session take.

For example: during your research with your students, you find out that many of them have a problem reading from blackboard.

2.    Brainstorm about it

Now, you have to ask and let your students do some brainstorming and come out with something. Your students may contact other fellow mates and ask them, if they are facing the same problem or not.

After those interviews, students ought to brainstorm about the solution and ways to fix this complication. They may write them on a flow chart or a pinboard to have all the perspectives in front of them.

As an educator, you must know that there is no such thing as an incorrect solution as Design thinking is a very positive technique that aims to fix complications not to create them.

3.    Design your solutions

After brainstorming about the solutions, according to their age, students have to create a design for it. Hence, Design Thinking.

Suppose students, come up with solutions like changing the black-board with white-boards or may change the placement of black-board.

Then students might sketch the classroom with whiteboards or a 3D model of the preferable placement of blackboards.

This is not where the brainstorming will stop, but further, students have to think about how to execute their solutions. As replacing boards or changing places will cost some money, hence they have to figure out ways to get funds or sponsorships.

4.    Present it and get feedback

It is important to present the model or the sketch of the solutions to other classmates, people who were facing similar problems, and who helped you in conducting the research; to see that whether your solution works for them as well or not.

For example- if a student has weak eye-sight then a change in the placement of the blackboard won’t make much of a difference. Therefore, you must present them with solutions and take feedback before you execute it.

5.    Rethink and Remodel

After presentations and feedbacks, there is a possibility that you might need to change and rethink the solution, which takes you back to the brainstorming phase.

However, you must consider the feedback in design thinking. Because not hitting the bull’s eye in the first attempt is a part of the process.

 

This technique enables students to think out of the box, prepares them on how to take feedback positively, and most importantly, teaches them that it is alright to be not right.