SEED Guide
4.2. Teaching with Design Thinking: Strategies, tools and techniques
The iterative design thinking steps are selected in lesson planning and can be developed from a selection of diverse and enriching strategies, tools, and techniques, some of which are developed in the introduction to the 3i approach to design thinking). As the teacher, you have an opportunity to influence the integration of design thinking so that it is fun and effective. Because design thinking integrates elements of empathy, creativity, and iteration in a structured framework to guide problem-solving, it is considered to offer a third way to approach problem-solving, beyond (1) a strict focus on analysis and logic to find a single correct solution through rigid, linear problem-solving methods and (2) creative problem-solving methods that emphasize innovation and human-centeredness, like brainstorming sessions, lateral thinking techniques, or frameworks like lean startup methodology.
International experience with design thinking supports the use of a stopwatch. Regardless of the home culture’s perception of time as linear and structured, cyclical, or fluid, time pressure helps to make the teams work more effectively. Respecting time limits forces more intensity and concentration when making decisions or during a creative coffee break talking with other teams.
In each team, the members should decide their collective approach to keeping to the time schedule - whether tight, semi-open, or loose. Teams should practice defining the longest period of time and try shrinking the time frame with experience. When the entire team can see the clock, it serves as a unifying visual attribute for the countdown that amplifies the excitement of completing a task well.
Collaborative tools and materials, like sticky notes in different sizes, shapes, and colors, or a Miro Board, help the team share their thoughts and visualize knowledge and evolution of their design thinking.
On a final note about time, consider creating time for reflection. Some students require time for thought and this is an area where the teacher can observe the teams to suggest appropriate moments for breaks. You will recall that reflection can also be incorporated into aligning your teaching with the proposed SEED Grading Rubric, as part of authentic assessment.
For each of the DT steps, the SEED Guide offers suggestions to enrich your teaching. You will learn about your teaching role through suggestions on teamwork, adjusting goals with design thinking tasks, and developing research hypotheses.
Conducting an efficient team selection of ideas
Teachers should explain the design thinking process so that the teams can benefit from the multiple perspectives and the opportunity to begin anew when iterating in a fail fast error culture. Assure the teams that the steps in the design thinking process are not necessarily sequential although they do serve as a guide through the iterative, non-linear experience. From a teacher’s perspective, and as reinforced by the 3i model, you will notice that the nature of design thinking means teams can repeat the steps and even circle back to previous steps.
Engaged students are likely to be enthused by their work, invested in their team's success, and committed to their objective mission and values. An emotional and mental commitment leads to greater effort and dedication, resulting in better performance and higher productivity. Another strategy for team-building is the naming of the group as they rapidly get to know each other. Ice breakers are a common tool in design thinking to make and maintain team spirit and enhance the classroom context. You can serve as a model to encourage fun and friendly behavior so that team members become more comfortable with each other. Teams that are cohesive are more likely to respect the roles and responsibilities that they decide on based on their strengths and soft skills, transversal skills, and communicative competences. Note that these foundational skills imply adaptive competence since communication includes both verbal and non-verbal communication.
For selecting ideas in a team where diversity of expression is encouraged, dot-voting and brainwriting offer quick pathways to conclusions so that further experimentation can take place.
Adjusting teamwork to the expected results for each task
The iterative nature of the design thinking process helps ensure that the team remains focused on the task goals and can adapt their approach as needed. The alignment of the goals and the results will improve with greater experience in re-iteration, where teams aim to fail fast in an error culture so that they can begin again as early as possible to share and gather diverse perspectives and practice collaborative problem-solving. The variety of ideas, insights, and perspectives to approach tasks from different angles will improve the final result.
Be sure that the teams have taken time to understand the goals and objectives of each task within the design thinking process. Some guiding questions are:
- What problem are you trying to solve?
- What outcomes are you aiming for?
When teams understand the expectations, they can better ascertain how the results of their activities contribute to their overall success. Clearly defining the problem or challenge sets the context for research and focuses the team’s efforts. Re-defining to understand involves ensuring that the problem statement is specific, actionable, and aligned with each team’s project goals. Lists of questions might consider factors such as the impact on end-users, feasibility of answering the question, and alignment with project goals. Note that Opportunity Statements and How might we…? questions are important techniques for reframing challenges as opportunities, where the hypotheses that are generated help to spark creative thinking and exploration
Teams can better synchronize their work when they have also established specific success metrics for each task. These metrics should be measurable and tied directly to the goals they have identified. For example, if the goal is to improve user experience, success metrics could include metrics like user satisfaction scores, task completion rates, or reduction in user errors.
Helping the teams develop ideas through testing
Multiple suggestions for evaluating will help the teams develop their ideas through testing so that implementation occurs when the project is fully developed. Early and often are good descriptors so that teams remember to prototype and test their ideas early and often. When an iterative design thinking process is not followed and testing happens late, teams miss out on the advantages of regularly testing their ideas. Throughout all the phases of the design thinking process, testing and questioning helps to develop and redefine concepts, ideas, and prototypes as potential solutions. When used often and experimentally, testing creates opportunities to see how potential users accept and interact with different potential solutions, resulting in more opportunities to re-iterate through the design thinking process and gather feedforward for improvements. Note that the feedforward results from encouraging constructive feedback so that the team can move toward testing the suggestion.
Developing valuable research hypotheses with the team
The design thinking process itself will guide teams in developing valuable research hypotheses in their teams, reinforced by the core characteristics of commitment, motivation, and optimism in the 3i approach to design thinking. Teachers play a fundamental role in reinforcing and providing guidance to cultivate this mindset that welcomes diverse perspectives and sources of inspiration. The supportive environment where ideas are nurtured and explored as hypotheses could generate more potential innovation.
A focus on the user is essential to build an understanding of the needs and preferences of target users or stakeholders. The time dedicated to exploring empathy in real and/or simulated interviews, surveys, or observations can serve to gather these insights. With teacher support, teams can be encouraged to iterate on their hypotheses based on this feedback/feedforward in their research findings to steadily refine and adapt their insights.
Relevant resources, from case studies to expert opinions and useful tools, should be plentiful and readily available to the teams. Nevertheless, teams should be encouraged to critically evaluate these resources and integrate existing knowledge into their projects whenever possible. Collaborative discussions and debates that challenge assumptions will encourage alternative perspectives for interpreting and using the resources. Critical thinking and open-mindedness are important to foster innovation.